max depth with standard air

[Travis*N]

I was talking to someone I know who used to dive alot, and he was telling me that him and his buddies used to often dive to depths of 300-310 ft. on a single tank of regular air. This seems awfully deep considering the rec. limit
is 130ft. and i've only been to 110 and was quite narc'd at that depth. I was also under the understanding that oxygen toxicity happens at around 200' on normal air. Is this even possible? I think i've read about guys who dive past 130' but only to around 150-160'.
any thoughts or info would be appreciated.
PS. i have no intentions of trying this just to see if its possible

 

[MikeFerrara]

People have dived deeper on air. At one time that's all they had. Others do it to set records and some just don't know any better.

Going to 300 ft with a single tank is on the goofy side no matter what's in the tank. Do the math to see how much time you'd have at 300 ft and for decompression with whatever size tank you want especially those common years ago.

I like helium.

 

[Scuba_Vixen]

And lots of others Have Not. There were a lot of deep air cowboys, ..errrrr pioneers, in the origins of tech diving. Some are still around and offering deep air training, while many others have changed their thinking and eschew deep air now that we know a lot more about helium. Deep air has very few supporters any more. Oxygen toxicity gets to be a very real risk after 200', narcosis is equally unpredictable and potentially fatal. If they were doing strictly a bounce dive, they could probably make it down and back ok on a single tank with a minimal deco obligation.

Knowing what we know now, doing things like that are about on par with downing a fifth of Wild Turkey and playing on the freeway, .......... no Wait, it's even dumber than that..

While it is possible, surviving it isn't real probable ....


Darlene

If you're interested in more info, the name Hal Watts (40 fathoms grotto) will turn up some.

 

[Bob3]

often dive to depths of 300-310 ft

Did ya pinch him to make sure you weren't talking to a ghost?

The USN air tables go to 315', but using air past 180' is allowed only under "exceptional circumstances". They're also using hardhat so an O2 convulsion may be surviveable (unlike scuba)

 

[pipedope]

Let me see, adrenaline, N2 narc, and a heavy dose of O2, with a little risk of OOA on top.

Just like shooting up.
Any time may be your last.

Everytime you will end up with fewer functioning brain cells.

I have done lots of dives to 120-130 feet on air but I don't even really want to do that anymore. Too narced to remember more than the high points.

I might go to 170-180 on air if surface supplied, with com link and a pressing job that is very important and really pays well.

There was a time when I jumped out of a few helicopters but I was much younger then and there was pressing operational need, in the service of country of course.

300' on air, on a single tank?
Sorry that is just stacking the deck too far in the wrong direction.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

With air you reach a PO2 of 1.4 at 187 feet and 1.6 at 218 feet.

From an O2 standpoint 190 ft is as deep as you want to go on air on a strenuous dive. But at that depth narcosis will be a big problem and you are not going to accomplish much. 130ft to 150ft is a more realistic limit and then only with experience.

The practical depth limit for a specific diver depends on a lot of factors and the effects of narcosis vary from diver to diver and for an individual diver can vary from day to day.

 

[DandyDon]

I was talking to someone I know who used to dive alot, and he was telling me that him and his buddies used to often dive to depths of 300-310 ft. on a single tank of regular air.

He used to dive, huh? Me thinks he's full of it...

don

 

[DA Aquamaster]

A freind of mine goes to Cozumel each year and the dive charter he uses allows "experienced" divers to do deep dives, just to say they did it. Then of course they get a cute little plaque with the max depth on it. He did 280 ft one year on air, single tank, with the buddy/DM hanging up around 150 ft.

Personally I think it ranks right up there at the top of the list of really stupid things to do on your dive vacation.

 

[String]

I wouldnt say thats regular !

As someone else pointed out, ox-tox becomes a real issue below about 210 feet but before that narcosis is going to be incapacitating, possibly fatal.

I know people who have bounce dived 210ft on air once just to say theyve done it. They also say never again and they dont remember anything of it.

Given lots of support divers and a LOT of luck i suppose you could bounce dive to near the 300ft mark before ox-tox killed you however narcosis would be an issue (and at those depths air wont last long AND the deco would be enourmous, well over single tank capacity).

Personally i have a fairly low narc. tolerance, at around 33m i feel "fuzzy" and near 40m i feel distinctly light headed. I cant imagine myself being capable of anything at 60m yet alone deeper than that.

In the "old days" when technology wasnt as advanced, equipment wasnt as advanced and deco theory wasnt advanced people DID take more risks with air and such - its worth remembering however a lot more people died too.

 

[Diver0001]

I was talking to someone I know who used to dive alot, and he was telling me that him and his buddies used to often dive to depths of 300-310 ft. on a single tank of regular air. This seems awfully deep considering the rec. limit
is 130ft. and i've only been to 110 and was quite narc'd at that depth. I was also under the understanding that oxygen toxicity happens at around 200' on normal air. Is this even possible? I think i've read about guys who dive past 130' but only to around 150-160'.
any thoughts or info would be appreciated.
PS. i have no intentions of trying this just to see if its possible

They're probably remembering it differently than it happened. I think the depth record for air is in the 350ft range and requires a lot of planning, a lot of decompression and from what I hear some kind of breath-hold technique to avoid O2 toxicity.

R..