I dont know about you but my computer will take time away on my next dive if i dont do a 3/15. so if its you first dive of the day and you want to do a 2nd why not stay the extra 2 min at 15?? its just 2 mins. as long as you got the air I would stay
Well, that's the thing with assisting classes.. I have to be ready for emergencies, so I can take alternative action based on correct theory if something happens. The whole reason behind my asking is kind of related to my other post of a deep dive incident:
Group is congested at safety stop, there is mild current (only the students are hanging on line for safety). The instructor is at the head of the group up to, AI, and two DM candidate (incl me) are sort of at the bottom end, 24ft or so. We spend a couple of minutes there.
Then, as the congested group shifted itself out, I move up a little just so I won't bend my computer. A minute there, a student comes to me signing 500 psi. Well, that's not too little, but not too much air.. and I was sort of confused if the 2 minutes plus 1 minutes combined meant we're basically done with the safety stop.. Because I thought if we're done, then 500 psi may be alright (and then switch to my alt air).. but if I were to go with the computer, or be conservative and do a full 3 min at 10-20, then 500 may not last another 2 minutes since he was huge, and probably not very calm. So, I had to priortize between: 1. safety stop time 2. safety stop depth 3. the dude's air (and I guess many more whatnots)
In a situation like this, I thought it was good to know what's really going on. But you're right of course, that's exactly what I'd do if I were diving for my own fun. My situation was also kind of extreme so it's not something I'd expect all the time. I'm just reviewing so I understand what a good choice of action would have been. It turns out the low air dude went to the instructor, which probably was the best choice.