First dive at 40 meters - Newbies recreational

[David Novo]

Well. I am not sure I agree on that one. From my calculation at 40 meters and with our SAC in the last 10 dives, we still had 30 minutes of air. Let's say 15 minutes in case of buddy breathing. We were not in a deco dive. So all we had to do was to ascent 40 meters which is 5 minutes at 9 m/ min plus 5 minutes safety stop at 5 meters and 2 minutes at 20 meters. Without panicking, it is enough. And the DM was around. But I agree, not so much safety margin. Pony with a regulator will be a must in my next dives.

Exactly. My software indicated a SAC of 14l/ min.

Your SAC is not the same in an emergency.
14l/min was your SAC throughout the entire dive. If that was your SAC during ascent, it would have taken 26 min plus stops and not 5 min.

 

[Blackcrusader]

We were three: the DM, me and my wife and partner in dive.
Everyone with a 12 liters steel tank pressurized at 210 bars. No pony. Just a cylinder with reg and octopus at safety stop (5m) on the anchor line. Sunny weather air 27 degrees C. Water temperature 26 degrees C.
Calm water at the surface. (Small fishing) Boat dive. This was the last SSI deep dive training session.

Stop at 20 meters: 2 minutes. At this point, I would have been happy to be at 20 meters but I realized that I was at 28. Then the computer said: 12 meters - 2 minutes stop. So we ascended, complied with the stop and went to 5 meters for the 5 minutes stop (computer said 2 minutes). We surfaced with 40 bars without using the safety cylinder.
Summary: Total dive time: 40 minutes. Max depth: 40,5 meters

My apologies for misinterpreting these as deco stops. I don't know anyone who does a "safety stop" for 2 mins at 20 meters and another "safety stop" at 12m for for 2 mins. We aren't fish doing Pyle stops.

So was your wife also a student on this training dive without the instructor present? When my son did his OW he asked me if I would be his dive buddy on his training dive. I'm like no chance in hell of that happening you stay with your instructor which is not me. If you see me give me a wave lol. Students on training dives should in my opinion be with their instructor who has to sign off and pass you for your certificate. How does your instructor asses your training dive when he wasn't there to observe it?

 

[David Novo]

From what I got, it was a course dive without instructor.

 

[Blackcrusader]

So you say we were in deco? @#$%^!!!

How do you know you weren't? If you are at 1m to deco and struggling to ascend then by the time you are at 38m and could have easily already exceeded NDL which means yes you possibly went into DECO. The fact that you do not know, means you were not paying attention to your NDL as you ascended from 40m due to other factors.

 

[Blackcrusader]

From what I got, it was a course dive without instructor.

New one for me then I've never done any part of a course especially a deep training dive without an instructor. Let's email SSI and ask them about it shall we? No names need be mentioned.

 

[Dody]

New one for me then I've never done any part of a course especially a deep training dive without an instructor. Let's email SSI and ask them about it shall we? No names need be mentioned.

Instructor Vs DM. Long debate, I guess.

 

[johndiver999]

deleted...

 

[Blackcrusader]

OP's original comment:

Then, the computer again. Stop at 20 meters: 2 minutes. At this point, I would have been happy to be at 20 meters but I realized that I was at 28. Relief. We continued finning calmly and at about 25 meters, we saw the most magnificent reef we had ever seen.

I very much doubt that the computer indicated a deco stop of 2 minutes to be performed at 20 meters. Presumably what happened is that the initial ascent was botched and it was so slow that the dive went from a nodeco dive to a DECO dive after leaving the bottom. Possibly they sunk down from 20 to 28 meters as well on the ascent? I'm not sure the OP understands this.

Presumably, what occurred subsequently was that their ascent was slow enough from 20 meters up to the actual deco stop that it was automatically cleared prior to arrival at the stop of 7 meters. In other words, they ascended slower than necessary on this portion of the ascent as well. I think a lot of people commenting already understand this and are presuming that the OP does as well, yet I doubt it. It may be hard for him to understand that if he left the bottom out of DECO and was ascended the entire time, how he could possibly end up in deco on the way up. If this possibility was not emphasized to him during training, then that would be unfortunate.

OP claims his computer setting is such that if he exceeds 30m the computer will plan a 2 minute stop at half the max depth dived and another 2 minute stop at 12m.

 

[David Novo]

Instructor Vs DM. Long debate, I guess.

While some of the topics discussed can be debatable, I don't think that this one is.
Either the instructor was with you or was not. A DM is not a suitable replacement.

 

[David Novo]

OP claims his computer setting is such that if he exceeds 30m the computer will plan a 2 minute stop at half the max depth dived and another 2 minute stop at 12m.

Actually he just mentioned that his computer setting will plan a stop at half the max depth, not the second stop.