Recently a fellow Prism rebreather diver took his rig to a "rebreather friendly" resort in the islands. During the course of the week a battery connection broke and he was unable to use his electronics. He had no problems with this and proceeded to start the dive with the unit turned off in manual mode. An Inspiration instructor who works with the resort stopped him and forbid him to dive. The Prism diver proceeded to explain that this was a safe practice with the Prism and that he was thoroughly trained in using the unit in this mode. The instructor still didnt allow him to dive and eventually contacted the Prism office and gave his opinion on how this was dangerous and a "fatality waiting to happen". As also a Prism diver, I can say that all students are thoroughly trained in the manual mode in various emergency situations. I only have 40 hours on my rig, but 35 of those hours are in the manual mode.The manual mode is a fairly simple process on the Prism. As long as a diver has a complete understanding of partial pressures(as all begining rebreather students should know) and a rig that has the capability to easily maintain a given pressure manually(regardless of what make rebreather it is) why was this diver stopped from diving? Is this the general concensus among Inspiration instructors??
Question for Inspiration instructors
- Thread starter urs15
- Start date
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If the instructor is not trained on the unit then he should not be stopping your mate diving on it. I would have told the instructor where to go, and gone diving anyway.
I would also have gotton his name and reported him to whatever agency he is attached to.
Cheers
Chris
I would also have gotton his name and reported him to whatever agency he is attached to.
Cheers
Chris
Since when has there been a diving police. No one can stop you diving. They can refuse to let you use their gear, boat or facility (thats their right).
Also doesn't say much for him as an Inspiration Instructor if he knows so little about rebreathers in general. Should he even have a unit, let alone instruct on it. the inspiration can also be flown manually, but does require at least one handset to be switched on. It has no passive monitoring
Also doesn't say much for him as an Inspiration Instructor if he knows so little about rebreathers in general. Should he even have a unit, let alone instruct on it. the inspiration can also be flown manually, but does require at least one handset to be switched on. It has no passive monitoring
I understand your rig and I would have probably do the same..
Diving with no redundancy is stupid.. Doing it on a CCR rebreather is INSANE. I also have heard how much trouble that analog guage has been.. I wouldn't have a problem if you wanted to dive in manual mode as long as the electronics were available as a backup..
Every RB diver is taught emergency skills, on most RBs running "manual" is an emergency skill (I Fly my Inspiration manually all the time to keep in practice), but if that analog guage has any problems(fly it as an SCR??? - maybe - depends on skill level) and your electronics are already dead what are you going to do??
AT least uunder normal circumstances you could turn them on..
If its BS shallow reef its probably not that big a deal, but if there is any chance of having deco without appropiate bailout available its not very smart..
We have dive boats up here that will not let you dive if you don't have a redundant air source, reel, and lift bag.. missing one you dont get to dive..
Urs15,
Please don't take this the wrong way.. At 40 hours I wouldn't even consider you a RB diver, you are a beginner akin to a learners permit. For most agencies you wouldn't even qualify for advanced training.
You are probably at the stage where you think you got everything down... In another 50 hours or so you'll realize how little experience you actually have.. By the time you reach 100 hours you'll be starting to think like a rb diver, by 200 you're well on your way.....
Just because a person is an instructor, doesn't qualify that person as an expert.. all it means is that the person is capable of showing a person how to use the unit, teach the skills necessary to survive and learn, and to oversee the initial dives..
I halve almost 10 times your time on RB, and I still consider myself in the learning stages (maybe in 2 or 3 more years I'll change this opinion.. probably not... Even after 14 years of oc with almost 8 years of trimix, I still learn a thing or two)... Sure I can teach everything I know and safely produce others, but I don't kid myself, there is no replacement for experience .. AT this time the deepest I will go myself is 300, the deepest I will teach at is 165... and from speaking with other instructors I know I have much more time than many.. Take it slow and take nothing for granted, If you don't know you PO2 any unit will kill you..
Please don't take this the wrong way.. At 40 hours I wouldn't even consider you a RB diver, you are a beginner akin to a learners permit. For most agencies you wouldn't even qualify for advanced training.
You are probably at the stage where you think you got everything down... In another 50 hours or so you'll realize how little experience you actually have.. By the time you reach 100 hours you'll be starting to think like a rb diver, by 200 you're well on your way.....
Just because a person is an instructor, doesn't qualify that person as an expert.. all it means is that the person is capable of showing a person how to use the unit, teach the skills necessary to survive and learn, and to oversee the initial dives..
I halve almost 10 times your time on RB, and I still consider myself in the learning stages (maybe in 2 or 3 more years I'll change this opinion.. probably not... Even after 14 years of oc with almost 8 years of trimix, I still learn a thing or two)... Sure I can teach everything I know and safely produce others, but I don't kid myself, there is no replacement for experience .. AT this time the deepest I will go myself is 300, the deepest I will teach at is 165... and from speaking with other instructors I know I have much more time than many.. Take it slow and take nothing for granted, If you don't know you PO2 any unit will kill you..
Padiscubapro...No way did I take your comment in the wrong way. I still have a tremendous amount of learning and time to put into my rig. I was just curious about the opinions (or policies that might be in place) when Inspiration instructors come across other types of rigs. I was planning on taking my rig with me on some dive vacations when I am more comfortable with it....
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