Reconsidering Deep Air?

[jlcnuke]

The first rule of debauchery is to go where the CO warned you not to go. In most ports that would mean bars meant to attract American servicemen and mariners. I had the good fortune to visit a few but there was no diving suggested.
But we did a lot of freediving and snorkeling after letting off steam.
The military travel plan was better than anything I could have afforded. In only 6 years, I probably got to get wet in at least a dozen countries from the Azores to the Caymans.

in 12 years in the Navy I got to pull into the US a bunch of times, and see the Bahamas in the distance a couple times....

 

[Wibble]

what is the starting point [depth] for "deep air" today?
Some say 30m, others 40m.

For me, around 42m/130’ on OC because of the cost - always use accelerated deco with 80% (and 50% if long bottom times). If on CCR then it’s (cheap) helium below 30m/100’ — I bank 18/45 for this.

I will dive deeper on air (weak nitrox) but I’m well aware of being off my face with Narcosis, so nothing brave and probably excessive monitoring like some junkie.

 

[Atlantic Explorer]

That makes it much easier and realistic to achieve.

Does T1 allow for two deco cylinders?

It used to be that you had to have T2 to dive a breather with gue but that was and still is for Halcyons RB80 PSCR.
Since a couple years, there’s been a CCR option after T1 and 25 T1 dives.
You can read the standards here: https://www.gue.com/files/Standards_and_Procedures/GUE-Standards-v9.1-Amended.pdf. CCR1 is page 65

Edit: T1 is one stage for deco.
T2 is where multiple stages come into play.

 

[rjack321]

That makes it much easier and realistic to achieve.

Does T1 allow for two deco cylinders?

No
18/45, 21/35, 50% and O2 are all "allowed" and part of the course. But T1 is a ~45m, one deco gas (pick one), 30mins max deco course.

Tech60 didnt really ever take off but for awhile that was a 2 deco gas course between T1 (one deco gas) and T2 (2 deco gas and bottom stage)

 

[Wibble]

No
18/45, 21/35, 50% and O2 are all "allowed" and part of the course. But T1 is a ~45m, one deco gas (pick one), 30mins max deco course.

Tech60 didnt really ever take off but for awhile that was a 2 deco gas course between T1 (one deco gas) and T2 (2 deco gas and bottom stage)

Using two stages for 40m/130' to 50m/165' dives works really well as you can have far more time on the bottom and have redundancy, i.e. cater for a single gas failure. Even in the 30m/100' to 40m/130' range having two stages, even if they're the same gas is good.

Just need a skipper who's OK with 2h+ runtimes. And a pee valve ;-)

 

[rjack321]

Using two stages for 40m/130' to 50m/165' dives works really well as you can have far more time on the bottom and have redundancy, i.e. cater for a single gas failure. Even in the 30m/100' to 40m/130' range having two stages, even if they're the same gas is good.

Just need a skipper who's OK with 2h+ runtimes. And a pee valve ;-)

Beginning tech divers with GUE (T1) are limited to 30mins of deco and one deco gas in part because:

People die switching to the wrong deco gas, so someone with a whooping 3 or 6 or even 20 deco dives to their name doesnt need that added layer of complexity. If they only have one deco gas no matter how pear-shaped the dive, they probably can salvage enough deco not to die.

30mins is a realistic max to manage if there were to be a complete loss of deco gas. Yes you can share, but again someone with a handful or dozen deco dives ever is not in a good place to extensively share deco gasses.

An 2+hr runtimes, an hour of deco, for someone fresh out of a deco class is not their way. T1 is a learner's permit with modest exposures, not a license to accrue life threatening amounts of deco with barely any experience behind you other than a week long class.

 

[Kay Dee]

I really wished I had made that trip to dive HMS Exeter unfortunately I had other engagement. Apparently the whole wreck has gone!!!!

Gone completly, as are her two cosorts, save for some scraps in a few instances!!! As are De Ruyter, Java, Perch, and the list goes on. No intact 'worth diving' steel wrecks whatsoever left in Jave Sea 'cept USS Houston down in Sunda Strait.

Retired to Lombok few yrs ago and sold the boat to Froggy divers.

Well, has a lovely big place on Lombok, but currently living in Darwin driving a tug boat. Oh, and shame on low-life Froggy for not completing paying for Empress - for excuses / reasons known - which in turn caused said previous owner / skipper to come out of retiremernt and move to Darwin for an uknown length of time.

A bit off topic now, so back to how deep were we in the deep air discussion, and how much beer we can drink and trouble ashore we can get into if ex-navy (or Irish, whose genes I proudly carry, along with my Levis).

 

[Centrals]

Well, has a lovely big place on Lombok, but currently living in Darwin driving a tug boat. Oh, and shame on low-life Froggy for not completing paying for Empress - for excuses / reasons known - which in turn caused said previous owner / skipper to come out of retiremernt and move to Darwin for an uknown length of time.

That is really really sad.
I will send him a e-mail. Hopefully he is still using the old octa address.
Cheers

 

[Kay Dee]

That is really really sad.
I will send him a e-mail. Hopefully he is still using the old octa address.
Cheers

It is......... and he is (although replies not always immediate).

 

[Centrals]

It is......... and he is (although replies not always immediate).

Done. Thank you.
It would be very nice to share a fish head curry and fried ho fan in Singapore with them again!