I have two closely related questions that have to do with the amount of wiggle room with respect to the pre-established plan, or within the boundaries agreed on beforehand, that one finds comfortable during a tech dive. I apologize in advance if this topic has been beaten to death, and/or if my post offends some people's sensibility.
1) Clearly, there are dives, e.g., recreational dives within NDL, on which many people will just set very rough boundaries (such as max bottom time, max depth, no deco, rock bottom gas, and so on), but where otherwise, they will not follow a rigid schedule. One can improvise, ascend and descend repeatedly, end the dive a bit sooner or later, depending on whether gas or NDL turns out to be a limiting factor. Let's call this an area with a great amount of wiggle room.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are tech dives, as taught in tech classes, where there is a fair amount of prior planning that culminates with a schedule that one follows to the letter, and where being as much as a minute late is unacceptable. Much has been written here and elsewhere about how planning, and following a plan, is the core of a technical diver's mindset. Some (perhaps many) will insist that on any tech dive, one has to follow a rigid schedule, and no compromise is possible. Let's call this an area with very little wiggle room.
In between these extremes lies a gray area that appears to be inhabited by a great many divers. Some will do tech dives with two or more redundant computers. They will establish some boundaries, much as on a rec dive, but otherwise allow for some changes on the fly, perhaps even "ride" their computers all the way. Others may resort to a method such as ratio deco to do real-time adjustments. Yet some others may prepare and follow a strict schedule during most of the ascent, but they will still get out of the water faster if their computer clears their deco sooner than what the ascent schedule requires.
To folks who live in the gray area: I am curious where you draw the line, on what kinds of dives you will follow a strict schedule, on which you will make things up on the fly, and on which you will do something in between. Max N depth? Max N minutes of deco? Max N of whatever? Something else? How much flexibility are you comfortable with vs. how much do you want to pre-determine, etc. Please feel free to interpret "where you draw the line" in whatever way makes some amount of sense to you.
2) Clearly, there are situations, in which all divers on the team follow precisely the same strategy, e.g., when there is a strict schedule established beforehand. There are others, in which this might not be the case. Maybe someone has 31% fill, and someone else has 32%. Someone might be diving algorithm X, or computer brand X, another might be diving Y (obviously, this does not apply to folks who reject computers). When folks take advantage of computers, they might remain at different depths, and incur different amount of deco obligation, and their computers may require stops of a different length. In those circumstances, there will inevitably be some variability.
Again, to folks, who live in the gray area: I am curious how much variability are you comfortable with. Would it be OK if one person ends up with N minute more deco than the other? What N is OK and what isn't? What, and how much, is OK to vary? Can the amount of deco vary? Can the algorithm/conservatism vary? Can gas, or something else vary? How much can it vary? Or does everything have to be precisely the same? Again, where will you draw the line? And, what do you do to make sure you won't cross it?
If you think those are dumb questions, that's OK... just do your best to help a brother in need, and share your thoughts, anyway... all feedback is welcome. Thanks!
1) Clearly, there are dives, e.g., recreational dives within NDL, on which many people will just set very rough boundaries (such as max bottom time, max depth, no deco, rock bottom gas, and so on), but where otherwise, they will not follow a rigid schedule. One can improvise, ascend and descend repeatedly, end the dive a bit sooner or later, depending on whether gas or NDL turns out to be a limiting factor. Let's call this an area with a great amount of wiggle room.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are tech dives, as taught in tech classes, where there is a fair amount of prior planning that culminates with a schedule that one follows to the letter, and where being as much as a minute late is unacceptable. Much has been written here and elsewhere about how planning, and following a plan, is the core of a technical diver's mindset. Some (perhaps many) will insist that on any tech dive, one has to follow a rigid schedule, and no compromise is possible. Let's call this an area with very little wiggle room.
In between these extremes lies a gray area that appears to be inhabited by a great many divers. Some will do tech dives with two or more redundant computers. They will establish some boundaries, much as on a rec dive, but otherwise allow for some changes on the fly, perhaps even "ride" their computers all the way. Others may resort to a method such as ratio deco to do real-time adjustments. Yet some others may prepare and follow a strict schedule during most of the ascent, but they will still get out of the water faster if their computer clears their deco sooner than what the ascent schedule requires.
To folks who live in the gray area: I am curious where you draw the line, on what kinds of dives you will follow a strict schedule, on which you will make things up on the fly, and on which you will do something in between. Max N depth? Max N minutes of deco? Max N of whatever? Something else? How much flexibility are you comfortable with vs. how much do you want to pre-determine, etc. Please feel free to interpret "where you draw the line" in whatever way makes some amount of sense to you.
2) Clearly, there are situations, in which all divers on the team follow precisely the same strategy, e.g., when there is a strict schedule established beforehand. There are others, in which this might not be the case. Maybe someone has 31% fill, and someone else has 32%. Someone might be diving algorithm X, or computer brand X, another might be diving Y (obviously, this does not apply to folks who reject computers). When folks take advantage of computers, they might remain at different depths, and incur different amount of deco obligation, and their computers may require stops of a different length. In those circumstances, there will inevitably be some variability.
Again, to folks, who live in the gray area: I am curious how much variability are you comfortable with. Would it be OK if one person ends up with N minute more deco than the other? What N is OK and what isn't? What, and how much, is OK to vary? Can the amount of deco vary? Can the algorithm/conservatism vary? Can gas, or something else vary? How much can it vary? Or does everything have to be precisely the same? Again, where will you draw the line? And, what do you do to make sure you won't cross it?
If you think those are dumb questions, that's OK... just do your best to help a brother in need, and share your thoughts, anyway... all feedback is welcome. Thanks!
Last edited: