Absolutely, it's a SAFETY stop. Not a REQUIRED stop. I was only at depth for 1 minute.
We were diving as a trio. What's wrong with diving with trios? They tend to become a buddy pair and a solo. That's why we don't dive trios, right? I could:
A) Solo dive on an adv class checkout dive. That would be impressive, no?
B) Stay with my buddies, as I was instructed to do.
Additionally, as I said, my buddy was having trouble. What if the instructor needed assistance with him and I'm down there doing a safety stop?
In the material I've read and throughout instruction, safety stops are not required. They are what we call them. This computer thinks differently. That's the point. I'd like to see any evidence of anyone getting DCS under these circumstances. I just don't believe there's any historical basis for this "feature" with this dive profile. While I'm sure Mares put this lockout in for a good reason, I believe they went overboard on the parameters.
Your response implies that I don't plan to do safety stops in the future. Not at all. However, if I have a good reason (no matter what the reason is) to skip a safety stop after being down for one lousy minute, I do NOT want a 24hr computer lockout on an expensive vacation.
Sorry, it just doesn't seem like you read or understood the original post. Maybe I didn't make it clear.