Deep stops and ascents...

[LavaSurfer]

I do 1/2 depth stops as well but if I am working up a wall slowly I may forego the stop.
I like the 2.5 minute stop even better than the 1 minute stop.
Also, I burn down my tank doing a Safety Stop. Why give back air I paid for?
General rule for me is a safety stop for minimum of three minutes on any dive.
I am more often than not the last in the boat.

 

[redhawktwo]

I did not learn of the half depth rule until reading it here on the boards, my PADI class taught the 15 feet/3-5 minute stop. That was what I used until I read it here.

 

[The Chairman]

Yeah, ScubaBoard help me to transition from doing only safety pauses to full stops.

 

[TSandM]

In my OW, we were taught about safety stops, that they were optional but advised, particularly after deeper dives. This was 3 minutes at 15 feet. Deep stops were not discussed at all.

I currently use the approach described by adobo for direct ascents, although a lot of my dives are ended by swimming up slope, so I just watch the time and make sure enough is spent shallow (keeping UP's "time shallow for time deep" firmly in mind).

I think it's really useful, even for a purely recreational diver, to read some of the easily available stuff on decompression algorithms (Erik Baker's papers, for example). It give you more of an idea of what the theory of decompression says, and a better idea of how the best ascent we currently know is shaped. At least, it has been very useful information for me.

 

[speedhound]

In the Y it was "suggested strongly" we do a 1-2 minute stop at half our max depth, and then do a 3min stop at 10-15ft (longer if air, etc allow).

One idea I'd heard from a PDIC instructor was to come up progressively slower, the shallow the diver got_ 30ft/min to 30ft, then 20ft/min to 15, down to 15ft/min or less as you surface. The idea being to counter the proportionally greater effects as you come through the last 30'. I've never tried it, but it makes some kind of sense.

 

[PerroneFord]

That seems backward to me... seems like you are speeding up.

 

[downdeep]

My instructor (PADI) taught 3 min stops at 15 ft regardless of depth or time as an added safety measure. That was in 1998. By the time I took my rescue class in 2000, an additional 3 minute stop at 30 ft. had been added.

 

[speedhound]

That seems backward to me... seems like you are speeding up.

yeah, I wrote that wrong didn't I....edit coming!!

 

[Wildcard]

Id just like to point out that PADI OW only teaches diving to 60 feet so deep stops would not be covered.

 

[The Chairman]

I do deep stops for any dive below 40 fsw. No exceptions.