Guess who's a newbie TRIMIX diver?!? (and sorta Lake Travis report of 8/13)

[Ryanh1985]

For a second their I thought I stepped out of the Texas section. Congrates on your cert, and stay safe.

 

[Daylonious]

But all the crazy stuff was funny! (kept thinking of that Johnny Quest episode where they jump the speedboat over the evil frogmen / henchmen)

I appreciate all the advice and opinions, really - and I'm glad I sparked some interest and debate in this thread.

Oh and I was using V-planner (I believe that's VPM-B?) to model the dive - again, the deco stuff was just for skills and drills, they weren't called for specifically or anything.

I'd welcome the oppty to dive / learn from all the instuctors and more experienced people on here - just got the initial impression that if I showed up for a tech dive in doubles wearing a wetsuit people would think I was being overly reckless or something...

Just trying to incorporate what I've recently learned and be a better diver...

D.

I think everyone is actually trying to be nice about it. You may feel like you're being slammed, but this isn't even close. Try posting this in the Hogarthian or DIR forums. Then you'll know what it's like to get slammed.

I deleted the crazy stuff in your previous post, but the fact is as a trimix diver you are most likely diving in a virtual overhead, right? You know this from your training. If something goes sideways you better be able to take care of it or you're fish food, man.

Some lady this weekend saw me in my NACD t-shirt and starting moaning about one of her kids wanting to be a cave diver. "Too dangerous," she said. I asked what she thought made it dangerous and her reply was, "There is too much that can go wrong." I asked her if she checked her brakes, brake lines and brake fluid every time she got in the car?
"No."
"How about your oil, transmission fluid, etc?"
"No."
"Do you think in details about where you're going and what might happen on the way?"
"No."
Then I said, "Well, if your kid becomes a cave diver he or she will think about that before every dive."

You should too. That equipment and how you configure it is what will keep you alive. If you don't take care of it and choose the appropriate gear for the dive you may not always be so lucky. It doesn't seem all that funny to me and I usually have a pretty good sense of humor although my girlfriend might disagree sometimes.

You just have to decide for yourself what the risks are and whether you're willing to take them. Equipment and gear configuration risks don't make a lot of sense to me when my life is in the balance. Dive your own way...I'm certainly not DIR lemming myself...just think carefully about your choices.

By the way. There is nothing wrong with diving in a wetsuit. That's not what they are on your back about. They are telling you, and rightly so, that you should always have some redundant sort of buoyancy.

A good, 100 lb lift bag works. I've practiced it and it works. Make sure it has a dump valve and a clip. You can clip it to a D-Ring on your harness and add/remove air as needed. Not the best solution, but it's better than drowning.

A drysuit is another option as mentioned before.

A third option (that no decent DIR diver would approve of) is having a dual bladder wing.

 

[Ryanh1985]

Well since we are on the subject. In all honesty how is a dry suit going to help in a complete wing failure with some heavy steel doubles, deco tanks and what ever else. You are talking some serious neg. bouncy, is a dry suit really going to do that much? Specially a tighter fitting neoprene dry suit. I just can't see it adding that much bouncy. I can see it helping some, but you will still be finning like hell to stay neutral and more than likely compromise your deco stop anyways. To me a lift bag or a second wing makes way more since, when considering a major failure. But I really don't know to much about the subject.

 

[ianr33]

I've never measured it but I guess my drysuit can hold as much air as my 40 pound wing.Its pretty significant when I'm puffed up like a Michelin man.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Congrats and thanks for the report.

 

[jimdiverman]

Well since we are on the subject. In all honesty how is a dry suit going to help in a complete wing failure with some heavy steel doubles, deco tanks and what ever else. You are talking some serious neg. bouncy, is a dry suit really going to do that much? Specially a tighter fitting neoprene dry suit. I just can't see it adding that much bouncy. I can see it helping some, but you will still be finning like hell to stay neutral and more than likely compromise your deco stop anyways. To me a lift bag or a second wing makes way more since, when considering a major failure. But I really don't know to much about the subject.

It's called buoyancy.
.
Bouncy sounds like something from Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh series.

 

[FIXXERVI6]

Well since we are on the subject. In all honesty how is a dry suit going to help in a complete wing failure with some heavy steel doubles, deco tanks and what ever else. You are talking some serious neg. bouncy, is a dry suit really going to do that much? Specially a tighter fitting neoprene dry suit. I just can't see it adding that much bouncy. I can see it helping some, but you will still be finning like hell to stay neutral and more than likely compromise your deco stop anyways. To me a lift bag or a second wing makes way more since, when considering a major failure. But I really don't know to much about the subject.

My buddy floated his 104's with an oversized steel plate on just his drysuit, so yea, its doable.

 

[Ryanh1985]

It's called buoyancy.
.
Bouncy sounds like something from Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh series.

Thanks for the informative post. :mooner:

My buddy floated his 104's with an oversized steel plate on just his drysuit, so yea, its doable.

Never would have guessed a dry suit would have that much lift.

 

[k-valve]

Well since we are on the subject. In all honesty how is a dry suit going to help in a complete wing failure with some heavy steel doubles, deco tanks and what ever else. You are talking some serious neg. bouncy, is a dry suit really going to do that much? Specially a tighter fitting neoprene dry suit. I just can't see it adding that much bouncy. I can see it helping some, but you will still be finning like hell to stay neutral and more than likely compromise your deco stop anyways. To me a lift bag or a second wing makes way more since, when considering a major failure. But I really don't know to much about the subject.

Have you ever seen a drysuit diver goofing off and blowing their drysuit up? It's pretty funny looking and a lot of air. You'd have no problem getting positive with dbl steel 104s and a couple of deco bottles. I've practiced with my LP85s and I don't have to come anywhere near filling the drysuit.

 

[k-valve]

But all the crazy stuff was funny! (kept thinking of that Johnny Quest episode where they jump the speedboat over the evil frogmen / henchmen)

I appreciate all the advice and opinions, really - and I'm glad I sparked some interest and debate in this thread.

Oh and I was using V-planner (I believe that's VPM-B?) to model the dive - again, the deco stuff was just for skills and drills, they weren't called for specifically or anything.

I'd welcome the oppty to dive / learn from all the instuctors and more experienced people on here - just got the initial impression that if I showed up for a tech dive in doubles wearing a wetsuit people would think I was being overly reckless or something...

Just trying to incorporate what I've recently learned and be a better diver...

D.

Well, then, come on down to Travis again and let's go diving. What you need now is experience...and I can't think of anything more fun that gaining experience tech diving...well there is one other thing but that would be for a different type of forum altogether.