In this thread, some people have lamented the fact that people are arguing over deep stops without a clear definition of what we are talking about. I fully agree. I am a technical instructor teaching a curriculum that includes an extensive section on deep stops, and I am not confident that I can give a definition that will not be disputed by people with different definitions. I think the biggest reason we have a problem is that the definition has evolved over time. I myself became part of the discussion fairly late in that evolution, so my understanding of some of it might be off. What I hope to do here is write an introduction describing that evolution as I see it so that others can step in and offer insights and possibly corrections so that we all have a better understanding of it all.
My first real introduction to it was many years ago, during a ScubaBoard thread in which someone asked about deep stops. A poster replied that they were invented by DR. Richard Pyle and were called "Pyle Stops." The next post started with something like, "Actually, I didn't invent them." Well, that became an interesting thread. I read some of the stuff Pyle wrote about them and then I read other stuff as well. At that point, I got the idea that a deep stop was a stop taken at half your maximum depth, which I understood to be much deeper than technical divers usually made their first stops. I was not a technical diver then, but I began to apply it my recreational diving, doing a stop at half my maximum depth rather than going up to the standard safety stop.
In my early technical training, we were not allowed to use computers or any of the desktop computing programs (like V-Planner, Decoplanner, etc.). We had to use a mathematical construct based on our average maximum depth. It stressed the importance of deep stops, which started at 3/4 of that average maximum depth--MUCH deeper than my old idea of half the maximum depth. I did many dives using that philosophy.
I became aware of the deep stop discussion hosted by DAN, and I wondered what they were calling a deep stop. The best I could figure out was they were calling a deep stop an added stop taken much deeper than the algorithm you are using called for. I found that definition was actually pretty common--a deep stop was something you added to the dive profile that was defined by whatever system you were otherwise using. That's pretty vague. Since the algorithm I was using called for me to do my first stop at 3/4 of my maximum depth, adding a stop deeper than that would be pretty darn deep. I was baffled, to be honest.
I think that definition shows the evolutionary aspect of this, because it came into existence before the creation of some of the programs in place today that already include deep stops in their algorithms. Some programs have algorithms that are based on the thinking of deep stop theorists, and they will definitely stop you much deeper than others. If you add an additional deeper stop to them, you are doing something not intended by the original deep stop theorists.
So, that is my stumbling attempt to help define the idea, and I hope others will refine and correct.
My first real introduction to it was many years ago, during a ScubaBoard thread in which someone asked about deep stops. A poster replied that they were invented by DR. Richard Pyle and were called "Pyle Stops." The next post started with something like, "Actually, I didn't invent them." Well, that became an interesting thread. I read some of the stuff Pyle wrote about them and then I read other stuff as well. At that point, I got the idea that a deep stop was a stop taken at half your maximum depth, which I understood to be much deeper than technical divers usually made their first stops. I was not a technical diver then, but I began to apply it my recreational diving, doing a stop at half my maximum depth rather than going up to the standard safety stop.
In my early technical training, we were not allowed to use computers or any of the desktop computing programs (like V-Planner, Decoplanner, etc.). We had to use a mathematical construct based on our average maximum depth. It stressed the importance of deep stops, which started at 3/4 of that average maximum depth--MUCH deeper than my old idea of half the maximum depth. I did many dives using that philosophy.
I became aware of the deep stop discussion hosted by DAN, and I wondered what they were calling a deep stop. The best I could figure out was they were calling a deep stop an added stop taken much deeper than the algorithm you are using called for. I found that definition was actually pretty common--a deep stop was something you added to the dive profile that was defined by whatever system you were otherwise using. That's pretty vague. Since the algorithm I was using called for me to do my first stop at 3/4 of my maximum depth, adding a stop deeper than that would be pretty darn deep. I was baffled, to be honest.
I think that definition shows the evolutionary aspect of this, because it came into existence before the creation of some of the programs in place today that already include deep stops in their algorithms. Some programs have algorithms that are based on the thinking of deep stop theorists, and they will definitely stop you much deeper than others. If you add an additional deeper stop to them, you are doing something not intended by the original deep stop theorists.
So, that is my stumbling attempt to help define the idea, and I hope others will refine and correct.
