Ascent Help

[chillyinCanada]

Sorry rongoodman. I meant to be asking that question of the OP.

 

[Bubbles below]

I ascent from 43 ft to 8ft in 1mins, however our total dive was 7mins. My girlfriend is a new diver with only 20 dives. She rented her gear from her local dive shop and didn't realized that it's a back float BCD nor did they informed her how to use it. We were diving at a local lake. She decended fine and was ok at 20ft and we went 30 ft and was ok. At 40 ft, I noticed she had issues! She was floating up! I tried to let her know she needs to get lower and asked why. She was flairing and I thought her regulator came off and I quickly reached her and I noticed it was her 2nd that was flairing. I held on to her trying to get her dump valve,but then she took me up w her. I had my second ascent violation since my OW! I aborted the dive and called it a day. I think she was holding on to her inflator valve too much and when she realize she was floating up she wanted to deflate but the valve stuck. Why would a dive shop give a new diver a back BCD! She looked like a fish in a frying pan. She always rented a jacket BCD and she did fine at our local lake at 75ft and completed a 45 mins dive on couple months ago!

 

[uncfnp]

Vertical or horizontal ascent? Depends on the site. Floating up along a reef? Mostly horizontal. All I really need to see easily is visible with little effort. Open water/drifting ascent. Could be either or may change during ascent, especially from the safety stop. I prefer the easier 360 view from vertical at these times.

 

[Bob DBF]

Using the "smallest bubble" would always result in too fast ascents for me as well. I checked and it seems (I don't have the reference) that even small bubbles ascend at about 50 feet/minute.

It worked great when the ascent rate was 60'/min. If the ascent rate was always 30'/min, no one would even know about that since it would be completely useless information.


Bob

 

[gcarter]

I ascent from 43 ft to 8ft in 1mins, however our total dive was 7mins. My girlfriend is a new diver with only 20 dives. She rented her gear from her local dive shop and didn't realized that it's a back float BCD nor did they informed her how to use it. We were diving at a local lake. She decended fine and was ok at 20ft and we went 30 ft and was ok. At 40 ft, I noticed she had issues! She was floating up! I tried to let her know she needs to get lower and asked why. She was flairing and I thought her regulator came off and I quickly reached her and I noticed it was her 2nd that was flairing. I held on to her trying to get her dump valve,but then she took me up w her. I had my second ascent violation since my OW! I aborted the dive and called it a day. I think she was holding on to her inflator valve too much and when she realize she was floating up she wanted to deflate but the valve stuck. Why would a dive shop give a new diver a back BCD! She looked like a fish in a frying pan. She always rented a jacket BCD and she did fine at our local lake at 75ft and completed a 45 mins dive on couple months ago!

The issue as you describe it has nothing to do with back inflate vs jacket BCD, and all to do with the inflator, her use of it, and possible sticking of the valve.

By "flairing" I assume you mean free flow? Something else?

 

[Doby45]

Why would a dive shop give a new diver a back BCD! She looked like a fish in a frying pan. She always rented a jacket BCD and she did fine at our local lake at 75ft and completed a 45 mins dive on couple months ago!

Not the fault of the dive shop at all. Do they keep a record of what every person that could walk in the door uses and is comfortable with? I think not, nor is it their responsibility too. The difference in a back inflate BCD and a jacket BCD are nonexistent when it comes to using an inflator to inflate it. I think it is taught in OW that if you have a run away inflator your first goal should be to dump and disconnect. Then you regain control of your buoyancy by manually inflating the BCD with your mouth and call the dive or carry on, depending on how comfortable you are.

 

[uncfnp]

I think she was holding on to her inflator valve too much and when she realize she was floating up she wanted to deflate but the valve stuck.

As others have pointed out, the function of the inflator, indeed the inflator itself, is the same, back or jacket. My bet is that she was pressing had the inflate button rather then the deflate.

 

[Kharon]

Vertical or horizontal ascent? Depends on the site. Floating up along a reef? Mostly horizontal. All I really need to see easily is visible with little effort. Open water/drifting ascent. Could be either or may change during ascent, especially from the safety stop. I prefer the easier 360 view from vertical at these times.

The way it was explained to me (and I've seen the same in print, numerous times) is that your offgassing is more uniform when horizontal.

 

[DevonDiver]

I've not dived the Suunto Eon Steel, but with every other Suunto I've used - each 'bar' on the ascent rate indication was a 3m per min increment.

1 bar = 3m per min (green)
2 bar = 6m per min (green)
3 bar = 9m per min (green)
4 bar = 12m per min (yellow)
5 bar = 15m per min (red - gives alarm)

http://scubatechphilippines.com/scuba_blog/best-ascent-speed-scuba-diving/

http://scubatechphilippines.com/scu...dge-your-ascent-rate-without-a-dive-computer/

 

[DevonDiver]

I've not dived the Suunto Eon Steel, but with every other Suunto I've used - each 'bar' on the ascent rate indication was a 3m per min increment.

1 bar = 3m per min (green)
2 bar = 6m per min (green)
3 bar = 9m per min (green)
4 bar = 12m per min (yellow)
5 bar = 15m per min (red - gives alarm)

Best Ascent Speed for Scuba Diving

Scuba Diving Skills and Techniques - How to Judge Your Ascent Rate