Nope. Not a sea story. Here is an excerpt from AlertDiverOnline:…
Like I wrote, I have read all that in magazines since the 1960s. Just because it has been repeated doesn’t make it viable. It just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The story is also inconsistent with what I was told by people who were trained by divers that worked at EDU when the decision was made.
It is well known that everyone except the medical officers wanted 60'/minute… and most of us would like it to return. As explained to me, open circuit Scuba is incompatible with the UDT’s mission. Bubbles are the obvious reason, but duration is equally important. Swims often take 1-2 hours in each direction. Faster ascent rates had no operational importance to the UDT because they had to be on O
2 rebreathers anyway, except for training.
On the deep sea gear side, 60'/minute was the standard when I was there and handling the umbilical at that rate was not a problem. Operating the chamber is
much easier. I have no doubt that the UDT also wanted a faster rate than 25-30'/minute but that wouldn’t be enough to influence EDU by itself. Heck, I find it very difficult to maintain 30'/minute today without a downline or a computer to whine at me.
Come to think of it, 100'/minute would be an even bigger PITA… aside from giving medical officers convulsions. We could probably find a 100'/minute bubble size to follow but correlating that to a stopwatch for surface supplied and chamber operations would be a nightmare.
Now for the Fun Stuff
In any case, this tiny piece of history will hopefully be even more academic before I’m dead. I have to agree with predictions that foresee the demise of decompression algorithms. They hypothesis is computer and sensor technology will allow direct reading of individuals to determine the safest and most efficient decompression. Ascent rates will be variable, slowing down closer to the surface. Stops will probably still exist but won’t be limited to even 3 meter or 10' intervals.
Computers will also control ascent rates on
all chambers, as they do on more advanced systems today. Surface supplied diving isn’t likely to go away but all it will take is a faster/slower display to guide the tender. Scuba, freedivers, non-divers, and medical professionals will all know blood O
2 and CO
2 levels in addition to dissolved gas in tissues and blood.
Predictions I have read on sensors range from built into the suit to imbedded at birth. Bubble formation being a minor part of their overall function and not intended for divers. Just think how archaic, indirect, and inconsistent measuring blood pressure readings are. The whole “wearable technology” movement is just the very beginning. This is a very big deal for society and will ultimately have useful applications for divers.