"Guided" 200' dive with a single AL80?

[PlayaCountryBoy]

I used 2000psi off the first then another 1000psi off the second.....for a total of 3000 psi mas o menos.

 

[FIXXERVI6]

I think some of the problem here lies not with the chap that did this dive, but with those who are reading about it. It's guys like he that push the limits that really set the boundaries of what the rest of us do. So maybe some people here are just a little jealous that this guy had the nutts to do this.

There is nothing brave about taking single tank AL80 divers down on deep air dives.

"It's guys like he that push the limits"

I'm sorry but those limits have already been pushed - to death - no pun intended, I for one will take the knowledge gained by the deaths - and near misses - of those before me and try to make my dives as safe as possible.

Maybe I'm a wimp

In my opinion to totally ignore the lessons of the "true" explorers of this sport is like allowing the ones that didnt' make it to die without gain to the community and a slap to the face of thsoe who made it and tried to educate others.

I'll be the first to stand up and say I'm too much of a wimp to dive air to 200 feet on a single aluminum 80, or even 160 for that matter. I'll stick with my safer 3,000 foot cave penetrations thank you.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

So maybe some people here are just a little jealous that this guy had the nutts to do this.

Not me ... I like my nutts and would prefer not to put myself in a position where I might lose the ability to keep using them ... :11:

Seriously ... I understand there are people out there who dive for reasons other than I do ... namely, to "prove" their manhood or somethinig. Personally, I'd prefer to avoid diving with them. I think the person who did this dive did everyone a service by letting those of us who prefer to dive for other reasons know which dive op to avoid in Coz ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[FIXXERVI6]

I used 2000psi off the first then another 1000psi off the second.....for a total of 3000 psi mas o menos.

This is not normally how this is done, what if you would have used your 2,000 psi then went to your other tank to find you can not access its gas?

This is not a slam but this is very poor gas management.

Now I am at a rock and a hard place, do I post or do I not post on what is wrong with this picture and how to do it safer.

If I do you may switch and have better gas management, if I dont' post hopefully you'll seek additional training and learn on your own, but I don't think that will happen.

 

[ScubaAndDreams]

I think some of the problem here lies not with the chap that did this dive, but with those who are reading about it. It's guys like he that push the limits that really set the boundaries of what the rest of us do. So maybe some people here are just a little jealous that this guy had the nutts to do this.

I have done dives much deeper then 200'...but with the right training and the right planning considerations...so have many of the other responders in this thread....so your "I thinK" is pretty much wrong.

whatever, bottom line: people here that don't know what they don't know are watching this..thinking it's "cool" next they go out and do it themselves, with their O/W card and 27 dives under their belt...THAT IS THE ISSUE. Personally I dont care if CountryBoy goes and kills himself doing this kind of diving...I am more concerned about his customers or people here on this board that don't know any better. He has shown that he could care less about most everyone's opinion here...can't say we didn't try to "warn" him.

Hope you have good liability insurance. Have a nice day.

 

[coldsmoke]

Perhaps I am mis-reading something but this is quoted from the OP's insertion:

"157ft and leveling off…At this point we had been at depth for about :20 and had :17 of off gassing"

DIVE PLAN
Surface interval = 5 day 0 hr 0 min.
Elevation = 0ft
Conservatism = + 1
Dec to 175ft (3) Air 50ft/min descent.
Level 175ft 16:30 (20) Air 1.32 ppO2, 175ft ead
Asc to 90ft (24) Air -20ft/min ascent.
Stop at 90ft 0:45 (25) Air 0.78 ppO2, 90ft ead
Stop at 80ft 1:00 (26) Air 0.72 ppO2, 80ft ead
Stop at 70ft 2:00 (28) Air 0.65 ppO2, 70ft ead
Stop at 60ft 3:00 (31) Air 0.59 ppO2, 60ft ead
Stop at 50ft 4:00 (35) Air 0.53 ppO2, 50ft ead
Stop at 40ft 5:00 (40) Air 0.46 ppO2, 40ft ead
Stop at 30ft 8:00 (48) Air 0.40 ppO2, 30ft ead
Stop at 20ft 11:00 (59) Air 0.34 ppO2, 20ft ead
Stop at 10ft 21:00 (80) Air 0.27 ppO2, 10ft ead
Surface (80) Air -20ft/min ascent.
Off gassing starts at 119.4ft
OTU's this dive: 35
CNS Total: 13.7%
103.6 cu ft Air


I guessed that the 20 minutes was spent somewhere between descent and 157fsw, and without knowing anymore I picked an average depth of 175fsw.

Perhaps the guy was exaggerating or perhaps I have mis-understood, but 20 min on air at 175 feet then it's obvious that al 80's aren't even close. If you considered rock bottom then wouldn't you need at least 160+cuft of gas. I am not sure how you plan for rock bottom in a dive plan that includes an air share but it's going to be obviously more than 160. Dbl 80's wouldn't even be enough to do the dive safely. Moving to other bigger heavier tanks might create overweight situations and I don't think they were in drysuits.

This is a perfect example of very poor pre-dive planning. One minor problem during this dive could have very likely resulted in a very serious situation. As others have posted above, it seems that this person doesn't know what he doesn't know. This is not a matter of everyone else being too conservative.

My advice to this person is to do some searches on this board for Rock Bottom and Gas Planning, as well as seek out some more advanced training if he plans to continue to do dives like this.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

To echo the last few posts this was not something to brag about. risking a customers life is just plain stupid. Agree that I now know for sure that there is one op to definitely avoid should I ever go back to cozumel. I'll be waiting for the accident and incident thread from idiots doing crap like this that is surely coming. If he wants to kill himself fine, don't take somebody else and make sure he does where no body recovery is likely. That way no rescue/recovery divers have to risk their life for his stupidity.

 

[captain]

I
If I recall the original Navy Tables allow 5 minutes (actually 190 feet I think) with direct ascent to surface--that is five minutes from beginning of descent to beginning of ascent, would allow a nice look see on bottom. Haul tail down and when the clock ticks 5 minutes begin immediate ascent at 60 feet per minute to surface. That would be a dive of a total duration of only about 8:20 or so, toss in a safety stop at 15 of five minutes and your still under 14 minutes. This is a no deco dive.

N

This is a pretty common profile for spearos on the oil rigs using AL80's. Zip down, look for a quick shot and back up.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

This is a pretty common profile for spearos on the oil rigs using AL80's. Zip down, look for a quick shot and back up.

I went on a boat in Pensacola with a few of these guys (other customers) and got into a disscussion about doing this. I thought they where BS'ing me so I just let it go. Interesting...

 

[caseybird]

Hey,
Whatever Playa and Julio think is a safe dive profile in iso doubles is great, as a few have said, it's not all that uncommon. They're dive pros, and know what they're doing. I don't think it is appropriate or wise, but hey, I'm not making the dive. But what about Jennifer and Sean? They gotta be certified, yet they went ahead and violated all standards and common sense on singles. What's their excuse? I'd love to hear from them. Jason? Could you hook them up to this thread?