A peeve but an important one - 20m is NOT 60ft!

[miketsp]

Wait... You ask for what, 3kgs and expect 6.6lbs?

2 3's then shave the rest from a block of lead?

I'm glad you find it so amusing but I know my weighting spot on for each configuration I dive so rounding down definitely doesn't work.

 

[Walter]

Ooh, now someone do the rant about 20,000 leagues under the sea. It would more accurately be approximately 3038 fathoms under the sea as league is a measure of distance and fathom of depth.

Hoomi is correct. The title refers to distance traveled. If it did refer to depth, it could not be on earth because descending 20,000 leagues from the surface would put the Nautilus out the other side and into space. By the way, 20,000 leagues would not convert to 3,038 fathoms, but to 60,761,155.

 

[boulderjohn]

And let's not get started on rods, chains, and links.

I had to learn that stuff, as well as the relationship between quarts, bushels, and pecks. I can't believe they have taken all of that stuff out of the curriculum. Just one more example of the dumbing down of learning. PADI must be behind it.

 

[Walter]

In 1987, I had a student list his weight in stones.

 

[BrotherBear]

If I recall correctly, though, the title does not refer to how deep the Nautilus went in the story, but rather how far they traveled in the submersible vehicle.

Since a fathom is app. 6 feet, Vernes' story would have been even more incredible if he'd purported the Nautilus as having a safe working depth of over 18,000 feet. (The modern Seawolf class of attack subs are estimated to have a collapse depth of 2400 feet)

Me, I just can't fathom going that deep.

Well, I guess you're not in Jules' league at all, are you?

I had to learn that stuff, as well as the relationship between quarts, bushels, and pecks. I can't believe they have taken all of that stuff out of the curriculum. Just one more example of the dumbing down of learning. PADI must be behind it.

Well, if we went apple picking and I brought back 3/4 of a bushel and you brought back a full bushel...you'd be a peck-a-head now wouldn't you?

 

[EGad]

If I recall correctly, though, the title does not refer to how deep the Nautilus went in the story, but rather how far they traveled in the submersible vehicle.

Since a fathom is app. 6 feet, Vernes' story would have been even more incredible if he'd purported the Nautilus as having a safe working depth of over 18,000 feet. (The modern Seawolf class of attack subs are estimated to have a collapse depth of 2400 feet)

Me, I just can't fathom going that deep.

All very true, I knew that reference wouldn't last long without it being pointed out, but whaddya gonna do? I'm bored.

Also, thought about sub service, but I know some of the guys who build those things so I went Air Force. And ended up a crewmember in a plane with no parachutes. Maybe I should've gone Navy after all.

 

[pedo]

What a hoot! You da' man.

Yeah, 60ft is nothing like 65ft! I remember the first time I went down to 65ft - after years of only diving to 60ft. I'm not sure how I fell victim to such a runaway descent. Not sure why my computer didn't start warning me! I guess I should have noticed how much darker it got as I plummeted from 60' to 65ft. I must have been really narc'd, because I covered that entire distance in what seemed like no time. I was confused, disoriented, developed vertigo. My sac rate doubled at that dramatically increased depth. My reg started breathing really hard... in fact my tanks started to buckle under the increased pressure.

The last thing I recall was looking up from 65' and seeing my buddy...way above me in the distance...up at 60' and thinking "I can't believe it's going to end this way." I mean, there I was, in Poseiden's clutches at 65ft, breathing what was surely my last breath, as my buddy watched helplessly from 60ft. It was surreal, though. Calm. As if there was really nothing wrong. As the blackness began to creep in from the edges of my vision, it almost seemed as if I could reach up from the watery depths and take my buddy's hand. I know! Crazy, huh?

Fortunately my buddy recognized I was in distress. (Not sure how, as I was so out of it that I forgot to put my mask on my forehead.) He too reports the strange feeling that he could have reached down and taken me by the hand. Fortunately, he spent a few weeks in Europe during grad school, so using his computer and a dive slate he was able to calculate that, although I appeared to be 1.524m below him, I was actually FIVE FEET below him. He had a decision to make. To abandon his buddy and save himself...or to risk everything. Both our lives flashed before his eyes. He recalled the two of us growing up, fond memories of little league, and high school, then college. He remembered how I was the best man at his wedding, that he was my child's godfather, and then he recalled... that I had his truck keys in the pocket of my drysuit undies!

Taking control of the situation he abandoned all rational thought, and in a "do or die" decision he plunged from 60ft to 65ft! He somehow managed his own descent to be able to slow and stop at 65ft, and grabbed me by the tank valve while deftly venting his wing. He had to struggle a bit to find my inflator hose - a miracle in itself since he had no idea I had recently changed from the 16" version to a 14" version. Now two inches doesn't sound like much, but keep in mind that at that depth two inches is actually 50.8mm!

With incredible skill and precision, he carefully managed a controlled ascent - flaring the whole way I can only presume - and safely brought us up from from 20m all the way to 18.288m. He even ensured that we did a "deep stop" at 19.144m - no sense in risking microbubble formation by coming up so fast!


:cool2:

 

[EGad]

I had to learn that stuff, as well as the relationship between quarts, bushels, and pecks. I can't believe they have taken all of that stuff out of the curriculum. Just one more example of the dumbing down of learning. PADI must be behind it.

I didn't get the training in rods and chains in school (I guess they figured we'd look it up if we came across it.) I learned it in training in real estate title work for oil and gas companies (where knowledge of land surveying is fairly critical.) But the areas I ended up working rarely used those measures anyway as most of it was laid out in grid surveys. Just another thing Thomas Jefferson got right. Made my life a lot easier dealing with fractions of sections than metes and bounds referencing landmarks that frequently no longer exist. But that's a discussion for another day. And rather off topic.

But I agree, PADI is somehow behind it. And behind flouridation of water.

 

[Monkey_Gland]

In 1987, I had a student list his weight in stones.

Still do. I could do with losing a couple!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

In 1987, I had a student list his weight in stones.

According to one prominent ScubaBoard member, most divers today don't have any ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)