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> > > > > > > > > I don't agree with the "get a few hundred dives before doing the U-352". It's > > just a relatively easy recreational depth dive. Granted it's at the deep end > > of the recreational scale (about 120 feet) but it isn't particularly dangerous > > if you don't do deco dives or penetration. > The recreational agencies consider a 120 fsw dive to be one which > requires you to hold a deep specialty, which is an advanced > specialty, or a master diver rating. Yes, and you can get those with a grand total of 10 dives. I think a person is better prepared for this kind of dive by doing shallower ocean boat dives. Learning the ropes of an ocean boat dive is a more difficult task than the dive itself. > You are fooling yourself, and > the operators who take openwater divers on dives like this, > concerning the experience required to dive to 120. I aree that in > perfect conditions w/ zero problems the average diver could "go down > and take a look" however the average openwater diver with less than > a couple hundred dives is unprepared to handle any problems that may > arise. Conditions don't need to be perfect but they do need to be good and they usually are on the U-352. The charter outfits around here won't dive if they aren't. The divemaster usually sets the anchor and determines whether the surface conditions, current, temperature, and visability are good enough to dive. If not, they move to another site or bag it altogether. The most significant difference is that it is not feasable to make an emergency ascent without an alternate air supply. A good buddy or a pony bottle mitigate that risk, with a pony bottle being preferable by far. The diver should have been trained to handle the other emergencies. The other risks are the same as they are at 30 feet with, perhaps, less time to react and narcosis beginning to become a factor. Some risks are actually slightly less. In an uncontrolled ascent caused by a stuck inflator, for example, the diver has more time to deal with the problem and the expansion of air in the lungs is not as fast at first. In almost all cases, if they can't habdle a problem at 120 feet, they couldn't handle it at 30 feet and shouldn't be diving at all. > Then he/she is dead. Worth it just to do a dive that w/ more > experience it would be considered an fairly easy dive? (w/out > penetration) If the risk were that great more people would be dying on the U-352, and the other wrecks in the area. I haven't heard of any dying or even getting bent on that wreck in a long time, and it is one of the most popular dives around here. The only diving fatality we had this season in the area was a guy who bolted to the surface from 60 feet on the Aeolus and embolized. I don't know the details but that guy didn't seem to be prepared to dive at any depth if he couldn't handle an emergency at 60 feet. That's the first fatality I remember in the last few years around here. > Plus as this is techdiver and the orginal message was > full of questions regarding tech diving, I think that the temptation > to "just go in a little" would have been present. True, and I would absolutely agree with your response for tech diving this wreck in any form, i.e. deco diving or penetration. I think a penetration dive at 30 feet is orders of magnitude more dangerous than a recreational dive to 120 feet. The new divers I've seen around have all had the fear of god put into them about penetration. I can tell you that none of the people I dived the U-352 with had any desire to go in. When I saw those small hatches I thought about how hard it would be to go in there. It would have to be a deco dive, you'd need lots of gas, getting the gas in there with you would be hard, etc., etc. Besides, all the good stuff was removed years ago. :-) I think all of the training agencies stress "no penetration" these days in their beginning classes because statistically so many people have died that way. The original poster of this thread had the sense to check into this before he tried anything. I sent him some private mail recommending a few local wrecks in the under 60 foot range to start out on. > How about it > everyone, your opion, am I being just to conservative when I > recommend much more experience for this dive? > Not for tech diving but for recreational diving, yes. More experience, yes, but over a hundred dives aren't necessary. > > > That's kind of the normal progression in North Carolina diving. My fist ocean > > dive was on a wreck at 95 feet. I think it was my 15th dive. No big deal. I should add with 100 foot + vis, 75 degree (F) water, calm seas. No penetration or even possibility of penetration since the wreck was broken down, and no deco. > Never is a big deal untill something goes bad. > If something had gone bad I was trained to handle it and had the proper redundant equipment to survive. Recreational diving around here just isn't brain surgery. You just need the proper equipment for the situation and thorough preparation in your emergency procedures. I don't dive to 100+ feet just to go deep. It's just that the wrecks within recreational limits around here are between 60 and 120 feet. If you want to dive offshore here, that's where you have to go. People here are trained for it from the beginning. Rick
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