Recreational Ascent Rate in the last 15 feet

[OceanEyes]

I registered my vote for 15 fpm, but usually ascend even slower. The vast majority of my dives require deco, and in calm seas my last stop is held at 10’, so I’m not making my final ascent from 15’. In most cases, I’m in no hurry to get to the surface anyway, as I’m rather fond of being submerged.

 

[dmaziuk]

Is there an "it depends" answer? Bonaire-Curacao-type shore dives we usually follow the sand all the way to knee-deep so less than 10 fpm would be a fair guesstimate. Boat dives, the last couple of meters could be as much as 90 fpm, if there's a bit of a swell and no line to hold on to and no boat to swim to etc. But those are fairly rare.

 

[rsingler]

Would prefer not to lose the votes so far, so no. But I think you can take a pass for your boat dives in swell. You can also vote more than once.
Go ahead, stuff the ballot box!

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

Depends...

If it’s a mandatory SS or a challenging dive, and there’s nothing else going on, I may take 5 minutes to surface from 20 feet.

If it was an easy dive and I’m doing an voluntary SS, I have no issue popping up afterwards.

I’ve been on wrecks in the Keys when I could see the wreck from the SS and it was flat calm. When it’s like that, I’ve been known not to want to get out of the water.

 

[Bob DBF]

My computer is still retraining me, traditionally my accent rate was 60 fpm, so I'm pretty good about ascending at 30 fpm or less now.


Bob

 

[dmaziuk]

Go ahead, stuff the ballot box!

As you wish... but I must confess: most of my logs show a yellow ascent rate warning in that last bit where I stand up on the beach. So I have graphs proving I just lied on the ballot: I've logged ascent rates in excess of 100 fpm for the last 2 seconds of very many dives.

 

[rsingler]

My computer is still retraining me, traditionally my accent rate was 60 fpm, so I'm pretty good about ascending at 30 fpm or less now.


Bob

I was like you. Now seeing the theory graphically on my Perdix, and reading more, I realize that there's a LOT of relative change in the last 30 feet.

 

[rsingler]

I've logged ascent rates in excess of 100 fpm for the last 2 seconds of very many dives.

Oh, yer gonna die, alright!

 

[dmaziuk]

On a serious note, many (most?) of my boat dives so far, the anchor would be at 30 feet or less and the SOP is to breathe down the tanks -- time and gas permitting, obviously -- around the anchor before coming up to safety stop. If you factor that into the definition of "last 30 feet", you could get very slow ascent rates.

 

[dmaziuk]

Oh, yer gonna die, alright!