Safety STop !! is it always?

[bwerb]

sheck33 once bubbled...


That sounds great, actually i think it was an ascent rate of 30 feet/min with a short pause after each 10 feet including minimum deco from 30 feet to the surface ( 1 min @30ft,20ft,10ft)

darn bwerb, where did you learn this stuff

You are correct on the pattern...T and I have just been fooling around with really slow ascents right from around 40-50 feet up. Our dive today was totally awesome...complete control right on up the water column (blew a bag too...fun stuff!)

 

[Whirling Girl]

bwerb once bubbled...



You are correct on the pattern...T and I have just been fooling around with really slow ascents right from around 40-50 feet up. Our dive today was totally awesome...complete control right on up the water column (blew a bag too...fun stuff!)

Bwerb, is it true? You've joined the dark side of divers who think it's fun to play games in the water column? Welcome!

Yep, it's a familiar pattern, but I think it makes alot of sense, given that the pressure change is the greatest in the last atmosphere. I learned the PADI way, 3 minutes at 15 feet, and though I don't think that it hurts, it doesn't really reflect what we know about diving physiology. I've done some (relatively) long deep recreational dives, and I know I feel better getting out of the water after learning the 30/20/10 pattern.

And you're right, it's a great way to practice your awareness of your buoyancy.

Shooting a bag and ascending at 10 ft./min. with a full minute at 30/20/10 is one of my favorite things to do. It's very meditative, actually. I use the time to feel my buoyancy, communicate with my buddy and enjoy the continuous eye contact with them, and think about all the things I saw on the dive.

And let's dive sometime! A group of us are going to be in Campbell River and then Nanaimo in July; I'll send you a pm about the details and maybe you and your lovely nymph can join us!

Margaret

 

[DA Aquamaster]

One of the benefits of a saftey stop at 10-20 feet not yet mentioned is that it requires a diver, and in parituclar a new or not too current diver, to think about slowing their ascent just before the point where things potentially get out of hand.

My latest dive computer requires a 3 min stop at 20' for all dives deeper than 30 feet. Most of my diving is at high altitude in cold water and tends to be rather deep so the extra saftey is a good thing particularly as I am no longer the 22 year old Marine I was when I started diving but rather a 38 year old average overweight counselor. I do them even on shallow dives just because I think it's a good practice.

The odd thing with my latest dive computer is that I got more "decompression" on shallow dives within the NDL limits that require the 3 minute stop at 20 ft than I did on just over the edge deco dives where I have 1-3 minutes at 10 feet, so I started doing short stops at 30 and 20 feet prior to doing the deco, which normally means by the time you get to 10 ft. no deco is required at 10 ft but again I do a personally imposed 3-5 minute saftey stop.

This year I have also started doing a 1 minute stop at 1/2 max depth which is reported to be fairly effective in reducing "silent" bubble formation. Slowing for and making the deep saftey stop also tends to keep the overall ascent rate much lower than it would normally be and in my opinion slower is better.

I think that slow ascents, deeper saftey stops, and saftey stops are a very important feature in making the deco diving I do a safer endeavor.