I'm getting ready to do a couple of lake dives tomorrow, mostly about just getting wet since it's been quite a few months and doing some skills practice. I have about 20 dives under my belt, the majority of which came a year ago on a dive trip to Cayman Brac.
I was going over my dive profiles from Cayman Brac. On nearly every dive, I have a few intervals where my ascent rate is too fast. These are not sustained, i.e., not more than one in a row, but it is an area where I need to improve. I also note that while a few are at depth, they are more frequently in the shallower part of the dive (where I think this actually matters more).
I try to monitor my dive computer that shows ascent rate, but obviously I'm losing track of how fast I'm coming up. The obviously solution is don't do that, but I'm wondering if more experienced divers here have some tips to help me keep this under control. It is hard to gauge, at least for me.
On a related note, I found in my early dives last summer that I had a very difficult time staying at 15 feet for my safety stop. With the low tank, I was too buoyant and literally had to work to stay down. I added a couple of pounds and that seemed to solve the problem, but by general guidelines I think I would have been considered over-weighted. One person suggested that perhaps I'm not getting all of the air out of my BC. I'm going to spend some time tomorrow looking into that.
I am 5'10", about 190#, and was at that time wearing just a full suit lavacore. In a rookie mistake, I forgot to record my weights for these dives, but I think I started at 14 and then moved to 16. I'll be in a 7mm suit tomorrow in fresh water. Same BCD.
Thoughts?
Thanks
Tom
I was going over my dive profiles from Cayman Brac. On nearly every dive, I have a few intervals where my ascent rate is too fast. These are not sustained, i.e., not more than one in a row, but it is an area where I need to improve. I also note that while a few are at depth, they are more frequently in the shallower part of the dive (where I think this actually matters more).
I try to monitor my dive computer that shows ascent rate, but obviously I'm losing track of how fast I'm coming up. The obviously solution is don't do that, but I'm wondering if more experienced divers here have some tips to help me keep this under control. It is hard to gauge, at least for me.
On a related note, I found in my early dives last summer that I had a very difficult time staying at 15 feet for my safety stop. With the low tank, I was too buoyant and literally had to work to stay down. I added a couple of pounds and that seemed to solve the problem, but by general guidelines I think I would have been considered over-weighted. One person suggested that perhaps I'm not getting all of the air out of my BC. I'm going to spend some time tomorrow looking into that.
I am 5'10", about 190#, and was at that time wearing just a full suit lavacore. In a rookie mistake, I forgot to record my weights for these dives, but I think I started at 14 and then moved to 16. I'll be in a 7mm suit tomorrow in fresh water. Same BCD.
Thoughts?
Thanks
Tom