SDI specialty training for solo diver

[plaamook]

L

Nowadays everyone is expected to have a computer. The cheapest ones will be barely more expensive than a reliable bottom timer and do Nitrox too

Sure.
But how is decompression taught if no one is using tables as standard for entry level courses?

 

[EFX]

However to be truly redundant, you need either a pony or twinset (you need to be using either for SDI solo, don’t know about PADI self reliant), both would be maybe a bit much at the first open water level.

At the time I took PADI reliant (Sep 2013) using a twinset was acceptable. My regular buddy used one while I rented a 19 ft3 pony tank.

 

[boulderjohn]

L

Sure.
But how is decompression taught if no one is using tables as standard for entry level courses?

You do not need tables to teach decompression. You may have missed where I wrote that above.

 

[BlueTrin]

L

Sure.
But how is decompression taught if no one is using tables as standard for entry level courses?

I am not sure because I was taught the tables. Also bsac still teaches tables.

I am curious too: would like to know if they plan dives at different depths and see the effect of depth and repetitive dives on the NDL?

 

[boulderjohn]

I am not sure because I was taught the tables. Also bsac still teaches tables.

I am curious too: would like to know if they plan dives at different depths and see the effect of depth and repetitive dives on the NDL?

You can teach people about nitrogen on-gassing and off-gassing at different depths without referencing a tables. You can also explain about residual nitrogen without referencing a table. I personally used a PowerPoint that I made that showed gases entering and leaving tissues during descent and ascent.

If you like to use those visuals as you do it, you can use the computer simulator that PADI provides with its computer class. You can move the diver to different depths through a dive and see how the computer reacts and shows you what to do.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I just completed the E-Learning portion of the SDI Solo course, there is added emphasis on gas planning and it is clearly more stringent than normal buddy diving. The SDI course basically "requires" a strong adherence to a strict "rule of thirds" which means on a dive with a single back mount AL80 with a starting pressure of 3K psi that "the course" wants me back at my safety stop with 1000psi. I normally plan to be at my SS with 500psi. I also note that the site conditions can come into play. For example on Bonaire on the far south end dives with longer shallow water swim outs to the drop off, I may arrive back to the top of the drop off with 500psi and then spend another 5 to 10 minutes on the bottom navigating back to the truck.

We're all gonna end up doing what we feel is best for us........But..... for the SDI course, I'd plan to be at my SS with 1/3 gas remaining..... And also note that redundant gas does not factor into the rule of thirds.

 

[BoltSnap]

Also…buddy breathing is a good exercise. They should keep it like they keep dive tables to teach gas theory.

I was trained to do buddy breathing and have taught it for few years after I became an instructor in 1987. There were more issues and serious injuries/casualties/fatalities than it was worth it. The issue with buddy breathing is that you forget how to do it properly almost few hours after you have learned it and if you don't practice it on almost every dive, you will forget how to do it. It is a skill that doesn't have much margin for error. When you do it months or years after the last time you practiced, your entry level course, you most likely have forgotten how to do it and it will end up a double injury/casualty/fatality scene. There is also the issue of different agencies teaching it differently and two people from two different agencies who have forgotten most of the finer details of doing it have to do it together, it is much worse than having to do a CESA on your own.

When I was teaching at the university, we had dive teams practice it at the beginning of every single dive they made, in addition to other skills, no exceptions. It was a great day when NAUI removed it from the required/mandatory skill set to teach.

Note: In the NAUI instructor training/exam course pre dropping the skill from curriculum, teaching buddy breathing was a "Pass/Fail" test, nothing in the middle, which is different from other skills in the evaluations during the course. This is how critical and dangerous it was to teach and do the skill in the past. This is before it was dropped from the skill requirements with NAUI.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

gas planning .... if I am at 100', with less than 1000psi in my 100cu HP main ... I plan to be on my way up shortly.

 

[scubadada]

gas planning .... if I am at 100', with less than 1000psi in my 100cu HP main ... I plan to be on my way up shortly.

Not a criticism, but slightly more advanced gas planning. I believe Gandalf is a solo diver, like I am. We both have our ponies for backup. I need about 4.6 cu ft of gas to do a normal ascent and safety stop from 100 ft at my avg RMV. We might want to surface with just under 13 cu ft of gas, same as an AL 80 at 500 psi. As long as my NDL allowed, I would surface at 650 or 700 psi and have 5 or more minutes at depth. I would still have leeway. I have practiced this quite a bit, with nearly 700 solo dives.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

Not a criticism, but slightly more advanced gas planning. I believe Gandalf is a solo diver, like I am. We both have our ponies for backup. I need about 4.6 cu ft of gas to do a normal ascent and safety stop from 100 ft at my avg RMV. We might want to surface with just under 13 cu ft of gas, same as an AL 80 at 500 psi. As long as my NDL allowed, I would surface at 650 or 700 psi and have 5 or more minutes at depth. I would still have leeway. I have practiced this quite a bit, with nearly 700 solo dives.

I am slinging a 30cu Catalina. I will usually surface with 500 ish psi in my main, after doing a 3 or 5 min SS. If I hit 101'+, my Shearwater automatically goes to a 5 min SS, and I keep that in mind, when deciding to surface. 99% of my diving is shore diving. If I am diving with a buddy, I will usually come up sooner, due to "rock bottom" gas needs. Once again though, the pony is not included in gas planning.