Skip safety stop to assist diver to surface?

[Max Speed]

Here is a scenario I witnessed last weekend

A diver panics, bolts to the surface and is revived with rescue breathing from the near drowning.

If you are the "buddy" and you are at a depth where the PADI tables mandate a safety stop do you skip the stop to chase the diver up? (Safety stop not deco stop!)

A three minute delay assisting this diver could have changed a near drowning to a drowning!

If you do skip the safety stop, should you drop back down for a 4-1/2 minute stop (1.5 X 3) after passing off the injured diver to someone at the surface?

 

[vjanelle]

If you didn't exceed the recommended ascent rates (30/60' min), didn't come within a few minutes of your NDLs, you don't need to do the safety stop period.

At least that's the general consensus.

 

[sabbath999]

Safety stops are not "decompression" stops.

Period.

Therefore, you can skip them. It is best practice, when not in an emergency, to make them... but they are never required.

If you need to do a decompression stop, then we get into another kettle of fish entirely.

As to the second part of your question about dropping back down, no, you should continue to assist in the emergency.

 

[fdog]

Sure. I'd blow off a safety stop to assist someone in distress, even if it wasn't my buddy.

Heck, I'd blow off a mild deco obligation to assist my buddy if they were in trouble.


...There's a difference between slavishly following "the rules", and, understanding where the rules come from.


All the best, James

 

[sabbath999]

Heck, I'd blow off a mild deco obligation to assist my buddy if they were in trouble.


...There's a difference between slavishly following "the rules", and, understanding where the rules come from.


All the best, James

I would too, but you understand (and I understand) what a "mild" deco obligation is... that would be, obviously, situational...

 

[idocsteve]

If I had just completed a dive where there would be anything greater than moderate risk to myself by skipping a safety stop I would not ascend directly to the surface to help any diver unless it was someone I cared about such as my girlfriend, a really close friend, or a relative.

Nor would I expect another diver to risk their own life to assist me unless we were buddied by our own choice (meaning none of this instabuddy crap).

With the exception of my newly certified girlfriend, I dive solo for a reason.

 

[sabbath999]

One more thing I would add is, depending on how close I had gotten to my NDL on the dive, that might be it for me for the day (i.e. no more diving that day) if I blew off a safety stop after having been right up against the NDL on a dive. If I was nowhere near it? No worries.

 

[PfcAJ]

I'm with you, James. I would blow off a safety stop without even thinking about it, and deco to help a buddy, to a point.

You can fix bent (usually), you can't fix dead (ever).

 

[Cave Diver]

If you are the "buddy" and you are at a depth where the PADI tables mandate a safety stop do you skip the stop to chase the diver up? (Safety stop not deco stop!)


If you do skip the safety stop, should you drop back down for a 4-1/2 minute stop (1.5 X 3) after passing off the injured diver to someone at the surface?

Would, and have. I've also blown off a shallow deco stop to check on a diver who surfaced early. After ensuring they were positively buoyant and okay on the surface I went back and completed an extended 20' stop.

To me, it's all about the personal degree of risk you're willing to accept and your degree of understanding regarding decompression theory to make a "best guess" judgment call.

 

[sabbath999]

If I had just completed a dive where there would be anything greater than moderate risk to myself by skipping a safety stop I would not ascend directly to the surface to help any diver unless it was someone I cared about such as my girlfriend, a really close friend, or a relative.

When diving within the recreational NDL tables, there should NEVER be anything more than a moderate risk to yourself by skipping a safety stop... decompression tables are quite conservative, and LONG before you get to a "greater than moderate" risk of a DCS hit you will be "decompression diving".