How well do you hold stops?

[bradells]

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..

If you read the rest .... The crowding, ..... again, etc.

I'm not talking about great divers who happen to be vertical while hovering, who are a few fin kicks away from assistance. But OW divers (regardless of Organization Achievement) in general.

I'm talking about the ones that don't know where they are, and each other are in the water, the ones who crowd around (not in a good buddy way with no viz) the ones who kick you in the head, or get tangled up in a drift line on ascent and descent. The ones who ascend into people on the surface .....


BRad

 

[dumpsterDiver]

To be honest, I have never tied to measure my deviation when doing Deco. However, I have never taken any technical or deco classes. Is this some type of important performance metric that is used in these classes?

The only time I really worry about it is when I am do deco on oxygen. Pretty much 100% of the time, I am doing drifting deco and I will use my own SMB that I am holding. I like to have a "hard connection" to the surface to limit my potential for screwing up with oxygen.

 

[RJP]

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 (+/- 1ft is goal) at stops for sure, and throughout dive unless moving through some passage etc (or maybe shooting images/video) that require being vertical.

---------- Post added November 29th, 2013 at 04:22 PM ----------

vortizontal in low vis and current.

Vortizontal?

---------- Post added November 29th, 2013 at 04:24 PM ----------

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

Once had someone on a liveaboard say to me "I notice you have trouble getting vertical on your safety stop... you should try ankle weights."

:d

 

[Hawkwood]

Once had someone on a liveaboard say to me "I notice you have trouble getting vertical on your safety stop... you should try ankle weights."

:d

You never fail to amaze me with some of the stuff you come up with. Too funny!

So that this is not a complete off topic post....horizontal...

 

[Teller]

I give my students a one foot variance. For example if the stop is at 70' I don't consider their buoyancy skills to be up to par if they cant hold the stop between 71'-69'.

 

[Centrals]

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 if the condition allowed. Verticle if there is stronge down current.
And if the sea is rough and the current is stronge and if I had already shot the smb then I would be bouncing up and down by as much as 1-2m. 3-5m is not unheard of if there is down current.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Once had someone on a liveaboard say to me "I notice you have trouble getting vertical on your safety stop... you should try ankle weights."

:d

ahhahaaaa . . . laughed so hard the tears ran down my legs!! Oh, the diplomacy a response to that would require.

 

[DevonDiver]

Once had someone on a liveaboard say to me "I notice you have trouble getting vertical on your safety stop... you should try ankle weights."

Maybe they were 'PADI Deep Diver' qualified and simply advising based on what they were officially taught?

PADI Deep Diver Course, Specialty Instructor Manual, Knowledge Development:
5. Deep diving descents or ascents without reference
a. Are not recommended. Try to make every deep diving descent or ascent either holding on to a reference line or near a sloping bottom or wall.
b. If a descent or ascent must be made without a reference, follow these guidelines:
• At the start, place your body in a feet-down, vertical position.

10... How to make a safety stop with the aid of a reference line:
• Using your depth gauge, find the place on the line that is 5 metres/15 feet below the surface — grab the line just above that point (this positions the mid-chest area at 5 metres/15 feet).
• Your body should be vertical and parallel with line.
• Neutralize buoyancy or get slightly negative.
• Have one buddy watch time, the other watch depth. The diver watching depth is to constantly adjust both his and his buddy’s depth level.


e. How to make a safety stop without the aid of a reference line (lost line):
• After a proper ascent, make physical contact with your buddy.
• Neutralize buoyancy
• Remain vertical — feet-down, head-up position. If a current is present swim slowly, side-by-side into the current. Avoid overexertion.
• Have one buddy watch time, the other watch depth. The diver watching depth is to constantly adjust both his and his buddy’s depth level.

Can't blame the diver for applying the training they were given...

 

[PfcAJ]

Jiminey Christmas. Those are the standards??

 

[RJP]

Maybe they were 'PADI Deep Diver' qualified and simply advising based on what they were officially taught?

We should be so lucky that folks "did what was officially taught" at all times. I would gladly trade "meeting substandard standards" for "abject cluelessness" amongst the vast majority of underwater tourists.

This particular diver must have also been officially taught to lay on the reef to take photos, stand on coral, bicycle-kick furiously to knock over fans, and generally flail about at all tines. On one descent his wife literally landed atop the wreck with such force that she actually bounced off the deck, and proceeded to roll over the rail and right down the hull to the sand. Had we been on a wall in Grand Cayman she would have never been seen again.