Place of dive tables in modern diving

[oldschoolto]

There is a protocol for that, as well as having a buddy whose computer still works.

You're breaking the golden rule of never use someone else's computer..
LOL.. Tables and navy Deco times is not learning how to plot the insertion burn time too land a Rover on Mars..


Jim

 

[Lorenzoid]

My course 1.5 years ago taught tables. Then they recommended getting a DC as the first equipment purchase, if you decided to buy equipment. I think it would have been wrong not to teach the basics of dive tables, so that you know what the DC is doing and more accurately tracking.

I used to be of that opinion, but I have since warmed to the idea that teaching tables is no longer the only, or even the best, way to teach someone to have an intuitive grasp of what the DC is doing. With a DC simulator running on a PC/tablet/phone/etc. the student can watch the no-deco time and nitrogen loading change along with the depth and time during simulated dives. I believe that if a student plays around with this for some simulated dives, the student gets just as good a feel for what depth/time combinations result in what no-deco times as he would if he were to use a table to play around with various dive scenarios. Whether you determine from the tables that you're in Group C or see on a nitrogen loading bar graph that you have 3 "bars" worth of nitrogen in your tissues, you should get the same rough sense of how much it impacts the needed surface interval time and/or bottom time on the next dive.

 

[oldschoolto]

And these are the same students that run out of air because they can't look at a pressure gauge... Or turn on their air.. or dive with a mask that's fogged.. or hold a depth... or turn on the computer, so they made them automatically turn on when wet.. can't swim with tearing up the reef..

But that's the average diver of today..

Jim..

 

[tursiops]

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
Max Planck

 

[boulderjohn]

That, of course, assumes that your are not under a deco obligation at that time and I think many in this thread are in the mindset of their computer failing while they have a substantial obligation.

If you are under a substantial deco obligation, it is either a technical dive or a major screw-up. If it is a technical dive, then you should be trained for technical diving. If you are trained for technical diving, then everything essential is backed up. If a computer fails on a technical dive, it is no big deal. Even if you don't have a buddy, you either have another computer or a backup timing/depth device and a written decompression plan. As for me, it is a second computer.

 

[MargaritaMike]

That, of course, assumes that your are not under a deco obligation at that time and I think many in this thread are in the mindset of their computer failing while they have a substantial obligation.

First, I don't do deco diving. I don't need to in order to satisfy my need to blow bubbles. With that said, I dive with a Perdix on my left arm, a Tag Heuer dive watch next to it, and a Hollis DG03 on my right arm. IF I were to encounter an accidental Deco situation (I can't imagine how that would happen, but it could), and my DC's both die while I'm at the deco stop, I can use my watch to finish my deco stop. If I get a deco obligation and it (they) dies immediately upon my discovery of such information, I will get with my buddy for depth and again use my watch to satisfy my obligation. Any thing more complex or outrageous than that, I guess I'm glad I carry DAN insurance.

If you are doing deco dives and don't have a backup DC or plan of some kind, then I think you are poorly prepared.

Just my $.02

Cheers -

 

[lowviz]

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
Max Planck

Yeah, yeah. And another quote from one of his peers:

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong." Albert Einstein

But, nonetheless, point taken. The way that I described a table being presented (to me with my 50's-70's roots) to aid understanding might possibly be the same experience that an Android/iPhone baby might experience by viewing a dive simulator...

 

[KenGordon]

You're breaking the golden rule of never use someone else's computer..
LOL.. Tables and navy Deco times is not learning how to plot the insertion burn time too land a Rover on Mars..


Jim

Divers are mostly not rocket scientists. Tables are highly error prone at the human level. Do you have an item on your checklist to have your table calcs reviewed by another pair of eyes?

The protocol I have in mind doesn’t require a computer. In any case the buddy fallback is sound. You generally do deco dives with the same buddy during the day and will be planning to do the same stops.

 

[lermontov]

As most here know.. I'm really big on having the tables burned into your brain and basic Deco numbers in your head also.. If you don't have a clue, Your in deep s##t if your computer dies...

Jim..

not really- given that your would have looked at your computer say 5 minutes ago youd know a) how much time you have NDL b) your depth c) EDT
and if you got an spg you know your gas you know your RMV etc you know how long you've got left to surface and do a safety stop - why is that so dramatic

 

[lermontov]

First, I don't do deco diving. I don't need to in order to satisfy my need to blow bubbles. With that said, I dive with a Perdix on my left arm, a Tag Heuer dive watch next to it, and a Hollis DG03 on my right arm. IF I were to encounter an accidental Deco situation (I can't imagine how that would happen, but it could), and my DC's both die while I'm at the deco stop, I can use my watch to finish my deco stop. If I get a deco obligation and it (they) dies immediately upon my discovery of such information, I will get with my buddy for depth and again use my watch to satisfy my obligation. Any thing more complex or outrageous than that, I guess I'm glad I carry DAN insurance.

If you are doing deco dives and don't have a backup DC or plan of some kind, then I think you are poorly prepared.

Just my $.02

Cheers -

and if you Tag dies you can use your RMV at 6m and breathe down the required BAR.
Pretty much all the divers I know dont do deco dives to satisfy their need to blow bubbles most do it because it opens open vast new areas of diving opportunities