How well do you hold stops?

[Diver0001]

If the point of a dive is training, then the bar should be set at zero deviation.

I can understand the idea but realistically I'm not a good enough diver to achieve zero deviation in the conditions of these dives. I'm sure all kinds of people on the internet can do it, but I can't.

R..

 

[chillyinCanada]

I can always do it on the internet.

---------- Post added November 29th, 2013 at 05:08 AM ----------

I also do my ascents and stops horizontally. Have had at least one DM do his damedest to make me stop that practice.

 

[Diver0001]

I also do my ascents and stops horizontally. Have had at least one DM do his damedest to make me stop that practice.

Ehhh.... bah! How do we reach these people?

You know, I think registering on Scubaboard should be a requirement for everyone who is serious enough about diving to want to teach...

R..

 

[bradells]

Are you people holding your shallow stops, horizontally or vertically? TS&M I'm putting you down for horizontal. Diver0001? Centrals? Ste wart? And all the rest of you?

Horizontal ..... buuuut depends on how many 'vertidiots' are around that always seem to crowd together at safety stops..... Until I swim away .... again .....

 

[Diver0001]

Horizontal ..... buuuut depends on how many 'vertidiots' are around that always seem to crowd together at safety stops..... Until I swim away .... again .....

Maybe this is just the way I'm wired, but "veridiots" are only people who don't have the benefit of our experience. It's not fair to suggest that there is maybe something wrong with someone because they don't apply what many people (on the internet) believe are best practices.

R..

 

[waterpirate]

I meant no snark. By zero deviation, I meant what we should strive for in training. I can not either. If we are training for best practices and set the bar at zero deviation, that we never achieve, it should translate into a very tight deviation in real execution.

 

[Daria_23]

Depends. When I don`t care and I`m deploing a ballon, writing somethig in wetnotes or doing something, it`s usually 0,7 - 0,5 meters of deviation.
When I care and stay calm, it`s usually something around 0,3 m.
Worth practice whole life. "Don`t be afraid of perfection, you`ll never reach it"

 

[flots am]

So for people who do something similar, what target do you set for yourself in terms of depth variation for holding stops and what do you normally achieve in reality?

About the best I can get is a about foot either way, which really means a 2' variation. My computer only reads out in 1 foot increments, and by the time it's decided to say anything, it could even be a little more. For example, if I think I'm @ 30', it will continue to say 30' until it says 31'. If I drop down back to 30' it does the same thing in the other direction, which could mean 29'.

+/- a couple of feet at any reasonable depth doesn't bother me much. Maybe I'm too sloppy, but I'm still alive and never been bent.

For the shallower stops I'm not sure it's even a useful number, since the waves can often be several feet , regardless of where you think you are.

flots

 

[TSandM]

If I'm sitting in the open water basin of a cenote, with crystal clear water, tons of visual reference, and no water movement at all, I can do a valve drill (on my good days) without my gauge ever changing, and that's in 10 feet of water. In low viz and with no visual reference except my buddy, no way!

 

[rongoodman]

Horizontal, as best I can. I find it more difficult to do with my rebreather because of having to dump the counter lungs.