Personal Dive Tables

[Heads Up]

As I have got more interested in diving and, in particular, reading about technical diving, I have read more and more dive reports with divers referring to using their own personal dive tables. I am curious as to how these are developed. In one particular report (can't remember which one now), the divers in question had all made the same decompression dive but had used their own personal tables for their deco stops. How do you develop these? Before I continue, I am NOT interested in developing my own - this is purely for my own curiosity. Is there a 'formula' or is it a case of trying it and if you don't end up bent at the end then it must be ok (Surely not??)

Is there a formula and if so, what are the variables?

 

[Walter]

This should get you started:

http://www.abysmal.com/pages/articles/understanding_m_values.html

DSSW,

WWW™

 

[large_diver]

Here's some more info about the GUE decoplanner software (can be used for anything from rec to technical deco dives).

Enjoy.

http://www.gue.com/decoplanner/index.shtml

 

[Heads Up]

Thats given me some stuff to get my teeth into - cheers

 

[Lost Yooper]

Heads Up,

What we're doing is using computer decompression programs to generate dive profiles. By "personnal", they may be referring to variables within the programs that can be changed to either increase or decrease conservation. Some programs can get very detailed and get into a divers age, water temp, workload, etc. Other programs have a simple conservation factor that can be adjusted by the user to get the desired conservation. Some people may want to deco out more aggressively than others who are older, overweight, not in great physical fitness, diving in cold water, etc.

There are various "formulas", or models, that programs use to calculate profiles. Some are, by design, more conservative (often unnecessarily so) than others. I'm not going to get into all that, as there is plenty of reading you can do that is written by authors who are much more articulate than I in explaning them.

What you are looking for is a program that is proven by technical divers and well known; incorporates custom mixes; calculates deep stops; and is user friendly. Some good and well known programs are Deco Planner (GUE), GAP (free download), Pro Planner, Z Planner (free download), V Planner (free download and VPM model -- my favorite thus far), and Abyss (expensive). Keep in mind, that no program out there has deco figured out to a tee, and a knowledgable diver can add tricks to the profile (without letting the program know about it) to deco out faster and/or safer.

Learn everything you can about VPM, RGBM, deep stops, accelerated deco with high PPO2 mixes, helium (and it's effects on your body), micro bubble theory, and how it all relates to diving. Authors to keep an eye out for are E. Maiken, E. Baker, B. Hamilton, D. Younte, B. Weinke, G. Irvine, and J. Jablonski.

Here's another link.

http://home.adelphia.net/~robworld

Need anything else, just ask.

Mike

PS. Make sure you know what you're doing and have a thorough
understanding of what's going on before doing any of this stuff. It's not hard to learn if you know who to listen to and what to read, but it will killl you if you screw up.

 

[Manos]

The are three level of the so called "teckies" :

1: the ones that rely on their computers for deco , and then the get bend once it fails.

2: The divers that print tables from a program and keep in thair pockets ( nothing wrong with that ).

3: The divers that understand decompresion and can calculate deco " on the fly "


Cuting your tables is not a big deal , you dont need to be a phd math professor.

Go and search about GUE and learn what is " deco on the fly "

Dont spread it arount cause the whole story upsets the VR3 divers.

 

[chrisch]

OKay - this sounds interesting. I've tried the GUE W3 and all I can find is Eric's M-Values article - the GUE search engine returns everything.

Any pointers where to look to get more info?

Chris

 

[MechDiver]

Manos once bubbled...
The are three level of the so called "teckies" :

3: The divers that understand decompresion and can calculate deco " on the fly "
Go and search about GUE and learn what is " deco on the fly "

Dont spread it arount cause the whole story upsets the VR3 divers.

Ya know, I'm curious. If they do all this stuff in their heads, why do they need Decoplanner??

You're comments are not only flawed, they are dangerous.

MD

 

[Charlie99]

MechDiver once bubbled...


Ya know, I'm curious. If they do all this stuff in their heads, why do they need Decoplanner??

You're comments are not only flawed, they are dangerous.

MD

And Decoplanner is dangerous in and of itself if you believe the GUE instructors who call neo-Haldane algorithms (such as used by GUE's Decoplanner) "BEND and MEND" programs.

 

[Green_Manelishi]

I am far from expert but I do know this ....

"Decompression science" is inexact at best. That is why
there are new theories bubbling-up (HA HA HA !!!!) on a
regular basis.

It's a calculated risk and you had best make certain you
understand that REGARDLESS of what program you use
(or don't use) ... you might "get bent" someday doing a
dive you've done before.

Also, don't fall into the trap of "doing someone elses
deco". By that I mean what works for George Irvine,
Jablonski, Brett Gilliam, Tom Mount, Terrence Tysall,
Kevin Gurr, etc. might NOT work for you.

Lastly, I'll err on the side of caution/conservatism every
time and if the deco obligation is more than I want to
take on ... I'll dive shallower or shorter or not at all.

Editing now ... and one more thing ...

I've seen two types of written comments re: flying deco

1) that GUE disciples do it

2) that there is no written information on how to do it.
you need to take a GUE class to learn how to do flying deco