Stages: 1/2+200 or 1/3rds

[LiteHedded]

it's something that should be covered in full cave courses, not some silly specialty class

 

[rjack321]

it's something that should be covered in full cave courses, not some silly specialty class

I agree. Either you have the "full" suite of tools available to you or you don't. This means unlimited navigation, up to 1/3rds, deco, deco gases, and bottom stages. Theoretically even trimix so that ENDs can be kept at now recommended levels, although I can understand why this should be seperate.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Sometimes size constraints won't allow for the extra gear, ditching it early just makes sense or you find yourself really messy. Sometimes thats even before 1/3rds. *shrugs*

If the plan doesn't necessarily call for a ton of gas, calculating 1/3rds off a stage is easier...

EXACTLY! Being that a majority of my dives are in caves, things happen a little differently. The cave determines my gas plan. Where can I drop my stages? Where will it be too tight to take my stages? What is the dive plan? Am I scootering or swimming? It's always 1/3 of total gas or less, but what I breathe from the stage isn't determined by any gas rule, it's determined by the dive plan.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

Ok I am impressed. A very civil discussion, good job guys.

 

[ae3753]

it's something that should be covered in full cave courses, not some silly specialty class

I took Stage as an additional class after Full Cave, and thought that it was very helpful. It was a 3 day class too.

While I had slung bottle before, things like dropping and picking up the bottles effectively and efficiently had to be learned. We did in OW, in the cave, lights out, while air share, while air share lights out, etc.

And that's just dropping and picking up the bottles. Pretty much every drill was done in OW, in Cave, then no viz.

Well worth it to me.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

it's something that should be covered in full cave courses, not some silly specialty class

Training standards do not allow it for the cave agencies I teach for. IANTD allows it for the Technical Cave Diver rating, but is not a requirement.

It should be taught in a regular cave class, I agree. It used to be.

 

[LiteHedded]

It was covered in my tech cave

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

It was covered by my dive buddy/mentors

 

[LiteHedded]

It was covered by my dive buddy/mentors

either way is fine by me
it's not rocket surgery

 

[ucfdiver]

Training standards do not allow it for the cave agencies I teach for. IANTD allows it for the Technical Cave Diver rating, but is not a requirement.

It should be taught in a regular cave class, I agree. It used to be.

I have yet to meet a full cave diver who does not stage dive from time to time....heck a large portion of apprentice students I know are stage diving! I agree with you, it should be covered, and I really think it should be required. I don't have an issue with choosing 1/3rds over 1/2+200 as long as the diver can justify his or her gas plan. There was a thread on TDS that was painfully obvious that a large portion of even full cave divers didn't understand their own gas plans, and that scares me.