max depth with an 80 cuft. tank

[scubamama5]

At 100ft, ..was about 7min into the dive..and BOOM...my primary hose blew off the second stage!
First things first..switch to Octo..stow the useless second stage.
Catch the flippin' primary hose , was whippin like a snake on hot coals..and stow ..behind my back plate.. many bubbles..
(had plenty of gas..no way am I goin to violate my Steel HP 80)..breathed it down to about 1000lbs, during ascent..then shut her down.. I always use a pony goin to 100ft..
Was the only time I've used my pony for me..NICE.
(Capt said it looked like a volcano erupted...he had a safety diver jump in and had to O2 ready..Nice..but didn't need either)

I limit my depth with a single 80 to 80' with plenty of back up gas for the "what if factor" Beyond 80 stayin within recreational limits..I use a single with pony

My Doubles are for..Deeper w/ Deco..and
any dive with Overhead ...can't have bubbles knockin' stuff off...better be able to do a quick shut down..
And yes, I rig up the pony when I'm on doubles.

 

[Superlyte27]

At 100ft, ..was about 7min into the dive..and BOOM...my primary hose blew off the second stage!
First things first..switch to Octo..stow the useless second stage.
Catch the flippin' primary hose , was whippin like a snake on hot coals..and stow ..behind my back plate.. many bubbles..
(had plenty of gas..no way am I goin to violate my Steel HP 80)..breathed it down to about 1000lbs, during ascent..then shut her down.. I always use a pony goin to 100ft..
Was the only time I've used my pony for me..NICE.
(Capt said it looked like a volcano erupted...he had a safety diver jump in and had to O2 ready..Nice..but didn't need either)

I limit my depth with a single 80 to 80' with plenty of back up gas for the "what if factor" Beyond 80 stayin within recreational limits..I use a single with pony

My Doubles are for..Deeper w/ Deco..and
any dive with Overhead ...can't have bubbles knockin' stuff off...better be able to do a quick shut down..
And yes, I rig up the pony when I'm on doubles.

Sounds like a great captain really on the ball.

 

[Mike Boswell]

There is ... of course ... a HUGE difference between doing something in practice and having to do it in a real emergency. Most of that difference involves what happens to your physiology as a result of your mental state ... in other words ... STRESS!

WRT a 100-ft emergency ascent ... perhaps the average scuba diver, in average shape and decent health can make it ... IF they remain mentally calm and physically relaxed.

I contend that the average diver would not do so in a real OOA emergency ... because the average diver has never really had to deal with a real emergency, and likely has an inflated opinion of their own ability to deal with one.

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but reality will be the father who beats the crap out of you when you most need to deal with it ... this is why DM courses involve stupid exercises whose only purpose is to train you how to remain calm in a crisis ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Agreed: On a full breath of air, knowing beforehand that that is what you are going to do, I would think many could swim up 100 feet. As you point out, an emergency situation would present a much different situation.

In addition, since most divers are taught to first look for their buddy to share air, they effectively lose that-swim-to-the-surface option.

 

[scubamama5]

Superlyte... Capt.."Paul" is a hero..had his stuff together..I was, still am, impressed.

 

[LiteHedded]

there's a lot of silliness going on in here.
Rox's post is a good one.

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

there's a lot of silliness going on in here.Rox's post is a good one.

Agreed, it is very apparent AND very scary to me that lots of people going deep seem to have no clue what so ever as to how to plan their gas use. If you're going to go dive deep you need to learn how to calculate Rock Bottom Gas Requirements.

And to all those who say "We used to do it all the time" just be glad you didnt have a problem...

 

[AfterDark]

You do understand what rock bottom is right? The amount of gas it would take you and a buddy to get to the surface if one diver had a catastrophic gas failure AND you observed proper ascent speeds and saftey stops.

Most dives I make are solo so a buddy doesn't usually enter into the equation. I also try not to dive with someone with less than my level of experience, not certifications, experience. As someone wrote many of us can do a free ascent from 100'. I've done it from 70' once so what's 30 more feet? I'm a big believer in "do what you want just don't hurt me or screw up my dive. If your only comfortable using a 120cu ft bottle or whatever at 100' fine with me. I know what I've done and what I can do, and I'm comfortable with an 80cu ft. at 100'. So until the scuba police force me to change I'll remain an old bold diver that does it my way. I figure surviving 30+ years of diving I must be doing something right or I'd be a ghost poster.

 

[Blackwood]

As someone wrote many of us can do a free ascent from 100". I've done it from 70' once so what's 30 more feet?

about 43%.

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

Most dives I make are solo so a buddy doesn't usually enter into the equation. I also try not to dive with someone with less than my level of experience, not certifications, experience. As someone wrote many of us can do a free ascent from 100". I've done it from 70' once so what's 30 more feet? I'm a big believer in "do what you want just don't hurt me or screw up my dive. If your only comfortable using a 120cu ft bottle or whatever at 100' fine with me. I know what I've done and what I can do, and I'm comfortable with an 80cu ft. at 100'. So until the scuba police force me to change I'll remain an old bold diver that does it my way. I figure surviving 30+ years of diving I must be doing something right or I'd be a ghost poster.

Oh, so we don't drown but now we're bent?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I guess it depends on the mental stability of the Diver. Dive long enough and often enough, and everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Plan well enough, and you should never have to find out. Unfortunately, I've been diving alot longer than pony bottles have been popular.

And yes, I have had it happen to me, just after I exhaled. I sucked the air out of my BC and swam for the surface hard.

Early in my diving career, I tried to think of everything that could go wrong, and given that event, how would I overcome it. When those events happened in real life, it didn't take alot of thought to make the solution a reality.

When you are spearfishing with power heads 100' in Daytona, generally for our group of people, it's a solo endeavor. For several reasons. Someone can make sure the boat doesn't get stolen while I'm down. And, I'd rather the risk of no air, than somebody shoot me with a .357 underwater.

I still don't own a pony bottle. I dive a Single LP 95 spearfishing. It's DIN, so that takes away a little risk. And my regulators are kept in top condition. Sure, a HP hose could burst. I've had that happen too, but I know how to respond to these crisis, because I experienced most of them. Is a pony bottle safer? Absolutely! But for me, at 100', it's just not necessary.

so what do you do when a HP hose blows and you are solo at 100 feet with no poony bottle?