What is the deepest you can do an OOA?

[JeffG]

Also happens when two young bucks are on their first excursion to 80' and not paying attention to their gas...

Which at the start (or maybe middle) of the thread a lot of us said. You only need to do a CESA if a) An absolute catastrophic failure of ALL your breathing gas or b ) Brain fart.

So you are better off spending your time practicing to pay attention instead of practicing CESA's.

Fix the cause, don't band-aid fix your stupidity with more stupidity. There are better solutions than CESA's.

 

[Adobo]

Also happens when two young bucks are on their first excursion to 80' and not paying attention to their gas... I "happend by" such a pair, busily looking in nooks and crannies. I knew they were newbies, and felt like they'd been down a bit long for their experience and gas supply, so I went over to check. 200 and 300 psi respectively... I handed my primary to the 200 psi guy while hauling them up into a normal ascent - they also had 6 minutes deco on their computers! Stopped 'em at 10' and as the 300 psi guy's gauge read 0 had the 200 psi guy take his own reg back and handed my primary to the now OOA 300 psi guy - got about a four minute stop in before they had to surface.
'Twould have been interesting had I not been there...
My point: terminal stupidity can generate any scenario you care to imagine
Rick

Absolutely. So what is the correct way to fix this stupidity? Teach them CESA (which, BTW, they already know) or teach these guys gas planning and situational awareness?

I think what a lot of the other people are saying is that instead of spending our time discussing the depth at which CESA can be performed or thinking about proficiency in CESA, we should be spending our time fixing the things that might lead to a need to do a CESA in the first place.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Absolutely. So what is the correct way to fix this stupidity? Teach them CESA (which, BTW, they already know) or teach these guys gas planning and situational awareness?

I think what a lot of the other people are saying is that instead of spending our time discussing the depth at which CESA can be performed or thinking about proficiency in CESA, we should be spending our time fixing the things that might lead to a need to do a CESA in the first place.

... which brings us back full-circle to (from Reply 30) ...

This thread may be an interesting mental exercise ... but a far more practical question would be "What should I be doing to make sure I never have to make a CESA?"

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Adobo]

... which brings us back full-circle to (from Reply 30) ...
(Grateful Diver)

It gave me an excellent opportunity to regurgitate what a more experienced diver was saying and pass it off as my own wisdom. (Newbs like me are funny that way.)

 

[DeputyDan]

The answer is = All the way to the bottom.

The original question never asks - If you want to return safely - or for that matter return at all.

 

[JeffG]

It gave me an excellent opportunity to regurgitate what a more experienced diver was saying and pass it off as my own wisdom. (Newbs like me are funny that way.)

Some just dig their heels in, post incorrect data and argue with people that have a done a lot more diving. Your way is a little bit better.

 

[Rick Murchison]

So you are better off spending your time practicing to pay attention instead of practicing CESA's.

True enough, but... why not practice both?
I've never had to do a CESA.
I never intend to have to do a CESA.
It's that "the superior diver uses his superior judgement to avoid situations requiring the use of his superior skill" thing, eh?
But I want to be able to do a CESA with calm confidence if all things turn to worms and it is indeed needed.
That said, practicing paying attention is an "every dive" goal; while CESA practice is "every now and then."
Rick

 

[captain]

True enough, but... why not practice both?
I've never had to do a CESA.
I never intend to have to do a CESA.
It's that "the superior diver uses his superior judgement to avoid situations requiring the use of his superior skill" thing, eh?
But I want to be able to do a CESA with calm confidence if all things turn to worms and it is indeed needed.
That said, practicing paying attention is an "every dive" goal; while CESA practice is "every now and then."
Rick

Nicely put, Rick.

 

[gangrel441]

True enough, but... why not practice both?
I've never had to do a CESA.
I never intend to have to do a CESA.
It's that "the superior diver uses his superior judgement to avoid situations requiring the use of his superior skill" thing, eh?
But I want to be able to do a CESA with calm confidence if all things turn to worms and it is indeed needed.
That said, practicing paying attention is an "every dive" goal; while CESA practice is "every now and then."
Rick

Rick-

If anything I have said is out of line with this, I hang my head in shame. I am 100% in agreement. Personally, I don't think anything I said was.

 

[Gary D.]

Jeez! I can't believe this thread is still going on. So, can everybody agree with?

A CESA is the last ditch option where you no longer have breathable gas, a redundant source, nor available buddy. As such you should do everything in your power to prevent ever having to perform one. This includes but is not limited to proper equipment maintenance, pre-dive planning including gas planning, and buddymanship. However, it has been shown by accident alalysis that frequently it's not a single failure that results in a casualty but a series of events which not unussually results in panic and the unfortunate outcome. So, in an effort to prevent such panic from ensuing and thereby distracting the diver from pursuing other more appropriate options, all dives should be require to perform a CESA during their basic training, from some depth that requires them to exhale while ascending. That all divers should realize they can perform this maneuver from any recreational depth. And that they should practice this manuever until they can do so with some proficiency, this may take but once for some or more for others.

Am I missing something or is this more or less what everybody agrees upon?

The OP just wanted to know from what depth a CESA can be performed. The answer seems to be agreed upon as: Deeper than the limits of the recreatinal NDL tables.

This post could have eliminated about 250 of them.

Well put.

Gary D.