Skipping surface intervals - DIR or not?

[PhilEllis]

I've been told that it's possible to tell whether you've off gassed properly by how you feel; are you tired and beat after diving? Do you feel out of breath when lifting tanks after a dive? I think I've even felt some slight tingling during my early diving carreer, though at the time I didn't make the connection with possible DCS. If you are in touch with your body, then you should be able to tell before you end up at the chamber.

And of course, there is always the Flat Earth Society. Cheers.

Phil

 

[Spoon]

And of course, there is always the Flat Earth Society. Cheers.

Phil

YOU gotta be kidding me? they must be smoking some crack

 

[StSomewhere]

Isn't the DIR forum moderated any more? Aren't there other forums for the bend-and-mend/RDP crowd?

 

[Uncle Pug]

Yes... it is moderated... but unless I see something egregious I won't bother hitting the report post button (I won't moderate this thread myself since I am a poster in it.)

 

[StSomewhere]

The day before yesterday, an Eskimo plane lost cabin pressure while leaving Seattle (I believe twice.) You just never know.

I would also advise against using what a GUE instructor has done as a basis for what everyone can or should do.

I dont' think I said I would, certainly not yet based on the profiles I download from my Vytec, but I do aspire to it.

As we say in the software world, these guys are at least "eating their own dogfood".

FWIW, I'm a lot pickier about what planes I do and don't fly in. But ask yourself if your really trust your deco. If you can't get on a plane afterwards then by extension you don't trust it, but you still rely on it.

 

[Uncle Pug]

I do aspire to it.

I don't aspire to it. Why, when I can arrange my schedule so as not to rely on the airplane staying pressurized.

The official position of GUE is not that you can simply ignore suface intervals and jump on a plane immediately after a dive... even if your DIRf instructor does that.

 

[StSomewhere]

I don't aspire to skipping SI's. I do aspire to deco-ing well enough to be able to get on a plane after a dive. Whether or not I ever do is a different story.

 

[Diver0001]

I don't aspire to skipping SI's. I do aspire to deco-ing well enough to be able to get on a plane after a dive. Whether or not I ever do is a different story.

The time it takes to off-gas is a function of how saturated you were, especially in the slow tissues. The amount of time you need to wait before getting on a plane depends on how loaded you are. How loaded your are depends on the dose of N2 you've built up....ie, profiles, depths bottom times.....

You know, I've known some of you (virtually at least) for years and I don't understand what's happening here.

I *know* you guys understand this stuff. What the heck is it about Floater's idea that's made you forget the foundations of deco theory.....?!

I'm confused.

R..

 

[Uncle Pug]

Well... at least it won't be called an undeserved hit.

 

[mer]

What I've learned about deco theory is that is it just THEORY. Also, most people doing research in the field will tell you that there is such a variation from one person's physiology to another's, even when looking at a group of "fit" divers, making many comparison from diver A to diver B apples to oranges. Also note that the body is so complex that what would bend someone one day will no another... tons of variables at play (fatigue, hydration, pre-dive exercise, nutrition, sleep, during/post dive exertion, others I'm forgetting, and others I'm sure the researchers haven't found yet).

Deco is not 1+1=2 or nor is bent black and white. Talking recreational profiles, going 1, 5 or 10 minutes past an NDL with a standard ascent might be okay for one person, but another will get experience symptoms of DCS 5 minutes before the NDL. The NDLs were designed to work for a large portion of the population with a low incidence of DCS, there will be those who are physiologically much more efficient offgassers than the next.

How do you figure out if you are an efficient offgasser? Start conservative and work on building your own personal track record over hundreds/thousands of dives. Don't push a system that you are "new" to. Also keep in mind that the profile that you choose from your hundreds and hundreds of dives as working for you, may not work for your buddy who is physiologically different from you.

Once you get farther and farther away form dive profiles that have been done alot and studied alot (recreational, something resembling Navy Tables) into more aggressive profiles (serious repetitive, deeper, deco, hard working, funky shaped) you are statistically at higher risk since fewer dives have been conducted and fewer data points mean a "line" delineated with greater uncertainty.

I do encourage GUE divers to stay in contact with their instructors, as ascent profile recommendations and other procedures do change from time to time.

Take it slow, enjoy the scenery, and remember we are doing this for fun.

Other things to consider:
Does the boat have room for you to bring multiple sets of doubles?
Do they need the SI time to move the boat from dive 1 to dive 2?
If SIs were not needed, we would not have recommendations to not over exert ourselves/exercise after dives. Also that 107deg hottub would be okay.