Staging practices

I have been diving shipwrecks for quite sometime and stage once in awhile (if its warranted). There are many different ideas of where or whether to leave your bottles, what are your opinions?

I normally clip my stages to the mainline that I setup so that 1. divers aren't inclined to take a bottle and 2. it stays right where it is .

What would happen if, for any reason, those bottles weren't there when you got back?

A similar point can be made with caves...I also don't usually stage on highly dove wrecks or within recreational limits. By clipping the bottles to the line, you designate that they have a purpose and secures their positioning, making it highly less likely for another person or team to mistake your bottle from theirs in a shipwreck. You should also have gas reserves if this happens...

If I am staging in a cave, I'll breathe a third of the stage, then swim it in a bit farther and leave it in a convenient location to access the second third on the way out, leaving a third in reserve.

Alterantively, you can breathe the stage down to 1/2 +200 psi, then drop it and pick up again to get the last half on the way out - ensuring that you have at least 1/3 of the total gas supply (back gas plus stage(s)) in your back gas.

On a wreck I do it a bit differently. Unlike a cave, there is no guarentee you will or can get back the same way you came, so it makes sense to keep the bottle with you as long as it has gas in it. In that case it makes more sense to breathe the stage until it is basically empty, then switch to your back gas - again ensuring you keep 1/3 of the back gas plus stage in the bakc gas. That approach ensures you use the stage first with no potential to lose it or lose access to it later in the dive when aborting after losing the stage is problematic due to deco obligations, etc. And if things go south, you can ditch the empty stage to make better progress against a current back to the upline, etc and not be losing any gas on the dive.

But essentially in the open ocean, and especially in current and/or in low viz, I would keep my stage and deco gas with me. A possible exception would be a tight wreck penetration. In that case, I'd establish a primary and secondary tie off with my wreck reel and then clip the gas to the line and wreck to ensure I can find them in zero viz on the way out. I would also beef up the reserve to ensure I can do the deco on back gas if I lose the deco gas.

DA Aquamaster:

But essentially in the open ocean, and especially in current and/or in low viz, I would keep my stage and deco gas with me. A possible exception would be a tight wreck penetration.

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Agreed - if I'm planning to breathe from it, I'm carrying it with me.

Staging on a wreck is always problematic as opposed to a cave which is a much more static environment. I teach that if possible carry any gas you need with you in the ocean. If we are staging on a wreck that normally means a tight penetration and a very good chance that we will be returning the way we went in- in this case the bottles are staged at the tie in. If we are diving wrecks out here we are normally the only ones on the wreck so bottle theft is not a problem. We also try to ensure that we can deco out on backgas if we are staging and somehow we can not get back to our bottles. In high current areas where staging is needed we often attach the bottles to the wreck also.

Whether or not you stage your bottles or how you do it depends on the wreck and the environment. In our area, we seldom have any appreciable current on the bottom so that is not a concern. Weather on the surface, however, can and does change quite quickly and may switch from nearly calm to six foot waves, 5 seconds apart (very steep) within a fifteen minute span. With the strain put on the mooring line, one would never be advised to attach a needed tank to it. When the waves pick up my boat can break a 3/4" mooring line with amazing ease.

Carrying stage or deco bottles into our wrecks is not an attractive option either. Tight spaces, cables and other entanglement hazards along with layers of fine clay silt, usually several inches deep oncourage all but the most foolhardy to leave stage bottles on the outside. The usual procedure is to attach stage bottles to some secure feature of the wreck, at or near ones entry point.

would leaving your name on the bottle be a solution? How about making your bottle standout like attaching glow sticks, or stickers, or a small slate or something?...

I don't think there is a big problem with people getting the wrong bottle, the problem is people not being able to find their bottle at all.

If you leave it somewhere, you need to ensure you can quickly and easily find it again in low viz or no viz. That means having it tied off to a line you are running or on and when appropriate ensuring your bottles have tactile markings so you can fele the difference between your bottles and someone else's bottles. If you cannot ensure you can find and identify it again in zero viz, or if there is any chance you could not get back to the bottle, you need to keep it with you.