Diving tables

[iztok]

Memorial day weekend I dove NC Coast (Graveyard of the Atlantic) - U352, Spar, Schurz and the Indra. I worked the plan at home with dive planner on my computer. However I took my tables with me to make sure I have a backup if dive locations changed. We were lucky with weather so no problems there. But I still think it is important for one to know how to work the tables.

 

[coldwaterdufus]

Ditto to above and also take the multi-level course so you will still know how to work the tables

 

[Doc]

The Dead Sea scrolls...... (the New Testament is shown above the Old Testament)

Warm Water Pretty Fish divers spending a week in paradise have yet another view......

My wife certed in 2000.

For 7 years, she dutifully worked the tables at lunch and dinner during every dive week, usually logging 4x a day, most times a night dive.

Even though she was doing 25 dives in a week, her computer was telling her that she was still among the living.

Her tables told her that she was dead by Tuesday at noon.

She finally quit her absolute dedication at about dive #300, but she still brings them along.

She still doesn't see the conundrum in ignoring the "penalty box" caveats printed on the tables... the "you must sit out 24 hours" warning.

In the old days, people that violated their computers just hung them over the dive boat on a long string and let them decompress.

Now, what with user replaceable batteries, you just take the powercell out and it zeroes you back to landlubber status.

... or just keep switching back and forth to your backup computer.

OMG:

 

[Teamcasa]

I used to use tables but for all intent and purposes they have little use in todays recreational diving.

The biggest issue I see among new divers today is they have no idea what their computer is telling them. The tables are useful to drive home what their computer is calculating for them but other than that (as a teaching aid), they just don't matter anymore.

 

[ptyx]

I use a mix and match of computer, deco software, tables and rule of thumb (120 and friends) depending of the dive. Even when using tables, there is a lot of hand waving because all the tables I have don't agree with the ascent profiles I do. An uncomfortable place which is more a theoretical issue than a practical ones given the dives I do.

Mostly, I wish I'd have a computer like the X1 or Predator so I can plan a dive and know the computer won't freak out or disagree about the execution.

 

[Rhone Man]

The biggest issue I see among new divers today is they have no idea what their computer is telling them.

Not just newbies. I lent a computer to a buddy of mine who is a grizzled veteran. Toward the end of dive #2 he holds the computer up with the quizzical look that is universally intended to signal: WTF? So I wrote "Deco you idiot!" on the slate. Except of course I didn't add the last two words.

I don't do deco planning yet but I use dive planner regardless so I would say yes to that and this is actually why I answered #2.

Cool; for consistency I'll do the same.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I carry a back up computer as a back up to a failed computer

 

[ptyx]

The biggest issue I see among new divers today is they have no idea what their computer is telling them.

I've seen (quite recently) someone thinking his computer was telling him to stop for 5 minutes at 100ft (then 6, then 7...), when it was saying total ascent time was 5 minutes with a deco stop on the way. It could have had serious consequences in other circumstances.

 

[knotical]

I've seen (quite recently) someone thinking his computer was telling him to stop for 5 minutes at 100ft (then 6, then 7...), when it was saying total ascent time was 5 minutes with a deco stop on the way. It could have had serious consequences in other circumstances.

That should be funny, but as you point out the potential consequences make it less so.

Yet another reminder that the best and most important dive computer is the one between our ears.

 

[ptyx]

Yet another reminder that the best and most important dive computer is the one between our ears.

Unfortunately, this computer is susceptible to narcosis. I really like the idea of having a non-narcable electronic device showing you how much you deviate from your plan. Too bad you need to invest tons of cash to find a model which allows you to do that.