DIR- GUE Why are non-GUE divers so interested in what GUE does?

[jadairiii]

I’ve spent a lot of time on the ocean and around it, and I’m going to have to call shenanigans on a 10mph drift.

Spend sometime diving in South Florida. I've seen 3' diameter float balls get pulled under and disappear like a Styrofoam cup. I was looking for a wreck once off Pompano (pre-GPS, the Jim Atria) and the current was so strong that it created a "surface boil" from the current being diverted by the wreck. Dont even mention Jupiter, even with all of your surface float line out you cant get to the bottom because the current is so strong the float keeps pulling you off the bottom. Mr Toad's wild ride!

 

[Manatee Diver]

Spend sometime diving in South Florida. I've seen 3' diameter float balls get pulled under and disappear like a Styrofoam cup. I was looking for a wreck once off Pompano (pre-GPS, the Jim Atria) and the current was so strong that it created a "surface boil" from the current being diverted by the wreck. Dont even mention Jupiter, even with all of your surface float line out you cant get to the bottom because the current is so strong the float keeps pulling you off the bottom. Mr Toad's wild ride!

Welcome to the jungle Gulfstream baby!!!

 

[EFX]

You didn't get the point.
GUE does not say, that the brain is better or saver than a computer. GUE recommends not to rely on a computer and to be a thinking diver who is in control of the dive. Plan your dive and dive your plan.
Regarding safety and decompression algorithms: the algorithms are only greatly simplified models, which somehow describe decompression. It is not perfectly understood science. Means, if your computer recommends a total decompression of lets say 45 min, it might happen, that on a good day you can cut 15min off and leave the water perfectly fine, while on a bad day even 50min or 55min of decompression are not enough and you end up with pain in your shoulder. So, is the precision of a computer really needed? Or is for "easy" dives a (conservative) rule of thumb close enough?
A very nice side effect of the ratio deco is, that you learn something about decompression and get a feeling (in means of experience) for it.

You say that the algorithms are only greatly simplified models. Yet, ratio deco is even simpler than those algorithms that employ logarithmic equations on data to several decimal places. In the 2006 printing (the copyright is 2000) of "Doing it right: The fundamentals of better diving" on page 119 they list a baker's dozen problems with computer diving. Some of the reasons are due to the poor quality and limited features of computers at that time. For example: "Dive computers do not allow for diving helium in any format but the bulkiest and most questionable." Other reasons they give is that a dive computer is a crutch to enable divers to not learn and understand decompression theory. Still, another reason given is if the computer fails the diver will be left without essential diving information. All of the reasons they give have been overcome by modern up-to-date computers and backup procedures. Computers don't make you forget your training and education on decompression theory any more than driving a car makes you forget how to walk. It is simply another tool to bring along on a dive to help keep you safe. Finally, I would say the side effect of ratio deco is that you learn an inefficient method of decompression.

 

[crofrog]

Spend sometime diving in South Florida. I've seen 3' diameter float balls get pulled under and disappear like a Styrofoam cup. I was looking for a wreck once off Pompano (pre-GPS, the Jim Atria) and the current was so strong that it created a "surface boil" from the current being diverted by the wreck. Dont even mention Jupiter, even with all of your surface float line out you cant get to the bottom because the current is so strong the float keeps pulling you off the bottom. Mr Toad's wild ride!

Peak Gulf Stream current has been measured at 4.4mph. That’s a ripping fast current. It’s also 44% the speed of a 10mph current.

 

[crofrog]

Yet, ratio deco is even simpler than those algorithms that employ logarithmic equations on data to several decimal places. In the 2006 printing (the copyright is 2000) of "Doing it right: The fundamentals of better diving" on page 119 they list a baker's dozen problems with computer diving.

How many decimal places of precision do I need to ensure I don't get bent?

Yes and the agencies stance on computers has evolved since 2000.

 

[jadairiii]

Peak Gulf Stream current has been measured at 4.4mph. That’s a ripping fast current. It’s also 44% the speed of a 10mph current.

Current..... plus wind. your float/bag/flag will catch the wind not to mention the wind chop will push your flag/bag/float at a nice clip also, going the same direction you can really cruise. Ever dive when you have a ripping current in one direction and the wind is blowing in the opposite direction, stacking up the seas? that is a joy, especially if it is a long scooter dive. (once did a 5k swim race in the ocean, current one direction, wind and seas going opposite, that sucked....). Not sure about up where you are but our wind speed can get pretty high.

To go completely off topic, that is why I refuse to tech dive on a cattle boat. If I'm doing a tech dive, my buddies and I "buy the boat" and the boat follows our torpedo float. Just at a 4.4 mph current, one diver misses the wreck, dicks around shooting a bag, they are almost 1/2 mile down range as the boat watched the "pack", by the time the pack shoots a bag, that other diver is waaaaay down range.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I’ve spent a lot of time on the ocean and around it, and I’m going to have to call shenanigans on a 10mph drift.

Florida has some really wicked currents. I've probably been in half that in the Puget Sound (Tacoma Narrows, Deception Pass). But never anything that would pull my mask off, unlike what friends of mine have shared with me about their experiences in Florida. I thought we had the worst currents in the continental US. I thought wrong.

 

[crofrog]

Current..... plus wind. your float/bag/flag will catch the wind not to mention the wind chop will push your flag/bag/float at a nice clip also, going the same direction you can really cruise. Ever dive when you have a ripping current in one direction and the wind is blowing in the opposite direction, stacking up the seas? that is a joy, especially if it is a long scooter dive. (once did a 5k swim race in the ocean, current one direction, wind and seas going opposite, that sucked....). Not sure about up where you are but our wind speed can get pretty high.

To go completely off topic, that is why I refuse to tech dive on a cattle boat. If I'm doing a tech dive, my buddies and I "buy the boat" and the boat follows our torpedo float. Just at a 4.4 mph current, one diver misses the wreck, dicks around shooting a bag, they are almost 1/2 mile down range as the boat watched the "pack", by the time the pack shoots a bag, that other diver is waaaaay down range.

sure, but you're SMB isn't going to give you an additional 5mph of wind drift.
I dive frequently from my own boat out of the keys and fl and grew up in South Florida. I've also sailed and raced sailboats extensively.

 

[Wibble]

Question: by mph you mean knots?

 

[crofrog]

Question: by mph you mean knots?

No I’m using miles because that’s what he originally shared he went 10 miles down in 30 minutes, and because as Americans we have to constantly use different units