Holding deco stops in low vis

[JamesK]

On that note, if your gauge offers a metric option, set it in metric. It will read in tenths of a meter, and a tenth of a meter is 4 inches, so it will change much faster than it will if it's registering in feet. (Learned that during Cave 1!)

That's one of the things I like about my Nitek Q. It gives me feet with the handy dandy decimal point. Tenths of afoot is very nice. I can see as I move inches and adjust from there.

 

[chrpai]

I guess I've spent so much time in mud pits that somewhere along the way I learned how to hold a hover in low vis and I don't even remember how I did it anymore.

 

[Doc Harry]

I can feel pressure changes of about 1-2 feet in my sinuses. It takes some practice figuring out the differences in sensation between going down 1-2 feet and going up 1-2 feet. This, combined with my pressure gauge and regular, even breathing helps me keep my position in bad viz.

For me, the key was concentrating on keeping my breathing rate and depth very regular to prevent large fluctuations in depth. It's a difficult skill to master, holding your depth in poor viz without tactile references.

Where I practice, the viz is so poor that I often have to bring my depth gauge right up to my mask.

 

[mweaver40]

Well I feel better. Thanks everyone. It sounds like this is a common problem and the solution is practice, breath control and and more practice. I will definitely try the metric gauge approach I did not think of that. It will be good practice anyway as I am selling the house and hope to move to the Philippines for 3 - 6 months of tech training. Unfortunately I am without a team even though I desperately need to practice with one. (sigh). I keep trying to get the 2 other fundies students to work with me but so far no luck. The are both busy people. Instructor said he would work with me and I was close to passing so hopefully it will work its way out. FYI I don't know for sure that a no reference ascent is required for fundies. It would be nice to have one during testing.. It is just extremely likely that it will occur for me as we often train in really bad vis. I think I have seen a diver pass fundies on an OOA shared gas accent with no upline. Either way I am pretty sure sooner or later it will occur where I am deep in bad vis and required to hold deco at say 75% of the max depth. I would think that you don't shoot an SMB until you get shallower and I won't have an upline.

 

[TSandM]

Actually, best practice is to shoot an SMB as soon as you know you are off the wreck or off the upline, because the sooner you deploy it, the sooner the boat will realize that you are not coming up where you should. If you wait until you get shallow, you may have drifted out of their sight.

Managing an OOA ascent off the line is more of a Rec Triox or Tech 1 kind of skill, or at least it was when I took my classes.

 

[deadbilly]

I'll third or fourth the suggestion to use suspended particles as a reference. To get technical for a moment, particles this small tend to experience the water at quite a low Reynolds number, which generally means they experience it as a very viscous fluid and are not prone to move through it much without significant external force. If you were to shrink yourself to the size of one of those particles, the water might feel like mostly solidified resin; i.e. you would stay where you were put. My strategy in the absence of any other reference is to find my depth by my gauge and then park myself using suspended particles, and I find it works quite well. Of course having an up-line from an SMB is still probably your best bet.

 

[boulderjohn]

. Unfortunately I am without a team even though I desperately need to practice with one. (sigh). I keep trying to get the 2 other fundies students to work with me but so far no luck. The are both busy people.

I just realized where you live. Are you doing your fundies with Rob? There are other options in the area for people to practice with. I would do it myself if I weren't laid up with an injury. I could also direct you to someone else who holds regular tech skills practices you could work with (along with me often), but he is also laid up with an injury right now. (For some reason tech divers in Colorado right now seem prone to injuries that have nothing to do with scuba. Hmm.) At any rate, we will be available for diving by the time you return.