Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
Carl wrote:
>[Knowing one's own limits]
>I just don't see a problem teaching the same type of thing to a presumably
>much more advanced diver. For those people that do get narc'ed easily,
>Nitrox *will* help them dive deeper safer (bet many people never
>thought of this one!).
Given that the narcosis reduction issue with nitrox has still not (to
my knowledge -- if I'm missing something, someonle please fill me in!)
been proven one way or the other, how can one state that nitrox will
help anyone dive deeper safer?
As for teaching divers, beginning or advanced, to know and respect their
own limits... It appears that there *is* a problem. Divers are dying.
Some of these divers are dying because they're breathing the wrong
stuff too deep. I don't know whether this is due to the quality of
the instruction they had, or whether it's just some "natural selection"
going on. I suspect it's some of each. I don't think there is much we
can do about the diver who just doesn't care what their limits are --
hoping that they don't take one of us with them is probably about it.
I think there is a lot that can be done about the quality of instruction,
both in basic OW classes and in more advanced training.
The point is, there are plenty of certified divers out there who can barely
understand dive tables (and god help 'em if they actually want to do
repetative dives using tables...). Some of the "more advanced" divers
mentioned above who want to learn about nitrox may even be among them.
Assuming that these people will even UNDERSTAND the limits is, IMHO, a
dangerous assumption -- especially when we're dealing with limits that may
not be as straightforward as the no-deco times written in big red numbers
on their dive tables. Teaching safe nitrox use may well be more difficult
than teaching someone enough to stay alive on a 30' reef dive...
>MOD for NOAA I is 130 fsw as taught, however, the 1.6 PPO2 has been
>broken by many people who are still alive to tell about it so it isn't
>the same as "you cross this line, you die" of the previous poster's
>tone.
Nothing in scuba is as straightforward as "you cross this line, you die."
Not deco limits, depth limits, or oxygen toxicity. Unfortunately, for
every person who crosses the line and lives to tell about it, there is
prboably also another person who didn't even reach the line, but got hit
anyway.
>I just recently saw advertisements in Skin Diver about a dive shop teaching
>deep air diving in *6* increments, the deepest of which was *300*
>feet!!! 297 feet (or 10 ata) is 2.1 ata PP02... I might ask - what
>is this guy trying to prove?! Is there *any* reason to teach such a
>course?
There's currently a thread going on Compuserve concerning deep air
training. One reason that was given there was that deep air training
is necessary in preparation for deep trimix diving. A mix diver might
find themselves at depths below 200' on air if they are using air as
a travel gas, and/or if there's a problem at depth (losing the bottom
gas, for example) which might require switching back to breathing air.
In either of those cases, it would be nice to have some prior training
and experience in that area.
>There was also the recent discussion on this mailing list about the new
>world record on air (525 ft) which is over 4 atm PPO2 !!! I'm suprised
>that no one has commented on just how stupid this seems.
Personally, I would hope that everyone on _this_ list would understand
how stupid this seems, and not even need to comment.
>IMO, recreational Nitrox is just around the corner. There are at least
>*two* local shops now that teach and sell nitrox and I'm personally going
>to start diving exclusively on nitrox (for dives < 130 feet) for all
>but the most trivial of diving. Of course, it will be nice to do custom
>blends for diving deeper than 130 ft too.
IMO, recreational nitrox is already here. My question is, how are we
going to keep it safe?
--tab
--
Tracey Baker tab@pa*.co*
"I don't think safety is the main issue here...
You'd be stupid not to be safe." - J.Comly
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]