How to promote nitrox and mixed gas diving ?

[squid-france]

It's probably just that his particular dive club that doesn't mix nitrox/trimix, and he'd be interested in it.

.......

Barring any legal problems.

To answer to Vjanelle, the target is not to reach a single club. There is a need to promote in a larger scale. We would like to start by considering all clubs in our federal district (around 80 clubs and 4000 divers).

We count on some support !

 

[boulderjohn]

The idea has not with much resistance with the people and organizations I dive with, at least not in recent years. Nitrox is widely accepted in the USA, ...
There really isn't any "convincing" to be done, although divers who aren't familiar with the gasses may need to be educated first.

This is my experience as well.

The only problems I have are that in many cases when I travel it is more expensive and hard to find than I would like.

EDIT: If you are also going to talk abut helium mixes, tahat is another story. There the biggest problems are
1. It is every expensive
2. It is hard to find
3. Current certification requirements are extremely hard for people to reach. With most agencies, yiou have to go through a lot of training before you are allowed to use it.

 

[MSilvia]

3. Current certification requirements are extremely hard for people to reach. With most agencies, yiou have to go through a lot of training before you are allowed to use it.

One might argue that the third point is not so much a problem as a sensible requirement, even if it keeps trimix from being more widely used.

 

[boulderjohn]

One might argue that the third point is not so much a problem as a sensible requirement, even if it keeps trimix from being more widely used.

One might argue that. On the other hand, many people argue the opposite.

For example, TDI requires quite a bit of training before you get into helium, whereas UTD gets you there pretty quickly.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think the questions and promotion of nitrox and trimix are going to be very different, as there are different reasons for using each of those gases. Likewise, the use of nitrox is for very different reasons depending on whether you are using it for decompression or for recreational diving.

A while ago I wrote an article about the benefits of nitrox for the recreational diver, which I have posted on my website. You may find something useful in it ... NWGratefulDiver.com

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[squid-france]

Thanks Bob, interesting article

In fact, the subject could be split in two :

1. What are the benefits for a diver to use Nitrox or Trimix ?
2. What are the benefits for a diving center to develop nitrox or trimix class ?
2.1 What are the success conditions in order to develop this ?

Thanks for your support. I'm really interested by getting feedback from other diving organisations.

 

[boulderjohn]

2. What are the benefits for a diving center to develop nitrox or trimix class ?
2.1 What are the success conditions in order to develop this ?

I live in a specific area where there is not much call for either nitrox or trimix. The local diving is too shallow, and much of it is univiting to all but the most active scuba enthusiasts. Thus, when we use nitrox, it is usually when we travel to other locations. It is not that people are against nitrox. We have a lot of nitrox certified people here who use it when they fly to vacation spots. We don't have many people who are trimix certified, though.

It is therefore not very advantageous for local dive shops to do a lot of work with either nitrox or trimix. Our shop deals with it, but in a very limited way. The shop buys large tanks of oxygen and helium ato make the blends that a small number of people take with them. I am one of those people, and I just got back from the shop where I blended trimix for a trip we are taking this weekend. We will drive about 6.5 hours to get to the only place in our region where we can use it, and we will have to take big tanks with us to make our own refills out of the truck, because there is no place to get it where we are going.

So you can probably see that our shop does not make much money on this. They do it because they want to keep this part of their client base happy and diving. They also do other things that help us out and bring them no profit, like letting us store a lot of our equipment on the premises so that we are not having to lug steel doubles around too much. By doing so, they keep us loyal to the shop. In gratitude, I buy my gear through them, even though I can sometimes get it cheaper on the Internet.

If we were located somewhere else, things would be different. In some places in the country, nitrox is so popular that shops keep large tanks all blended and ready to go. They will use expensive mixing procedures that work best when you are making large batches. (We use partial pressure blending because we don't have enough use to justify the expense.) If you have enough interest, then the shop can make a profit from it.

As far as trimix is concerned, a benefit to being the only dive center in your area that deals in it would be that the relatively small number of people who use it will flock to your center and create a new client base for technical diving equipment.

 

[idocsteve]

I should think that the first question asked would be; Why use nitrox? It's more expensive, more complicated and we've been diving on air with no problems for ever.

It's not more expensive, it's not any more complicated then many other aspects of scuba diving, and just because something has always worked doesn't mean it can't be improved.

Nitrox is not more expensive because it allows for longer bottom times, therefore the cost per diving hour is less. The additional safety factor that is provided by Nitrox for those who maintain the same diving profile as they did while breathing air cannot be given a price value.

Determining decompression limits, understanding gear, knowing how to handle emergencies and other diving situations makes the "complexity" of Nitrox (as you put it), barely more than child's play.

Using the logic of "it always worked this way, why change it", is a backwards and closeminded way of thinking that can apply to anything from color TVs replacing black and white TVs, to microwaves finding their way into the kitchen's of every home. I won't even get into cellphones and virtual reality computer games.

 

[boulderjohn]

It's not more expensive, it's not any more complicated then many other aspects of scuba diving, and just because something has always worked doesn't mean it can't be improved.

Nitrox is not more expensive because it allows for longer bottom times, therefore the cost per diving hour is less.

Sometimes.

Sometimes not.

In many areas where one dives, the operator puts a time limit on your dive, so you don't really get any more bottom time than anyone else.

Many divers will find that with an AL 80, they will run out of gas before they get the benefit of the nitrox extended bottom time. They don't have enough air to hit NDLs on either air or nitrox.

In many other cases, like Molasses Reef in Key Largo, the dives are shallow enough that you are not going to exceed NDLs either way.

In most of the areas I dive, they usually charge $10 per tank more than the cost of a regular tank. In some areas a 2 tank dive, including the boat, a DM, and everything else, is $60. (About half of what it costs in Hawaii, but...) I cannot say for sure what percentage of that cost is the normal air fill. If you want nitrox for each dive, it is $$80, a 33% increase in total cost for your day of diving.

So for a lot of people, perhaps the majority of potential users, it is indeed more expensive.

 

[idocsteve]

Sometimes.

Sometimes not.

So for a lot of people, perhaps the majority of potential users, it is indeed more expensive.

Ok, you make a good point.

So..what boulderjohn said.

Although I'll still maintain that Nitrox has other benefits that you can't necessarily put a price on, including shorter surface intervals and the ability to make a deeper second dive (limited of course by the dive Op policies and non Nitrox divers in the group), and more of a safety margin in terms of tissue Nitrogen absorption, especially when you consider that sometimes divers suffer from DCS even if their profile was well within the safe "table" limits.