Deep diving advice that goes against conventional thought?

[Akimbo]

Rather than “Gotta” I would say prudent. Open Circuit is simpler and there is less to go know or that can go wrong. There's a lot to be said for not trying to master too much at once… baby steps.

 

[danvolker]

I'd say you need to find out if you can be good at OC ...up to being good at it deep on trimix....there are divers that should not be divers, and, there are divers that will never be good divers. Both of these groups often survive with Open circuit...but a Rebreather has too much going on for them, with the already defective peripheral awareness and bad reflexes.

It is not really that the skills from OC transfer exactly...it is more of a necessary proof of competency.

 

[Nuribromanski]

Couldn't disagree more.

ur carrying a BOB then, right? bc otherwise ur diving OC at ur worst: dealing w/ off loop change and poss co2 retention.

 

[tomfcrist]

Do you strongly disagree with Gotta be good at OC before diving a rebreather, with you've gotta be good at deep OC before taking the RB deep, or both? And why?

Both. I think you need to be familiar with OC prior to diving CCR, however being a seasoned veteran of OC does not make you a better rebreather diver. Are you aware of the laws of learning? Particularly the law of primacy? The law of recency can outweigh primacy, but kinesthetic memory is hard to override when making the switch to rebreather.
Furthermore if one learns CCR early on and is competent with air dilutent, the switch to deep with trimix is the same learning curve as a pure OC diver making the switch to OC trimix .

Couldn't disagree more.

ur carrying a BOB then, right? bc otherwise ur diving OC at ur worst: dealing w/ off loop change and poss co2 retention.

What is the differance between learning to carry deco bottles and learning to carry bail out gas? Answer...none.

 

[DaleC]

You guys know people were diving RB's long before OC became common place right? RB was the entry point for all divers other than hard hat and no one really thought twice about it.

 

[danvolker]

You guys know people were diving RB's long before OC became common place right? RB was the entry point for all divers other than hard hat and no one really thought twice about it.

Of course....And in the 50's and early 60's, anyone could buy a scuba tank and dive with NO Instruction. Lots of these guys even filled their own tanks. Maybe people were smarter back then..??

 

[tomfcrist]

Of course....And in the 50's and early 60's, anyone could buy a scuba tank and dive with NO Instruction. Lots of these guys even filled their own tanks. Maybe people were smarter back then..??

Sounds vaguely familiar...kind of like the pioneers of cave diving....but never mind, those guys are idolized.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

You guys know people were diving RB's long before OC became common place right? RB was the entry point for all divers other than hard hat and no one really thought twice about it.

You realize that the reason Open Circuit (OC) exists is because Closed Circuit pure oxygen rebreathers almost killed JY Cousteau twice, don't you?

SeaRat

 

[Bob DBF]

Of course....And in the 50's and early 60's, anyone could buy a scuba tank and dive with NO Instruction. Lots of these guys even filled their own tanks. Maybe people were smarter back then..??

That's what I try to tell people.


Bob

 

[DaleC]

I know the history. My point was that learning RB as an entry point is no harder than OC if you take prior exposure to OC out of the equation. It's only harder in relation to OC.