Go back down after missed Safety Stop?

[pilot fish]

On a dive in Coz to 76 ft, 41 minutes, multi level, I missed my safty stop. I was at 15 ft in current, busy watching my buddy, who was having trouble holding the stops and not looking at my puter. Next thing I know my tank breaks the surface. Damnnnnnnnnnnnn, I thought, now what? I held the stop less than a minute. Do I go back down for 3 to 5 minutes or just stay at the surface to be picked up? My buddy had popped to the surface too at that point. My question is, can you go back down in that situation and safely do your missed SS, or is not wise?

 

[simbrooks]

Its not needed, its a "safety stop", not recommended deco obligation. I cant speak for going down again and completing deco (but there was a thread really recently on this, actually on missing safety stops as well), but the idea of the NDL is that they can be no-stop profiles, ie you can ascend directly to the surface at a safe speed and statistically be unlikely to get bent. The safety stop is "recommended" and most people take that recommendation every dive, which is a good thing to do. It is also recommended that you do it at 15ft for 3 mins, other people put more of a deco profile on it and stop a little deeper for a minute or two, some even stop for more than 3 mins at 15ft to get some real offgassing. Part of the assumption in the off-gassing of the tables is that you will do the great majority of it during your SI, but your attitude (speed, mini-stops etc) can all help you from becoming a statistic.

I wouldnt go back down to complete a safety stop IF i didnt complete one due to poor buoyancy - which these days i am trying to avoid

 

[El Orans]

http://www.scubaboard.com/t89609-got-quite-a-scare-today.html

 

[Don Burke]

If you have no DCS symptoms, there is a missed stop procedure for decompression stops.

Under those guidelines, I see no problem with going back down for a safety stop.

However, I doubt I would do it.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

I have to agree with Simbrook on this one. It was a safety stop.

You were doing a multilevel dive anyway and you were shallowing up the last third to quarter of your dive.

In Grand Cayman two years ago the dive operation that I was using would not let you make a second dive if you missed your safety stop. Our dives there were very short at 20 minutes with no computer and 30 minutes with a computer with the bottom at 100 feet or less.

If you had spent virtually all your time at 76 feet (80 feet for 30 or hard bottom profile) you would have been in deco or at the least two bars in the caution on your computer. Then yes I would have gone back down and spent about 5 or 10 minutes at 20 feet to burn some time off my computer.

Besides the missed safety stop how was trip? I will be heading to Cozumel in two weeks.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Some computers expect a 3 minute safety stop and gain a degree of conservatism from it. Some also penalize your repetitive dive NDL's if you skip it.

In any case, I'd most likely do an immediate descent to 15 ft and finish the safety stop, especially on a trip with mulitple repetitive dives over multiple days where computers need that extra level of conservatism.

I'd also work on my bouyancy so it never happend again, which is actually a far larger issue that you need to be concerned with.

 

[pilot fish]

I have to agree with Simbrook on this one. It was a safety stop.

You were doing a multilevel dive anyway and you were shallowing up the last third to quarter of your dive.

In Grand Cayman two years ago the dive operation that I was using would not let you make a second dive if you missed your safety stop. Our dives there were very short at 20 minutes with no computer and 30 minutes with a computer with the bottom at 100 feet or less.

If you had spent virtually all your time at 76 feet (80 feet for 30 or hard bottom profile) you would have been in deco or at the least two bars in the caution on your computer. Then yes I would have gone back down and spent about 5 or 10 minutes at 20 feet to burn some time off my computer.

Besides the missed safety stop how was trip? I will be heading to Cozumel in two weeks.

Trip was fine, Jim. The Hotel Cozumel, was OK, food was OK,AI, and weather was great. My only issue was with Dive Paradise's slow, crowded boats and the short BT they would allow. They would not allow us to dive our own profiles and too many of our dive sites were too far north -faster boats get south quicker.

So, if you were me you would have gone back down? I think most of my dive was in the 40 to 50ft range on that dive. If I had been deeper, say 100 ft, you would recommend going back down for missed stop? It's safe to do and better than a missed recommended stop?

 

[pilot fish]

Some computers expect a 3 minute safety stop and gain a degree of conservatism from it. Some also penalize your repetitive dive NDL's if you skip it.

In any case, I'd most likely do an immediate descent to 15 ft and finish the safety stop, especially on a trip with mulitple repetitive dives over multiple days where computers need that extra level of conservatism.

I'd also work on my bouyancy so it never happend again, which is actually a far larger issue that you need to be concerned with.

It was second dive so I knew I had about 3 hrs till third dive- enough time to off-gas. MY buoyancy is fine. As I said, I was distracted watching my buddy and did not hold my stop because I stop looking at my puter. Don't know any diver that can hold 15 ft stop in current without looking at gauge occasionally to maintain level hold.

 

[vladimir]

Don't know any diver that can hold 15 ft stop in current without looking at gauge occasionally to maintain level hold.

I can, plus or minus a foot or two. Most experienced divers can, I think.

 

[jbd]

Don't know any diver that can hold 15 ft stop in current without looking at gauge occasionally to maintain level hold.

You know me at least cyberly speaking.

As to your initial question--I would not have gone back down unless I was aware of problems with overall ascent rate. Sounds like you came up in stages until reaching 15 feet which you managed to hold for at least one minute.

To expand on vladimir's comments. You can manage to hold your depth without lookinig at a depth guage or computer by being aware of particulate matter in the water, an awareness of pressure changes in your ears and in some cases changes in light or color.