85m air dive

[elmer fudd]

Well, I've got no problem with big bungied wings, deep air or any of that. Going that deep on air is not for me as I value my life, but I'm not going to tell anyone who understands the risk that they can't do it. I wouldn't go base jumping or try free style motocross either, but I don't mind that other people do it.

I guess my question for the OP though is what is the narcosis like at that depth? Did you have the deco bottles with you or were they suspended on a line or carried by the support divers? The idea of being at 275', with the mental ability of a turnip, and then having to decide which regulator to use would scare the hell out of me.

Someone else noted earlier that the cold water divers tend to be very cautious about narcosis and I tend to agree. I've been to 135' on air, in cold, dark water and I got all the narcosis I ever wanted. Truth is, I probably wasn't all that narced, but when it's pitch black and you can see only a few feet in front of you a little narcosis seems like a lot. It's probably a bit like being out in the woods alone. In the daytime most people will be perfectly at ease. Put them in the same place at night and chances are they'll be somewhat uneasy. Now get them just a little high and they'll be imagining every sound is a bear or the local Michael Myers.

[Cave Diver]

The PSAI Narcosis Management course is not the topic of this thread. There's already 16 pages of "discussion" on it here: PSAI Narcosis Management course - 73m on air

Everything there was to say about it - and more - has already been said. Unlike you with your repeated 'troll' accusations, I don't enjoy repeating myself ad nauseum

I just scanned through all your posts in that thread and have a question that I didn't see addressed.

What method did the PSAI course teach you for managing deco bottles? Left/lean Right/Rich? All gasses on one side? Or something different?

[rongoodman]

There are pictures early in the thread(#62,#63) of deco bottles on hanging on both sides, with O2 bottles on the right.

[Tortuga68]

my question for the OP though is what is the narcosis like at that depth? Did you have the deco bottles with you or were they suspended on a line or carried by the support divers? The idea of being at 275', with the mental ability of a turnip, and then having to decide which regulator to use would scare the hell out of me

I was certainly narc'd, but in my honest opinion, I was quite functional in terms of awareness of depth, time & air. I didn't 'feel' any different than I had a 75m on the previous dive. Of course any problem-solving could have been a different story.

I remember the whole dive well, it took us ~5 minutes to get to ~80m where the wall flattens out a bit, as there was a small current and we had to follow the wall down around some obstacles. The target depth was 84m, so we went downslope a bit more, and hit 84.6m. We had a brief conversation, shook hands, and started the ascent at 8 minutes

We carried our own stages - I like having everything I need with me, and no-one ever died from having too much gas. Plus we had two support divers with stages at 40m, but they were only spares 'just in case'

Our first gas switch wasn't until 21m so by that time there was no narcosis to interfere with the 'which reg?' decision

What method did the PSAI course teach you for managing deco bottles? Left/lean Right/Rich? All gasses on one side? Or something different?

The Narcosis Management course doesn't teach managing deco bottles, you can sling them how you like. I had already done Deco Proc before NM. For me, I have only ever used 2 stage bottles, with 50% & 100%. I sling them left/lean right/rich. They are marked, and I check the marking during the switch. For my diving, I find this method is simple and works well; you're always going to the left side for your first switch

[knowone]

Just finished building the fire proof room for all my air, books and floppys and vIdeos and manuals and CDs and scibbled slates and twin hoses.
In case the villagers come.

See you down the Heads one day.

[Sas]

Tortuga, I'll start by saying I don't really give a crap what kinds of dives people do and the kind of gear they want to use. People have their own risk tolerances and if their diving isn't going to impact on others, whatever. However, I do like to hear about dives I will never do (such air to 85m as it is far far beyond my risk tolerance) out of curiosity. I know plenty of people who dive deep air but few willing to admit to it so here are my questions:

I was certainly narc'd, but in my honest opinion, I was quite functional in terms of awareness of depth, time & air. I didn't 'feel' any different than I had a 75m on the previous dive. Of course any problem-solving could have been a different story.

How did your narcosis manifest? Were you slower? Euphoric?

Your last bit about problem solving - how do you think it could be a different story? Do you believe narcosis hampers problem solving a great deal? Do you worry about something going wrong during a dive and you not being mentally competent enough to fix it or is that part of the enjoyment for you? The riskiness... as such.

I guess the last question is more getting at why you want to do deep air diving? I guess you probably posted it in the other thread about your course but I am too lazy to go through all the posts... read the OP and a few more posts and could see where it was going.

[TSandM]

The target depth was 84m, so we went downslope a bit more, and hit 84.6m. We had a brief conversation, shook hands, and started the ascent at 8 minutes

Was the whole dive done just to hit a certain depth? There wasn't something specific you wanted to see?

I realize we all dive for different reasons, and none of us should have to (or probably can) justify why we dive or do the dives we do. But I sure can't wrap my head around taking the risks involved and the just plain old EFFORT involved in going down to that depth, just to be there. I mean, it's not a record or anything . . .

[Cave Diver]

I remember the whole dive well, it took us ~5 minutes to get to ~80m... ...we went downslope a bit more, and hit 84.6m. We had a brief conversation, shook hands, and started the ascent at 8 minutes

So ~5 minutes down, ascent starting at 8 minutes, giving you a ~3 minute bottom time?

[Hank49]

Was the whole dive done just to hit a certain depth? There wasn't something specific you wanted to see?

I realize we all dive for different reasons, and none of us should have to (or probably can) justify why we dive or do the dives we do. But I sure can't wrap my head around taking the risks involved and the just plain old EFFORT involved in going down to that depth, just to be there. I mean, it's not a record or anything . . .

The same reason you go into caves, (which I have no interest in). You want to.

[Sas]

The same reason you go into caves, (which I have no interest in). You want to.

Most people can expand on 'because I want to', which is mainly what I am interested here from Tortuga. I like going into caves because of the awesome air clear visibility, the way the entrance looks with the sun shining through, the challenge of learning new skills such as running line, having great buoyancy and trim, things like that, also because it's kind of spooky to be in the dark under all that rock, it seems quieter and more peaceful especially as the caves I dive in have no water movement. Those are the reasons why 'I want to'.