Staged Deco

[rawls]

beejw

For 18 years old you receive my sincerest respect. Your post was very well worded and thought out...I greatly commend you.

As far as stage bottles and deco procedures and the equipment divers use as well as techniques, just keep reading as you have been. You will find that each diver has his or her own method of staging and deco techniques. Get some more dives under your belt and, in the meantime, try to take a nitrox course and rescue. After you get that experience you will be ready to move on into technical courses starting with advanced nitrox for example...You will be introduced to stage bottles at that time...As you progress, all this stuff will become clear to you...The point is...keep training and keep reading. You are going to be a great asset....

 

[beejw]

Rawls, thankyou very much. regarding my training, I intend on completeing my DM course within the next year, and my IDC the year after that. Fortunently the center im working through (Aquatic Adevnetures in melbourne, australia) is a full PADI CDC, as well as offering IANTD and TDI courses, so if i can afford it while studying I intend on completeing nitrox and advanced nitrox course and possibly intro to cave.

Thanks for your frank and honest answer

im so glad i found scubaboard

Beej.

 

[rawls]

beejw...

I will finish the PADI IE in early April. I have done all of my tech courses through TDI. I know there are alot of opinions regarding PADI, but my instructor has put me through the ringer during my training and continues to do so She is a fantastic instructor and I owe her a great debt of gratitude for the HARD work she has made me do.
As far as TDI...I couldn't be happier with this organization...Make sure you find an instructor that will work your butt off. Train hard...Easy does'nt do it

 

[rawls]

OOPS...double post

 

[beejw]

rawls,

I couldnt agree more. I rather work my butt off in training and then have most of my diving life fairly relaxed and easy, but when it came to it, id be prepared to work hard to deal with an emergengy.

TDI you say.

 

[rawls]

beejw

I would recommend TDI in a heartbeat....

 

[rjack321]

I just got back from a trip where the guide used a VR3 + tables. He tended to get out of the water just a few minutes earlier than those of us who followed tables, which corresponded to something like a 1/30th reduction of decoobligation...

Not exactly a teammate leaving you in the water while he decided he was done huh?

 

[Jay Roy]

Nobody here has delivered the correct answer...staged decompression has nothing to do with stage bottles..stage bottles are used in addition to the backgas..to get further in a cave for example...the stage bottle is used BEFORE the back gas...
Staged decompression is just describing the ascent profile and how the deco is done at different depths, or stages...
A stage bottle and a deco bottle are two completly different items...

And no matter what training agency you go with..do a little research on the intructor..It doesnt matter what agency your C-Card says if the instructor is no good..

 

[miketsp]

Nobody here has delivered the correct answer...staged decompression has nothing to do with stage bottles..stage bottles are used in addition to the backgas..to get further in a cave for example...the stage bottle is used BEFORE the back gas...
Staged decompression is just describing the ascent profile and how the deco is done at different depths, or stages...
A stage bottle and a deco bottle are two completly different items...

And no matter what training agency you go with..do a little research on the intructor..It doesnt matter what agency your C-Card says if the instructor is no good..

So you're right and everyone else is wrong.

As you say they can be use to increase push on the way in but the OP specifically asked about "staged deco" and leaving bottles for use on the way back or up is at least as common.

If you run a search on any of the specialist sites including cave & rebreather, the references to staged bottles for use on the way out is common.
The following phrase appears often on rebreather discussions:
"Came out on OC bailout including using staged deco tanks left in situ on the way in."
One would hope that these people know what they are talking about.

There are many references to "staged deco" on the BSAC forums - and they also pride themselves on their training standards.

If you look at the Divernet site there is a description of an Advanced (TDI) wreck course where they leave their (staged) deco cylinders outside the wreck.
http://www.divernet.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?id=2302&section=6&action=display&show=

There are many similar references.

 

[Scared Silly]

Not exactly a teammate leaving you in the water while he decided he was done huh?

This depends on whether it was planned or not. For instance, I dove with two others on a wreck, they did not have the training/ability to do a gas switch for their deco while I did. As such, my deco schedule was a head of theirs and I was able to get out of the water before them. We each had discussed a head of time - I knew their plan and they knew mine. However, we were never more than 20 feet apart at anytime and I did not get out of the water until they did - I was at the surface first though.