I'm Here!

[BCS]

200'+ on air??!! What the?? There is absolutely no reason to be that deep on air. That level of narcosis is neither safe nor "adaptable". It is akin to drunk driving. Where did you learn this? I hope further advice you give will be wiser advice than 200'+ on air.

 

[ExtremeTech]

Net Doc / BCS
I'm not familiar with your diving credentials so forgive me if I make an assumption here that isn't correct. There are far more qualified divers than you an I out there that do more extreme diving then us (not for long though!!) that are huge proponents of diving deep on air. In my experience I have found that one can learn to manage narcosis and it is my understanding that one can also build a tolerance to the O2. Now, just for the record, I'm not sure I buy tolerance thing so to be safe I keep my ppo2 to a max of 1.6..

 

[King Kong Matt]

ExtremeTech once bubbled...
so to be safe I keep my ppo2 to a max of 1.6..

I am not a tech diver, so take this FWIW, but 1.6? The only place I've seen 1.6 recommended as a "safe" limit is in Gentile's guide to technical diving...and that, best I recall, was deemed safe for a state of rest, with 1.4 being the real "recommended" limit.

I'm not sure you're gonna find a lot of people on this board echoing their support for those kind of numbers...sounds like an oxtox incident waiting to happen.

Again, I don't have your credentials so my knowledge is based on academics and theory...please take that into account.

Dive safely,
Matt

 

[BCS]

Extreme,
I don't need to stand in front of a Mack truck in the middle of a highway to know that it's gonna kill me. Same goes with deep air. It's record speaks for itself. Besides, wouldn't it be a heck of a lot more enjoyable to be reasonably coherent on the dive?? What about an emergency?? Would you like your buddy to be "narced" when you had an OOA?. Check out DIr and maybe you will learn a little about why deep air is so dangerous. Diving is about being safe and having fun. That only happens when you are comfortable, competent, and confident. When you are narced out of your gourd, you are none of these. Just tryin' to help.
Also, think that 1.6 pO2 over...there are safer, lower pO2 levels to be diving!

 

[The Chairman]

but just because an agency promotes something does not make it safe. This is not about diving as much as it is about physiology.
1) You can not adapt to nitrogen narcosis... you only think you do.
2) Your judgement and reactions are severly impaired below 100', even to making you think that everything is fine.
3) ALL DIVES below 130' should be done on trimix or heliox.

The last diver that I pulled up was so narced out of his gourd that he completely spaced out and drifted from 120' to 163' on his way to his death. I grabbed him by the tank and set sights for the surface. He finally came around at 90' or so and was shocked to see me pulling his butt up. On the surface his first words were "Narced? Nah! I didn't feel a thing!"

 

[ckharlan66]

Have you read "The Last Dive"?

My thoughts, and I don't have your credentials either, is that there are old divers and bold divers but no old, bold divers. Why take the risk when a different mix would be so much safer?

Good luck in your diving.

Chad

 

[ExtremeTech]

BCS, NetDoc
Everyone's personal physiology is different...I can handle 1.6 ppo2, but I am not advocating that for everyone. In reality, I don't dive 1.6 all the time, just for the absolute bottom ppo2. I am only there for a small portion of the dive so the ppo2's do not have a huge effect on me as far as oxtox. I have built up tolerance to narcosis. I dive deep on air pretty regularly and that helps. Besides, air is so much cheaper. I just can't justify trimix for 200' dives, not yet anyway. Now if I were going to 230' or greater, then I can see getting into a 10-20% helium mix.

 

[King Kong Matt]

ExtremeTech once bubbled...
Besides, air is so much cheaper. I just can't justify trimix for 200' dives, not yet anyway.

If you can't do the dive the right way, don't do the dive.

Sorry, but your attitude just sounds really cavalier to me. Putting yourself at serious risk to save 100 bucks on a fill? Maybe I'm just hearing you wrong.

I would rather sound like a jerk on your first day on the boards then hear about an accident later on and know I never spoke my mind.

 

[Diettechie]

Thanks Extreme!! I'll give that stainless steel backplate and harness some thought. What brand do you recommend? I sure would like to take off some extra weight from my weight belt!! Crrently I wear 32lbs. I am pretty petite (5'2", 102lbs) but the divemasters always try to add more weight to me (just last November when I was in Belize, they had 36lbs on me...I sank like a rock, which was good, but had a hard time swimmin'!!) Is there any other advice that might help with weighting? Should I go to ankle weights?? (an instructor once told me I needed these...I have never seen them...do they work??) Thanks in advance Extreme!! ut:

 

[raxafarian]

ExtremeTech once bubbled...
BCS, NetDoc
Everyone's personal physiology is different...I can handle 1.6 ppo2, but I am not advocating that for everyone. In reality, I don't dive 1.6 all the time, just for the absolute bottom ppo2. I am only there for a small portion of the dive so the ppo2's do not have a huge effect on me as far as oxtox.

you sure about that? I find it hard to believe that you can predict where you will take a hit, while nobody else can

Your attitude towards diving in general, and technical diving in particular, is scary.

I wish you the best in your diving future.