Riding a DSMB up from a deep wreck???

[BlueTrin]

Why would you do a training dive to 51 meter / 170 feet if you need to sit on your knees at the wreck?

That also doesn’t make sense for me. I don’t want to do a training dive to that depth without good trim and buoyancy.

If something goes wrong during a decostop, you can’t sit on your knees...

I have heard many times more experienced people telling me that they use DSMBs to hang at a certain depth during stops when the conditions are a bit rough by using slightly negative buoyancy.

 

[rjack321]

So I finally watched this video...

I see a bunch of guys (or women I cant tell) with big steel tanks and wetsuits in the ocean - there's no way they are close to balanced, cylinders trapping long hoses, deco bottles hanging 30cm below their bodies, with terrible trim, terrible buoyancy, on their knees, arms waving all over the place, narced on 24% inside a wreck, hands grabbing all over the wreck, reels and all sorts of unsecured gear on their butts, kicking up clouds of debris... Oh and they FINALLY have this really neat idea to occupy both hands at the end of a dive where they all partially inflate their own SMB and ride the individual buoyant bag up while being vertical and negative midwater. At least they finally stop diving with their hands!

The confluence of a bunch of poor habits and training all encapsulated into one shaky head mounted gopro video is truly remarkable. These folks need to go back to a shallow pool and a good intro to tech or GUE-F type class.

 

[Scuba J7]

Thanks for the definitive answer. That's what I was thinking was the concept of the procedure. I really like the idea and want to try it. It seems perfect for the type of diving out here. Did you find it worked well?

It worked very well, it also gets the DSMB up before we're too far off the wreck so the boat can spot and follow with ease. We did deco on an anchor line for a dive or two in current, and I much prefer drifting deco.

 

[Scuba J7]

My timeline does not give me time for a smb when I leave the wreck. Every 20 seconds I have to ascend 3 meter/10 feet.

The divers from the video were doing a dive with backgas 24% of oxygen and decogas 70% oxygen.

For that dive (with Trimix) I would do the first stop at 70 feet/21 meter and switch to ean50. One of the team members would shoot the smb at 21 meter. It would be no problem. A team of 3 would be perfect for me.

But in het video they were using a decogas ean70. The mod would be 12meter / 40 feet.

I don’t understand why everybody should use a smb. Why not 1 smb for each team?

When using a decogas with a mod of 12 meter/ 40 feet there will probably be stops deeper then the gas switch.

I think the trim and buoyancy of the techdivers in the video are not good enough to do the decostops without a smb. I also think trim and buoncy of the techdivers in the video are not good enough to shoot a smb during a (deco)stop.

Everyone was using an SMB as it was a training dive, gives everyone plenty of practice over the week. As for the buoyancy of the divers in the video, I won't comment. they're not me and that was not the class I was in.

 

[johndiver999]

I can tell you from first hand experience that it is not an emergency procedure, it's simply an ascent line for drifting deco. We prepared our DSMB as we left the wreck because the timeline allows for it then and we don't have to mess with it while switching gases or needing to head to our next stop. I didn't release mine until the first stop as most did, by then they're positive enough you don't want to keep it down anyway. Then we kept a little weight on them to keep the line from having too much scope. John had no stipulation wether we used gas from our BCD, exhaled into them, or used a reg to inflate.

Thanks, I don’t think that is a good solution if the current is strong. The divers will be too far from the wreck before the smb is finally released.

On that dive there was no current so it didn’t matter.

However the answer that it takes too long to deploy and there is no time to do it on the bottom because the ascent needs to be started seems weak. Why not learn to do it fast?

Even slowly floating up under positive buoyancy at depth would allow the diver to relax and work the smb and spool or reel. It is not like ascent rate is critical when leaving the wreck or that air in a suit or bc is going to expand quickly- it can’t at that depth.

I would use a reel and deploy from the bottom, the method shown seems to not be advantageous and it needlessly occupies both hands and it requires the diver to manage or keep track of increasing buoyancy in the smb, in the bc and possibly in the dry suit and to some extent a wetsuit.

Thanks for taking the time to explain the logic, but I fail to see the advantages of what he is teaching.

 

[Diving Dubai]

So I finally watched this video...
The confluence of a bunch of poor habits and training all encapsulated into one shaky head mounted gopro video is truly remarkable. These folks need to go back to a shallow pool and a good intro to tech or GUE-F type class.

I couldn't agree more.

From my perspective they weren't ready to be slinging tanks below 100' They hadn't mastered any of the required basics.

What's worse, these people probably truly believe they were competent, they probably sit in a bar (or on line) telling each other how great they are and how rubbish Rec divers are.

Thankfully not my circus and definitely not my monkeys

 

[Ayisha]

...What's worse, these people probably truly believe they were competent, they probably sit in a bar (or on line) telling each other how great they are and how rubbish Rec divers are...

What's scary is that's likely true or the video wouldn't have been posted.

The funniest thing in this thread was the repeated accusation that @PfcAJ doesn't dive deep wrecks in the same conditions with at least 2 stages and a deco bottle. Meanwhile if they realized who AJ is, they would also realize that 5 bottles is an easy day for him.

 

[ajduplessis]

Many divers dive deep with 5 or more stages daily. Whats your point besides some comments/accusations putting AJ shallower than he normally dives?

There are many divers that do amazing dives who you will never know about, or realise who they are.

The serious guys dive, the rest hang out on internet forums ensuring evertbody knows who they are.

 

[Ryan Mcshane]

So if I have a bc failure I should just forget about my deco gas and ditch it? Nah not for me

So, your weight system includes bottles that when you breathe them down they become neutral. Hmmmm.

 

[EireDiver606]

Well it’s an accurate one.

How do you know someone is a GUE diver?
They will tell you.

Because they’re either doing a GUE course or are with GUE divers or you asked them who they are?
That’s a straw man argument.