Safety stop immediately after surfacing

[idocsteve]

It's just a case of "you can't be too careful" so if time and gas allows it, you may as well!

Not necessarily.

I dive off a boat in the Northeast and the Captain does a "Surface Interval Barbeque". Everyone brings something and onto the grill it goes. There's usually plenty of food, more than enough in fact but if you want the best variety you need to be there at the start of everyone else's surface interval.

Otherwise you're giving yourself that extra safety stop time while the prime rib is being faster than your gas supply.

Could be all that's left is hot dogs and hamburger by the time you dump your rig into the holder.

 

[RJP]

Are you sure all Suunto's will not penalize you for skipping any SS; I have guided for more than one charter using Gecko's for customers, have used my Viper for more than 7 years and I think some skipped SS's might just reduce the time of next dive with a limited SI compared to the diver that didn't skip the SS. I'm almost certain fast ascents will cause Suunto penalties.

Fast ascents and skipped safety stops are two different things.

Yes the Suunto will ding you on Dive 2 if Dive 1 had a "fast ascent" and then a skipped safety stop. But the ding on the next dive is based on the fast ascent, not the skipped stop. Doing a safety stop after a fast ascent on Dive 1 (and a nice long surface interval) might absolve you of the penalty on Dive 2, but the penalty is not assessed based on the missed stop.

That said, I'm not recommending skipping safety stops. On the contrary, I'm not sure why someone would end a dive any sooner than that had to!

 

[Thalassamania]

There are some very simple rules:

1. slow your ascent, especially as you approach the surface.
2. deep stops are good.
3. gas in your tank does you no good, time at 10 to 10 feet may do you a lot of good.
4. once out of the water, do not re-enter the water to make up a missed safety stop.
5. once out of the water, do not re-enter the water to make up a missed deco-stop, unless you are symptom free and it is within 5 minutes of surfacing, and you have an omitted deco plan.
6. do not make short, shallow dives, even to shallow depths, after surfacing unless you have had a significant surface interval.
7. Green gas is good gas, use oxygen (at reasonable ppO2s) whenever needed.

Your spinal column will thank you.

 

[Hatul]

Not necessarily.

I dive off a boat in the Northeast and the Captain does a "Surface Interval Barbeque". Everyone brings something and onto the grill it goes. There's usually plenty of food, more than enough in fact but if you want the best variety you need to be there at the start of everyone else's surface interval.

Otherwise you're giving yourself that extra safety stop time while the prime rib is being faster than your gas supply.

Could be all that's left is hot dogs and hamburger by the time you dump your rig into the holder.

Skipping on a safety stop to pig out on meat gives you double whammy: increase your risk of DCS and coronary disease at the same time.

Adam

 

[Hatul]

There are some very simple rules:

1. slow your ascent, especially as you approach the surface.
2. deep stops are good.
3. gas in your tank does you no good, time at 10 to 10 feet may do you a lot of good.
4. once out of the water, do not re-enter the water to make up a missed safety stop.
5. once out of the water, do not re-enter the water to make up a missed deco-stop, unless you are symptom free and it is within 5 minutes of surfacing, and you have an omitted deco plan.
6. do not make short, shallow dives, even to shallow depths, after surfacing unless you have had a significant surface interval.
7. Green gas is good gas, use oxygen (at reasonable ppO2s) whenever needed.

Your spinal column will thank you.

Which begs the question for logic behind 4 and 5. I can see if you miss a big deco obligation and there's a chance of DCS you should at least have someone with you in case you get sick underwater or be rushed to a recompression chamber. For for a missed safety stop or minor dec stop I don't see the downside of going back down to complete.

Adam

 

[Thalassamania]

The downside is the AGE that can result from bubble pumping. This takes recompression after a dive where you have bubbled venous side and had those bubbles filtered out in the capillaries of the lungs. Repressurization can cause those bubbles to move through the capillary to the arterial side with AGE be the resulting condition.

 

[aquasport]

I hope i don't sound like a rookie but i'm not sure what 10 to 10ft is.

 

[RJP]

I hope i don't sound like a rookie but i'm not sure what 10 to 10ft is.

Guessing that maybe it's a typo.

10 to 20ft
10 to 15ft
other

 

[DCBC]

The downside is the AGE that can result from bubble pumping. This takes recompression after a dive where you have bubbled venous side and had those bubbles filtered out in the capillaries of the lungs. Repressurization can cause those bubbles to move through the capillary to the arterial side with AGE be the resulting condition.

Thal, I can't see how recompression would be a hazard in a healthy diver (having personally done this thousands of times). Do you have a reference on this?

 

[SkimFisher]

Always better to be safe than sorry. But, if it's a very shallow dive I think you'll be fine without one. The important thing is a SLOW ascent. Don't climb hand over fist up the line.

I dive a lot of sinks so usually we corkscrew our ascents - not climb up a line. By the time I hit the surface I've already spent more than 3 minutes between 10-20ft. No point in spending an additional 3...

Every once in a while I dive a reverse profile. On those dives I always make sure to do one.