difficulty with safety stop

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

JFras30

Registered
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
Location
NJ
# of dives
0 - 24
Did my first drift dive off a boat last week in Florida (had done one other in a river). Did two dives and both times had difficulty with my safety stop. I was well within ND limits but it did not make me comfortable and frustrated me. Most of my dives have been wreck dives in NJ with a line to hold onto when making a safety stop. In Florida I went up slow but had difficulty holding a safety stop without something to hold to. Any tips?
 
Shoot a bag. My AOW course includes that skill for just such occaisions. Why try to make bluewater ascents unaided when the tools are easily available and, with a little proper instruction and practice, easy to use?
 
Add a little weight? Make sure your BC is empty?
 
Did my first drift dive off a boat last week in Florida (had done one other in a river). Did two dives and both times had difficulty with my safety stop. I was well within ND limits but it did not make me comfortable and frustrated me. Most of my dives have been wreck dives in NJ with a line to hold onto when making a safety stop. In Florida I went up slow but had difficulty holding a safety stop without something to hold to. Any tips?

get rid of ALL the air in your BC before ascending.......also, if you're @ the end of your air supply, you'll be a little liter than the beginning so you may need a little more weight to compensate for this.....
 
The bag would be a new skill. That makes total sense. The bag has the line,correct?
 
I'm assuming that what you are saying is that it's difficult to maintain 15' because you have no point of reference. You are diving well within NDL's so don't get so hung up on this optional safety stop. It's a great time to practice and improve your buoyancy skills. (unless ofcourse, you happen to be underweighted) Keep an eye on your depth gauge as you adjust the amount of air in your BC in SMALL increments. Wait atleast 2 seconds between your adjustments.

I'm not that great at explaining things so I hope I haven't confused you. Someone else will chime in and explain better, I'm sure.
 
In addition to the above recommendatios, try holding the stop deeper. Remember, the safety stop is optional within NDL, and is really just a way to control (i.e., SLOOOW DOWN) your final ascent.

Try holding the stop closer to 20', then a very slow ascent from there.

Best wishes.
 
Another thing to think of is being a new diver, maybe there is some nervousness/apprehension in you? This would be completely normal, by the way. There definitely may be some the next time you do a free water safety stop.... Something to pay attention to is to make sure you exhale completely with each breath. If you are a bit uptight, you're breath cycle will likely be fully breathing in on the inhale, but only breathing half way out on the exhale, leaving you with half full lungs - two really good lift bags!:D

On the next stop, try to relax and focus on really emptying your lungs on each exhale - you may find this helpful.

Good Luck
 
lift bags dont come with a line. youll need to get a finger spool or reel

i personally prefer the dive rite reel but thats me and everyone has their on preference

brett
 
Many new divers try to stop their ascent at 15 or 20 feet and begin their safety stop. I learned a long time ago (after being a guide for hundreds of trips) that this is NOT a good stategy.

When I was a guide, I used to "make" all the divers, to STOP the ascent at 30 FEET! If they accomplish this, get neutral and calm, then the very gradual ascent upward to 15 feet usually goes well. If they totally scew up and miss the 30 foot stop, they will usually get it sorted out by 10-15 feet and can still pull off a decent stop, because their goal was a stop at 30 feet.

If the new diver tries for 15 ft and overshoots only a few feet, the bouyancy change is too rapid and they almost invariably pop to the surface.

The stop at 30 feet only needs to be for 30 seconds or something. I used to make up some BS, like, "on this boat, we are all going to stop at 30 feet and check eachother's air pressure".

Using a safety sausage with some line and a weight to help you hang at 15 ft will make things much easier. (Just remember to STOP AT 30 FEET, get the sausage out and ready to deploy) and then come up a little and deploy the marker.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom