Critique A Beginners Dive Profile

[Jax]

I remember watching my computer on ascents and I kept the ascent rate meter "happy", I suppose slower can't hurt though. Will look to see if there is a setting that can be configured for the ascent rate meter/alarm.

In many divers, they are so careful, and do their safety stops, then suddenly 'pop up' from their 15' safety stop.

GUE basic training teaches a one minute stop at 30', 20', and 10' . . . note you get your 10' per minute that way.

All the discussions about sub-clinical DCS symptoms - of which fatigue is a major one - say to take the 30'/10m slow. I adopted the 10'/minute and haven't suffered from fatigue since.

Another way to look at it - what's another minute in the grand scheme? And it's great buoyancy practice.

 

[The Chairman]

I do a full five minute safety stop @ 10 fsw and then take another minute to ascend the last ten feet.

 

[Diver0001]

I bought some gear after renting for my first dozen or so dives after certification. One thing I was excited about with getting my own gear was being able to download the logs from my computer afterward to analyze the profile and just be able to take a more technical overall look at things.

Yesterday I did my first dives with my gear and tested out the log downloading etc. The Mares tool to download the logs is pretty cool and gives a decent amount of dive information.

As a beginner nothing obvious jumps out regarding my dive profile/info
(other than a bad SAC) but it would be nice to have more experienced divers point out anything they notice.

Thanks

Profile

Profile

You are not doing safety stops.

Safety stops have two functions
1) help you off-gass
2) slow down your ascent.

Looking at those profiles you appear to be ascending faster in the shallow part of the dive than you should have been. Slow down the ascent and starting making a habit of doing a safety stop at the end of every dive unless it's highly impractical to do so.

R..

 

[The Chairman]

Yeah, they're more like safety pauses rather than stops. This is the wonderful thing about a PDC: you can look at reality from the comfort of your home. I did the very same until I started looking at my PDC. They don't lie.

 

[Skeptic14]

Looking at my first dive profile, i reach 20ft at 27:00 minutes. I float up to 14ft because of bad buoyancy before getting it back to 20ish ft, but don't begin final ascent until 30:40, 3 minutes 40 seconds. At that point from around 21 ft it takes me 80-90 seconds to reach the surface.

With practice and improved buoyancy I can eliminate that floating part, but was the 3:40 not a sufficient safety stop? Should they be longer?

Netdoc, you said you do a full 5 min at 10ft, is that on top of the 3 minute at 15-20 ft?


Thanks


edit


Is 15ft preferred over 20ft for the stop depth? Somehow I got the 15-20 ft range in my head.

 

[The Chairman]

3:40 should be sufficient. I prefer 5:00+ between 15 and 10 fsw but I'm old and cautious. I also do a two minute deep stop if I exceed 60 fsw. I haven't been bent and I want to keep it that way. It's a bit difficult to suss out just how long you took at your safety stop. You and only you can determine how long is long enough and just where you want to make that stop.

Here's the deal. Your neural and blood tissues have a half time of about 5 minutes. Taking that 5 minute safety stop clears out half of what ever gas is dissolved in my blood and neural tissues. Getting bent is rare. However, if a recreational diver is bent, they most often show neural symptoms. With that in mind, I want a strategy that mitigates those neural hits. KnowhatImeanVern?

 

[Doby45]

I use my Petrel on the adaptive setting for rec safety stops. When you go below a certain depth it changes your safety stop from 3min to 5min and I normally hold my stop at 15' as that is where my triple knot is on my SMB line..

PS. I went and looked and if you exceed 100' depth it changes your stop to 5min or if you get within 5min of your NDL it will change it to 5min.

 

[Steve_C]

Last saturday we had some not too bad swells but it was a bit bouncy at the hang bar at 15ft. There was a slight current. At 10 ft you were either right under the stern of the bouncing boat or having to swim against the current. Seemed to make more sense to spend the time at 15 and then do a slow assent up to the trailing line.

Just want to point out that one needs to take the conditions into account and then make a prudent decision. Besides my computer gets pissed off if I hit 10, it wants me below. So I do my stop at 15 and when it is over I will either slowly go up or if conditions permit maybe spend some more time at 8-10 like in a quarry or really calm ocean conditions.

 

[Jax]

I use my Petrel on the adaptive setting for rec safety stops. When you go below a certain depth it changes your safety stop from 3min to 5min and I normally hold my stop at 15' as that is where my triple knot is on my SMB line..

PS. I went and looked and if you exceed 100' depth it changes your stop to 5min or if you get within 5min of your NDL it will change it to 5min.

What is this "adaptive setting"?

 

[RandomGuy1]

Per the Petrel manuel:

Safety Stop The Safety Stop setting can be set to the following values: • Off • 3 minutes • 4 minutes • 5 minutes • Adapt When using the Adapt setting, a 3 minute safety stop will be used, unless the dive exceeds 100ft (30m) or the NDL falls below 5 minutes, in which case a 5 minute safety stop is used.