First Stop

[Rainer]

For MDL dives, for your first deep stop, do you (1) round deep to the nearest 10', (2) round shallow to the nearest 10', or (3) don't care. That is, for a dive to 90', would you make your first stop at 40' or 50'. I don't have a sense of which is more conservative, but for MDL dives, have a suspicion it doesn't matter much. For our dives, we've always taken the first stop rounding deeper. Thanks.

 

[PfcAJ]

Personally, I would round up for that dive. I think it depends on conditions, depth, and time.

 

[jjones9527]

I round shallower, just to increase the gradient a little more. For MDL dives, it doesn't really make much difference though.

 

[RTodd]

For MDL dives, for your first deep stop, do you (1) round deep to the nearest 10', (2) round shallow to the nearest 10', or (3) don't care. That is, for a dive to 90', would you make your first stop at 40' or 50'. I don't have a sense of which is more conservative, but for MDL dives, have a suspicion it doesn't matter much. For our dives, we've always taken the first stop rounding deeper. Thanks.

I would say it doesn't matter much. For a recreational dive, unless the dive site absolutely dictates it, I usually work my way up in a manner where I can still look at interesting stuff. Other than the 30-surface part I don't harp on timing too much. For instance, bottom time of 20-40 minutes at average depth of 95', move at 30fpm to 70-50'. Where the second level is depends on what the site is like. Spend a few minutes (5-20), depending on deeper time at this next level. Then, do stops. At this stage, the stops are most likely going to begin at 30' but the ascent to 30' may be slower than 30fpm.

If I was coming straight up from 100', the ascent would slow some around 60 or 70', and I would start doing actual stops at 40'.

 

[rjack321]

WOOT finally a troll free space!

I agree that it depends on the site and isn't too critical either. On a mid-water ascent I would round deeper for a "get the team collected stop" (50ft). Maybe pull out the bag and get ready to shoot it at 40ft.

On an up-slope ascent I tend to round shallower since I often swim up at <10ft/min for the 80-50ft window and don't want to end up with toooo much time in that middlin' depth.

 

[Sloth]

On MDL do you guys still do a 3 min at 15' for the hell of it or just the 4 mins from 40 to 10?

 

[Rainer]

No 3 min at 15' for us. On deeper dives approaching max MDL BT, we'll usually double the 20' and 10' stops, though.

 

[rjack321]

No 3 min at 15' for us. On deeper dives approaching max MDL BT, we'll usually double the 20' and 10' stops, though.

Exactly. I don't do 15ft stops ala PADI.

But minimum is still just minimum. I pad shallow stops (30-20-10) like crazy (e.g. 8-15mins up from 30ft) on multidive days or when pushing MDLs or when there's something to see and I'm not too cold.

 

[RTodd]

Exactly. I don't do 15ft stops ala PADI.

But minimum is still just minimum. I pad shallow stops (30-20-10) like crazy (e.g. 8-15mins up from 30ft) on multidive days or when pushing MDLs or when there's something to see and I'm not too cold.

Also, keep in mind deco is not an exact science and it is all relative. If the seas are really nasty and I don't want to bang around at 10' too long, I will shorten my 20 time, move to 15 for a while and also shorten the 10' time. Or another example, if there is heavy boat traffic or some other reason that my ascent from 10' needs to be slightly quicker, I spend a little longer at 10.

 

[amascuba]

On MDL do you guys still do a 3 min at 15' for the hell of it or just the 4 mins from 40 to 10?

I do the 1 minute 'stops' (30 second hold, 30 second move) from half my maximum depth. If I'm pushing the MDL I will do 3 minute stops at 20 and 10 feet. My buddies and I are usually goofing off around the 20 and 10 ft stops so allot of times those are extended quiet a bit.

Also to answer the original question. My instructor told us to use the shallower stop. On your example I would use the 40 ft mark for my first stop.