Safety stops in OW with no line - tips?

[flots am]

So my question - does anyone have any tips or hints about maintaining a 5metre safety stop in open water, in current, with no line to ascend along?

A "safety stop" is actually a slightly confusing term. The only part that needs to stop is your vertical ascent. You can still drift or fin as far as you like.

You could easily start your dive, do the deepest part first, then slowly come up while drifting, and continue to drift @ 15' - 20', doing your "safety stop". In fact, if the shallow portion of the reef is nice, you could easily do the whole dive at your "safety stop".

flots

 

[Teller]

Half stops are very easy and add conservatisim. Use a finger spool and shoot a lift bag/SMB at around 20-25 feet and use the line to maintain your depth when you hit 15 feet. Practice using the spool and bag.

 

[ben_wilson3301]

Alot of people simply continue to dive during their stop but remember... if you dont ascend too quickly its only a safety stop and not required. So even though its a good idea, you should be fine without it. Keep the depth as long as you're able or the 3 minutes if you can. Diving is fun, my wife likes to twirl like a ballerina.

 

[Frosty]

Given how new you guys are I'm guessing you are using gauges rather than a computer. I have a handheld computer and make it a game to maintain exactly 5.5m during the safety stop. It is apsolutely fantastic practice for your boyancy control.
Thinking about it. by 5.0m in tropical waters and a 3.00 steamer I Have an empty bc so the safety stop is done by filling and emptying my lungs.
If it helps--Diving in the cooks or fiji with a full steamer I use 4-5kg

 

[Jorgy]

I find it easier to hold depth with some forward movement, so I used to practice by swimming circles around any "up line".....still do by the way!

Like others have said, look at the particles in the water, stay horizontal, arms in front with full view of your computer. This is where i think a wrist mounted unit is much easier to use.

Now I only hold on the line if I am in a monster current, then I use a Jon Line.

Using an SMB works as well, but then you need to practice deploying it, until you can do it flawlessly without loosing depth control, and you need to ready to let go of the SMB if it starts to pull you to the surface (if the spool binds up for example).

Some one posted to stay a depth to use all your air to 35 bar - is some cases that is fine, but what if you need to surface rigth away for all kinds of reasons. You need to maintain depth control regardless of tank pressure.

M

 

[TSandM]

If you can stay between 4 and 6 meters for three minutes in open water, with no visual reference, as new divers, you are doing very well!

Tips for becoming stable: Get your weighting right -- figure out the absolute minimum you need to carry, and then add about two pounds for comfort. Do your ascent in a horizontal position -- this gives you the greatest resistance to movement up and down in the water column. Do the ascent neutral or close to it. If you go vertical and negative and fin up, you are dependent on being able to calibrate the amount of swimming you need to do to stay at 15 feet. If you are horizontal and neutral, all you have to do is control your breathing.

Watch the particles in the water, and watch one another. Each of you should be watching depth (this is where wrist gauges truly rock) and if one of you sees the other one starting to rise or sink, you can signal to correct it.

If the surface is really disturbed, with big swells, you can do your safety stop a few feet deeper, at more like 20 feet.

Hope this helps!

 

[RonFrank]

Remember SS's are not required.

If diving at 33' (10 meters) or less I usually don't bother with a SS. If diving deep I generally do a very slow ascent and a 5 minute 15'/5M stop. If you have a multilevel dive where you can spend time on a 15-20 foot reef at the end that is ideal. If you are hanging out in blue water at the end of a deep dive it's nice to pass the time shooting bags or doing mask drills. Just be careful you don't get distracted and end up at the surface. Make sure and stay with your buddy. Hold hands if that helps.

Once your ready to surface don't rush. A slow ascent is best. I usually swim around for a minute at 5'/1.5M. It's good practice and if your dialed in you should be able to hold a 5' depth. Slow is your friend. You may not be there yet, but its worth maintaining control at all times. That includes surfacing when you want and holding a stop in 3'/1M of water if that is what you want.

I maintain a horizontal position at all times. Horizontal is where it's at! :cool2:

 

[Mantra]

I wish I could buy everyone here a beer. You guys are very generous with advice

I'm diving with an Atom 2.0, so do have the benefit of a wrist computer. My wife's comp is in her console.

So we will keep working on buoyancy. I'm hearing that loud and strong. So, to feed back what I have heard, we will:

1. Work on getting our weighting dialed in better, aiming for neutral @ 5m with 60bar or so in the tank give or take. I guess perfection isn't possible here, because we are diving different tanks in different places, but the rest of our gear is our own so won't change too much. I say 60bar because it seems to be general policy here in Queensland to be back on the boat with 50, and I note in all three dives in the last few days I have used 20 bar or so in the ascent from bottom through the safety stop (5mins on two days but 3 on the other where the surge was bad and I felt less in control) to the surface. EDIT: we probably won't have a DM to hand stuff to, but what we might try is this: I hand excess weight to my wife until properly weighted, then she hands it back and I pocket this. Then we swap roles. We can then just dump what is in our pockets back on shore. The one receiving the weight will be overweighted during this, so keeping an eye on air will be important. Maybe we will do this next time we are on a line.

2. Ascend horizontally. We were taught vertically in OW, but horizontal makes more sense now you guys mention it due to the better drag in the water column. I think we would need to ascend in a vertical position after the safety stop though to be able to look up and check the surface for a clear exit? There can be heavy boat traffic around some of the nearer dive sites. We will play with this. I think we were taught vertically so as to be able to use the bcd hose to let air out on the ascent, but I guess a dump valve is used if horizontal. Fine by me.

3. Use particulate in the water as a visual reference. GREAT tip. Thanks!

4. Practice using a SMB as another way of getting a visual reference via the spool. I have a DSMB already (a legal requirement to dive in these parts) and a finger spool. I might mark the spool line at 5m for kicks. I think I will practice deployment technique for this in a local diving pool (5m deep conveniently) as it would task load me to the max to do this in the wild at the moment I reckon. Given I'm already shaky, I'm not sure I wouldn't underinflate the SMB or get pulled up by it if I properly inflated it.

5. We wll incorporate a halfway stop on ascent for one or two minutes in future dive plans. I note from our profiles we were ascending at a nice smooth 5m/minute prior to the safety stop on all three dives this weekend, so our ascent rate looks conservative and fine.

6. If the seas are rough or the surge is too pronounced, we will consider a slightly lower (6m) stop and a slower ascent after. We are already aiming for 1metre/min from the safety stop up. We aren't in any rush to get dry and any challenge that helps us get skills is great.

7. Beaverdivers gives some great skills to try. As I mentioned, it seems to be local protocol to be out with 50bar, but we will practice hanging around @ the safety stop until close to that. No fear we will be bored! I like the game of touching but not breaking the surface with fingers. I'm not sure how to use my ears to judge depth, though. How does that work? Do you mean feeling pressure? Sadly, my ears are slow to equalize going down and my wife felt some reverse squeezing going on on the way up. Maybe our ears aren't our best features

8. Swimming circles around a line seems like another great ascending game. Thanks, Jorgy! I might even try a ballerina twirl myself, ben_wilson.

Yesterday at 15m down, I was feeling very nice and neutral. Was staying horizontal about 1.5m above bottom, gliding down and up with my breaths, practicing holding different altitudes with my lungs filled to different levels, etc. It was calm and effortless, and wonderful. My wife and I hovered over the top of a 2m Wobbegong shark for a couple of minutes without spooking him, and anyway, yeah, I was feeling like I was getting it. When I feel the same way at 5m in choppy water, I will buy myself something nice to celebrate

Thanks all! I hope this thread and summary might be useful to someone else some day.

 

[spectrum]

Be sure to pay attention to each other. This will provide a mutual visual reference. Don't zone out staring at your instruments. If you both divide your attention it will come to you.

Also as mentioned, this is a safety stop and as such is expendable, a little variation is OK. Dive with a spirit of continuous improvement and you'll both do fine.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I wish I could buy everyone here a beer. You guys are very generous with advice

I'm diving with an Atom 2.0, so do have the benefit of a wrist computer. My wife's comp is in her console.

So we will keep working on buoyancy. I'm hearing that loud and strong. So, to feed back what I have heard, we will:

1. Work on getting our weighting dialed in better, aiming for neutral @ 5m with 60bar or so in the tank give or take. I guess perfection isn't possible here, because we are diving different tanks in different places, but the rest of our gear is our own so won't change too much. I say 60bar because it seems to be general policy here in Queensland to be back on the boat with 50, and I note in all three dives in the last few days I have used 20 bar or so in the ascent from bottom through the safety stop (5mins on two days but 3 on the other where the surge was bad and I felt less in control) to the surface. EDIT: we probably won't have a DM to hand stuff to, but what we might try is this: I hand excess weight to my wife until properly weighted, then she hands it back and I pocket this. Then we swap roles. We can then just dump what is in our pockets back on shore. The one receiving the weight will be overweighted during this, so keeping an eye on air will be important. Maybe we will do this next time we are on a line.

You do NOT want to be weighted to be neutral with 50 bars in your tank at 6 meters and an empty BC! You want to have a few lbs extra lead to be able to hold down an SMB at depth AND you want to be able to hang neutral at that depth with zero air in your tank, should that become necessary. Diving doesn't have to be a game of seeing who has the least amount of lead.

It is always better to have a little too much lead, rather than too little. You do NOT want to be in a condition where you will float up the last 3 meters with all the air out of your BC and a nearly empty tank... what happens if you screw up and use the reserve that you were saving (for a screw up) and then some boat is coming toward you or over your head? The LAST thing you want is to be floating up into that kind of situation!. Wearing 2 kilos of extra lead is not going to be a problem when you have a BC on and you can ditch the lead if an emergency warrants it.