Plan your dive, dive your plan?

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DeepB

Registered
Scuba Instructor
Messages
47
Reaction score
1
Location
Vorarlberg/Austria
# of dives
200 - 499
hello

how of you does follow "dive your plan, plan your dive" for every dive?
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i must admit, that when diving with a buddy i am familiar with, and if i am also familiar with the site i do not do dive planning. There is just one of the two who leads the dive, and that is it? Actually I don't understand what the problem is.

Could anyone of you who plan every dive could tell me why this is so important?

(note: both experianced divers, one 300+ dives, one 1000+ dives, more than 200 dives together)

regards
DeepB
 
I consider myself a good "techreational" diver -- that is, someone who is a recreational diver but who has some technical training and does some technical diving. That said, I can't think of any dive I do outside of a pool where I don't "plan my dive and dive my plan." HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that I run a deco profile or do some extravagant gas planning for a "simple dive" at a known site with my regular buddy.

So what do I/we plan?

a. Estimated duration (generally based on "thermal units" -- that is, 60 minutes because by then we'll be too cold to continue);

b. Max depth -- "Oh, let's go to the I-beams and then wander up to the Honey Bear" -- translated, Max depth is 100' -- or -- "Let's do the shallow tour" -- translated, max depth 60'

c. Gas supply -- "Are your tanks full or if not, how much?" -- we don't do tank matching or calculate turn pressures, etc. -- it is merely a question of, are we diving full tanks or partial tanks?

d. We'll probably do a "head-to-toe" equipment check in the water and make sure our regs are working.

That's it -- all done while gearing up or driving to the site. Why not?

And as to "why?" -- just so that we both (all) understand the general parameters of the dive to make sure they meet everyone's expectations.
 
I agree with Peter (maybe surprising, given our history). Every dive has parameters that define it, so that everybody knows what to expect and can speak up if not comfortable with something. Depth, time, sometimes distance, and gas are possible limiting factors, and usually it will be obvious which one will dominate.

In a familiar site, with a familiar buddy, the planning can be quite abbreviated: "What do you want to do?" "Let's go down to the logs, and then up through the pilings." This has already told me max depth and profile. If we then agree on a proposed time, we're done except for the equipment check. I know my buddy knows what the rock bottom for that depth is, and will plan his gas; he'll turn the dive early if he's hitting any limits, and so will I. It's not that a plan isn't done -- It's just that a lot of it is unsaid, out of familiarity. If I'm diving with someone I don't know, or who doesn't know the site, the planning will be much more formal.
 
Every dive has parameters that define it, so that everybody knows what to expect and can speak up if not comfortable with something. Depth, time, sometimes distance, and gas are possible limiting factors, and usually it will be obvious which one will dominate.

For the given example, i know what my buddy is comfortable with, and i also know that if for any reason he wants to do a shallower dive or anything else he tells me before the dive.

Time is only a factor due to gas and thermal reasons, both of which he will show me.

So what you actually say ist that we implicitly do the dive plan?

regards
DeepB
 
I think, when you are familiar with your team and with the site, a lot of the plan becomes implicit. If you were to do a completely new site, you might talk over more parameters, but for a known site, they are givens.
 
I generally do not do detailed dive plans for pier diving, but I always do plans for boat diving and shore dives that have a long swim to get to them. For piers, we usually just go "we'll aim for xx time or when we reach xx air". For boat dives (as they are always deeper than 3m!) I work out how long I can dive at the max depth with whichever sized tank I am diving with, so that I have air to bring both me and my buddy to the surface from the max depth if something goes wrong as well as have enough air for an emergency on the surface. I know both our SACs so it is easy enough to work out.
 
After a while, the plan, as you say becomes implicit. I rarely sit down with a pencil & paper to figure out a dive these days. Certainly most of the home NDL dives I do, I know what my plan will be with whatever depth/BT I use & am happy to readjust it on the fly. I don't have any tables memorised but I have a good enough idea from what I do have memorised to keep me out of trouble if required. For deeper deco dives that I haven't done before, yes I plan it out meticulously with a reasonable amount of caution added into my SAC. If I'm at a new site I have whatever amount of discussion my insta buddy want's. If my buddy is unhappy with this amount of planning, they are welcome to do the numbers & compare them to mine or find another buddy if they prefer.
 
One of the "plan" items you should consider is if you are boat diving, having a plan with your boat operator. If diving a site with current and/or visibility obstructions, it is a really good idea to settle on a bottom time with the boat. Say you have a dive on a wreck that is 100 feet deep and you are going to work your way up shallower throughout your dive. You might tell your buddy who is boat tending, you will see us on the surface at 25 minutes. Knowing the plan between boat and divers makes your time on the boat much better, and you will know when you need to begin to search if something has gone out of the plan.
 
For a gentle dive (no stop or only a few minutes) the "plan" is very vague to allow for adaptation when down there. Typically we'll have a maximum depth and absolute maximum total run time and no more than that.

If its a planned staged decompression dive then its a lot stricter on the profile, times and so on.
 
String, would you PLEASE do something about that BUG!!!!
 
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