Info Why are tables not taught in OW classes anymore?

[tursiops]

#3) After a trip to the Truk Steamroller, i saw a diver hang her puter over the side on a long string.

My wife had a different take. Her first WWPF 150 dives, doing 3-5/day, she had a Puck, but she always ran her tables, somehow ignoring the “you’re now dead, go to penalty box” thingie on her flip-it table.


You could have said that, been done, and i’d have agreed, but your logic path was well done and inarguable.

I suggest an edit to add before publication

The thought process to this short lived widget should not be ignored… (if the true useful contribution to “understanding the math” can trump the way too easy PADI bashing that most seize upon)

View attachment 769597


SB attracts an interesting readership. The more experienced or more broadly educated group that understands your logic, but…I believe the bulk of divers (and readers?) are WWPF, and the SB audience of WWPF “new kids” are not ready to understand your long view, as correct as I might agree that it is.

Your explanation is valid, historical, but esoteric. (Works for me) Computers are more cooler (CDI Factor) especially if they’re Teric Shearwaters worn to dinner at the Club Med or the LOB.

Sorry, what is WWPF?
I love The Wheel. 5 ft increments, multi-level, no batteries or o-rings, and a terrific conversation starter on a dive boat.

 

[inquis]

Teaching tables provides a more comprehensive overall conceptual understanding of the on-gassing and off - gassing process.

I really don't agree with this assertion. I get max bottom times directly from a table. Even for a second dive, I slide over to my SI time, slide down to my depth, and bingo -- there's the max time for dive #2. (The PADI RDP gives both residual nitrogen time and adjusted NDL time. Even if you have a different table and have to manually subtract the RNT from the clean NDL time, I wouldn't call that a vast increase in understanding.)

Perhaps I'm not the best judge of this, because I already know how to work a table. @NW Dive Dawg, can you give an example of a concept that a table user would understand that a computer user would not?

 

[rx7diver]

... And this is why tables are not taught any more in most OW classes. They do not suit the kind of diving that recreational divers do.

Hmmm. Tables do suit the kind of recreational diving (local, recreational, solo, walk-in diving) that I do--which is why I still dive tables. I don't own a PDC (except for a 1995-vintage Cochran Nemesis Nitrox II that I used to use for recording my extended range dives).

I did a dive in Puget Sound c. 2008 when I was attending a professional conference in Seattle. I used tables for that dive. (Used a desktop computer, though, for determining the tide window.)

My daughter learned tables in her NAUI open water university class last spring. The dive we did together this past summer in a local quarry was planned using dive tables. Perfectly suitable. I am very happy that she had learned how to use tables.

rx7diver

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Perhaps I'm not the best judge of this, because I already know how to work a table. @NW Dive Dawg, can you give an example of a concept that a table user would understand that a computer user would not?

I definitely do not think that tables provide any info that a computer would not. And I definitely feel that a computer provides info that is far more beneficial and accurate than tables. I am just of the personal opinion that the drill of teaching, using and understanding tables enhances the overall understanding and importance of why the instant data provided by a computer is so important....and why it is important.

I don't use tables anymore and never will. They are no longer necessary. But I still feel that I benefited by learning them, teaching them and understanding them.

 

[Chavodel8en]

Eh, I started diving on tables and went several years using only tables to dive. Computers are much better.

I dont think I learned anything extra or valuable about on-gassing or off-gassing or the physics of diving from using tables. I just did the math and followed the numbers calculated.

Basically the same thing I do with my computer. I dont let the NDL go to 0 and if it does, I do the stops the computer tells me to do. I dumbly follow my computer just like I dumbly followed the tables, but without the calculation. But that may just be me. Im not much into the physics or diving, but rather the poetry of diving - in the form of all the pretty fishies.

 

[formernuke]

It seems like a fair and frequent practice.

That is a dangerous pratice.

 

[Doc]

Sorry, what is WWPF?
I love The Wheel. 5 ft increments, multi-level, no batteries or o-rings, and a terrific conversation starter on a dive boat.

Warm Water Pretty Fish

Might be a pejorative, i now wear it proudly.

In my IDC final, they gave me a Wheel to use that perfectly passed the alignment tests for printing error, but it would not give me an answer to match any of the given choices.

The proctor fiddled with it, chuckled, and said “mark choice C”,

 

[TMHeimer]

Something I do always wonder about is why the little bit of extra conservatism using tables vs. computers is not mentioned in courses and materials. I'm not talking about square profiles vs. multi-level computer dives or any of that. I mean that when you do a maximum dive of say 90 feet you may be right on the bottom once in a while (oh yeah, never ever touch the bottom....). But most of the time you are at maybe 86-87 feet. Now when you figure 90 feet with tables you aren't really at 90 much at all, even with a very square profile. So, you have a little edge there. With the computer, you get the theoretical "exact" bottom time remaining on the screen. There IS no leeway if you mistakenly let it go down to 0 or close to 0. It is what it is. This is NEVER mentioned.

 

[Tigerpaw]

I was surprised tables weren't taught, even as a new diver I have heard of dive tables. So after my OW certification, I had asked my instructor to show me how to use the tables during my nitrox class and she did! I practice using them even though I have dive computers.

 

[DAJ]

They are not totally obsolete. My old dive unit still utilize them to plan recoveries in zero visibility when your tender and scribe are keeping track of your depth and time. They can call you to the surface if needed.