Question How to practice deco ascents?

[BlueTrin]

I am sorry to say... but most likely...
Planlegger forøvrig dykk på Svestad på lørdag kl 10. Min form er litt ustabil om dagen, og det er første dykk tilbake, så jeg har lav terskel for tommel, men om du vil henge med så er du hjertelig velkommen.

In case someone wonders what was said lol

Incidentally, I'm planning a dive at Svestad on Saturday at 10. My form is a bit unstable during the day, and it's my first dive back, so I have a low threshold for thumbs, but if you want to hang out, you're most welcome.

 

[BlueTrin]

Out of curiosity what are your fins?

Also how much do you bend your knees when neutral? You can try to change the bend in the knees (I imagine you already do that)

 

[clownfishsydney]

I'm not sure if you're being facetious or serious. The difficult part is arresting your ascent so that you decelerate and stop precisely at some planned depth. The deceleration part is especially difficult with a drysuit (bag-o-expanding-gas) and heavy steel doubles (inertia). You need to coordinate how you dump from the wing AND the drysuit. And you need to do this so as to maintain a certain rate of ascent between stops--not too slow and not too fast. Dump too much too soon and you slow down too much or even come to a stop. Dump too little or too late and you accelerate and perhaps miss your stop. It's a difficult skill to master for many of us. Practicing this skill, many times I was unable to stop myself at 3m/10ft and popped to the surface. Now, throw in some task loading at each stop like @Imla described and, wow--it is difficult to master.

Never had a problem in doing decompression dives for over 30 years. Never once missed one, never done too shallow. Yes, I dive drysuit 1/3 of the year too. Deeper does not really matter, your computer takes this into account. If 3 m is a problem, do deeper, simple. Most computers can even be programmed to set the last deco stop deeper than 3 m.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Never once missed one, never done too shallow. Yes, I dive drysuit 1/3 of the year too. Deeper does not really matter, your computer takes this into account. If 3 m is a problem, do deeper, simple. Most computers can even be programmed to set the last deco stop deeper than 3 m.

Letting the computer compensate for sloppy skills doesn't seem optimal to me. Oh, I'm sure it works--as in, you probably won't die. But I believe it would be better if one were able to do a proper stepped ascent, hitting all the planned depths with good precision and able to hold themselves there while task loaded, before embarking on deco training. What's the rush into deco training?

 

[clownfishsydney]

Letting the computer compensate for sloppy skills doesn't seem optimal to me. Oh, I'm sure it works--as in, you probably won't die. But I believe it would be better if one were able to do a proper stepped ascent, hitting all the planned depths with good precision and able to hold themselves there while task loaded, before embarking on deco training. What's the rush into deco training?

A half metre or one metre is not going to be a problem. Even more is not if you have to do it due to surge or swell. Flexibility is the most important thing, do not be so rigid you cannot adapt to the conditions.

 

[Wibble]

Set the last stop to 3m/10ft. Then IF the sea conditions are good you can ascend from 6m/20ft to 5m or 4m and you’ve still another spare metre/3ft above you should something happen; big wave, buoyancy fart, whatever.

There’s no practical difference in dive times between a 3m or 6m final stop.
However, I personally feel less tired if I do some of the last stop above 6m which I generally aim for 4.5m/15ft. YMMV

 

[Beau Holden]

This is me and a good friend practicing our first share air, open water ascent with a stop back in 2008-2009. We would practice practice some type of ascent (air share or not, multiple stops ) on most every dive we did together. After the dive we would debrief and discuss what was right and what was wrong. The next dive we would overview the previous dive and work on correcting the wrongs. Joe and I went on to do our intro to cave together.

I'm back mount and Joe is side mount.

 

[Lorenzoid]

A half metre or one metre is not going to be a problem. Even more is not if you have to do it due to surge or swell. Flexibility is the most important thing, do not be so rigid you cannot adapt to the conditions.

I'm sure you're correct. Still, wouldn't it make sense to aim for greater precision during practice sessions like the OP is referring to? If you practice doing a stepped ascent with high precision, then out in the real world, where conditions may become challenging, or when there is some sort of event you need to deal with in addition to just doing your deco stops, you may still be able to do it all, with just enough precision.

 

[scubaozy]

In case someone wonders what was said lol

I just re-watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail opening credits.