Scuba depth record broken...again

[Drew Sailbum]

I would be very interested to learn the physics behind that dive. Thats 33.6 bar if my math serves me right. What is the oxygen toxicity at that depth and did he have to breath a gas mix below 21%? I would be interested to see a more detailed dive profile and a bit more into his diving history, if he has gotten bent before etc.

The physiology limitations are major factors when planning such dives. Yes, the bottom gas is usually a hypoxic (<21% oxygen) blend with a lot of helium to limit narcosis. Search on the term trimix.

 

[latitude]

Nuno Gomes from South Africa descended to 318.25 meters (1043.86 feet). 20 minutes to descend and 12 hours of decompression, yeesh.

Here is a reprint of the story

The depths that people will go to just for a little narcosis!!

The question is: Did he see any cool marine life down there?

 

[mike_s]

Here is another news article but it is old. It states that he had to take with him seven cylinders with him to 320 m.

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,6119,2-7-1442_1561263,00.html

There is a pic of him in another thread on scuba board on this subject
that has a pic with all those cylinders on him. You can't tell exactly
what is on his back, but they are the size of 80's to 100's and he's
got FOUR of them on his back plus more slung under his sides.

He also had somewhere around 9 support divers, so I'm betting that for
12 hours of recompression, they were also brining him tanks.


I would like to see the "math" of the dive plan just out of curriosity
to see how long he had to decompress at each stop and the depth
of each stop. Would just be interesting to read.

 

[sharpenu]

It would be odd to see:

10 minute ascent to
500 feet for 4 minutes
5 minute ascent to
250 feet for 20 minutes

 

[subaquaman]

I weighed the "scuba diving is not a competition" side vs. some folks out there that might be interested, and decided it was just something worth posting.

I'd have to agree about it not being a competitive sport but I suppose it's only natural to want to push the boundaries. Fair play to him, can't be easy to pull that off!!

 

[Kriterian]

There is a pic of him in another thread on scuba board on this subject
that has a pic with all those cylinders on him. You can't tell exactly
what is on his back, but they are the size of 80's to 100's and he's
got FOUR of them on his back plus more slung under his sides.

He also had somewhere around 9 support divers, so I'm betting that for
12 hours of recompression, they were also brining him tanks.


I would like to see the "math" of the dive plan just out of curriosity
to see how long he had to decompress at each stop and the depth
of each stop. Would just be interesting to read.

The article explained that they built a "decompression tree" underwater, which sounded like a structure that had all the appropriate stops and tanks at each place. I think the divers were just there is back up and everything was in place and double checked ahead of time.

I'd like to see a copy of his dive computer log if there is one, that would be interesting to see.

 

[Mandy3206]

That's a depth I would never reach!!!!

Very hardcore dive for sure.

Probably, the dive was conducted alone almost all the way, since supoort divers can't hang very deep for very long.

That I consider a real "SOLO DIVER"

 

[kazinvan]

Ya, I wonder how deep the support divers went? Maybe on the way up he didn't see anyone until 600 feet or so, which is almost half way back up to the surface.

 

[MtnDiver]

Can you imagine the "cottonmouth" feeling after 12 hours on a regulator!

Sheesh!

More power to him. He doesn't have to worry about me trying to break the record!

 

[Mandy3206]

Can you imagine the "cottonmouth" feeling after 12 hours on a regulator!

Good point, that dive deserves a OTS full mask and some sort of hydration system.

Heck, lets use an Ipod for the deco time!!!