Equipment for Adv Nitrox and Deco Proc

[grazie42]

I would not make a rock bottom calculation too aggressively. Anything can happen.

Umm...what he was saying was that you remove RB "from the top" and then dive "rule of x" on what´s left which is less agressive than just diving "rule of x"...

To the OP:
I did my first dives in doubles on the course, they were rented...
I wouldn´t recommend that approach because it took a few dives to get them adjusted like I wanted and got used to them...not something you really want to spend time and effort doing when you have limited time and lots of new skills to learn...

While knowledge is good, if you´re not going to do the dives after the course, then just ask your instructor to run the theory-portion of the class (or sit in on a class) and pay whatever fee he deems reasonable (might just take a few beers)

 

[DA Aquamaster]

That's actually pretty funny.

I've been kicked in the face, bumped my head on things, been in all sorts of ripping current hanging on a line, never carried a spare mask and never lost one.

I started Adv Nitrox/Deco last month, brought a spare mask, was just overing and mine just fell off. Nobody touched it (at least nobody I saw). Nothing hit me. I was just hanging out and the buckle let loose. So I grabbed the spare and swapped it.

Go figure.

Now I'm wondering if it had some help. . . .

Terry

My experience has been similar - 23 years of diving in 5-7 kt currents, zero visibilty, trees, monofilament, panicked divers, etc, etc and I have never lost amask. I have had one flooded a couple times, but never lost one - until I started taking tech course.

My assumption is that unlike most divers, technical diving instructors have problems losing their masks since it is a skill that they feel is so essential that everyone practice. More likely it just gives instructors something to do as well as to annoy and task load students given that it has close to zero real world utility.

 

[String]

I think the main point isnt to prove you can mask clear - at that level it should be a given.

The idea is to gradually ramp up the pressure and task loading on students to get them into the right problem solving thought process while other things are happening.

My instructors stated goal was to cause pressure with the end result of seeing if buoyancy control was lost through multiple tasks or even a panic bolt (obviously these are training dives NOT real deco).

I can see how losing a mask while trying to send a bag up and manage a run time and attempting to help a buddy could potentially cause someone to abandon logical thought and so on.

So my theory if it is anyone on these courses the skills should already be there - if they aren't you shouldnt be there. However the procedure then is to get you thinking logically and problem solving whilst performing multiple tasks and adhering to a dive plan. If you can do that even when things are falling apart around you then mentally you're prepared for effectively overhead mandatory stop diving.

 

[TSandM]

When I was doing my Helitrox class with AG, he freely admitted that nobody is ever going to have to do an ascent maskless. Mask removal was a way to stress us and see if we had buoyancy problems as a result (I do!) Interestingly, at least two agencies prohibit the removal of masks in the overhead, during cave training.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

No arguement it is done to increase task loading, my point would be that it is largely pointless. Task loading is an essential ingredient in pilot training, and in particular instrument flight training, but there is no need to fall back on unrealistic challenges to add task loading.

It makes a lot morse sense to increase task loading by increasing the number of real world situatiosn that coudl result. Then you not only increase task loading, but give the student a chance to experiece multipel failures or tasks with high task loading and develop strategies to over come them. Being good at doing them withoput a mask or while replacing a mask is less useful as it has no real world application.

The short story is that I feel removing a mask is unrealistic and is just a crutch or an instructor who could be more original, planful or creative in stucturing the dive and the lessons to be learned.

 

[Meng_Tze]

I have had my mask knocked off in real life............mask removal during training to me is not that far fetched.

 

[ucfdiver]

Interestingly, at least two agencies prohibit the removal of masks in the overhead, during cave training.

Which two?

 

[nereas]

I have had my mask knocked off in real life............mask removal during training to me is not that far fetched.

Nor have I, nor would anyone live through the experience of ripping off my mask if they tried it.

But I did have my mask stepped on in the boat once, before the dive, and by the time I got to 200 fsw, it was leaking so badly that I needed to swap it with my extra mask in my right front cargo pocket. Everything went smoothly, since this is a drill that I have practiced about 100 times both in the pool and in the open water as well.

Interestingly, the 10 ft bubble check on the anchor line before the continuation of the descent did not reveal the damage to the mask.

It is always good to have a spare mask.

 

[nereas]

When I was doing my Helitrox class with AG, he freely admitted that nobody is ever going to have to do an ascent maskless. Mask removal was a way to stress us and see if we had buoyancy problems as a result (I do!) Interestingly, at least two agencies prohibit the removal of masks in the overhead, during cave training.

Going into deco, and/or diving with helium mixes, is also an "overhead environment," since with helium you MUST control your buoyancy, because helium will come out of solution quickly with dramatic changes in depth, such as an uncontrolled ascent. [Feel free to try it, if you don't believe it. But make sure your will and estate planning are complete first.]

Thus, if an instoketor wants to rip off your mask, this stunt should only be attempted while you are diving with EAN 25, or EAN 32.

 

[nereas]

My experience has been similar - 23 years of diving in 5-7 kt currents, zero visibilty, trees, monofilament, panicked divers, etc, etc and I have never lost amask. I have had one flooded a couple times, but never lost one - until I started taking tech course.

My assumption is that unlike most divers, technical diving instructors have problems losing their masks since it is a skill that they feel is so essential that everyone practice. More likely it just gives instructors something to do as well as to annoy and task load students given that it has close to zero real world utility.

I have read about Mike Ball Charters divers clipping to a reef hook, then swinging into the current and having their masks ripped off by the current, in Peliliu. And since they were beginners, they had no spare mask nor sharp knife to cut the reef hook line. A comedy of lethal errors.