What is the deepest you can do an OOA?

[meesier42]

Please refer to the PADI open water book, in there you will find the following statement or something similar to it. Diving within recreational depths and within NDL you can always complete and Emergency Free Swimming Ascent. Now that means you must still ascend at a controlled although accelerated pace and "vent" the expanding air as you go. I understand that PADI no longer recommends practicing this in the classes, but when I did my class we all performed a Emergency Ascent from 60' with no problems. Now all of us decsended and started the manuever so we had esentially no Nitrogen in us, and personnally I was very surprised how quickly I had to "vent" air on the way and how far the air really.

 

[boulderjohn]

Please refer to the PADI open water book, in there you will find the following statement or something similar to it. Diving within recreational depths and within NDL you can always complete and Emergency Free Swimming Ascent. Now that means you must still ascend at a controlled although accelerated pace and "vent" the expanding air as you go. I understand that PADI no longer recommends practicing this in the classes, but when I did my class we all performed a Emergency Ascent from 60' with no problems. Now all of us decsended and started the manuever so we had esentially no Nitrogen in us, and personnally I was very surprised how quickly I had to "vent" air on the way and how far the air really.

PADI requires a "horizontal" CESA simulation in the pool, and a vertical CESA in the OW, although not from 60 feet. They are very concerned about safety, and the instructor must give a very thorough briefing in the OW. The instructor must have contact with both the student and an ascent line in order to arrest an uncontrolled ascent.

 

[dmdoss]

well, i think that this was covered enough.

 

[GDI]

Hmmmm... hmmmm.... I don't really see a "know-it-all" attitude coming from any of the old timers at all. What I do see is more like "I can remember when I knew it all, just like I see some of these young whipper-snappers who know it all today... but now I realize that not only do I not know it all, I know less of it than ever, 'cause the more I see the more I understand that 'it' is bigger than I ever imagined, and what I do know is a very small part of 'it all.' That's why it's important to know how to do as many things under as many circumstances as you can think of, because the instant you think you've got it fixed so 'it'll never happen to you,' here it comes!"
This is especially true if you're an instructor - just when you think you've seen it all, some student will think up a new and creative way to try to kill you both.
No, it isn't yet time to dump the CESA from the syllabus.
Rick

I agree because

If I knew today what I thought I knew back then I wouldn't need to know what I do today.

My mind is always open to learning KNEW things.

Any training that removed un-needed and potentially dangerous training and replaced by far safer more practical solutions is a big step forward in my view.

Like dual hose regs and J valves, modern practices and equipment make cesa a relic.

And no matter how you look at it, if you ever depleted your air supply (which of course you shouldn't let happen) then that old relic of a skill may just come in handy because it will not matter if you were diving that old J stage or using a double hose (US Diver's Mistral) or had the latest greatest James Bond Breathing apparatus. When you are OOA the (your) lungs back then are no different then the (your) lungs today and the CESA is just one way to get your head above the water. In fact the same water that was around way back when

 

[tschmitt]

My question is could you take a small breath off your BC deflater to tide you over? As you ascend your BC will expand. Unless you've manually inflated, this O2 should be sufficient for a small breath.

I haven't searched high and low on this, but it seems like a reasonable last ditch effort in the event of an emergency.

 

[Thalassamania]

Breathing from an ABLJ used to be taught and was a normal skill at the advanced level (at least withing BSAC and CMAS. For some time the FENZY even came equipped with a one-way breathing valve to make this easier. It was abandon due to fear of lung infections.

 

[tschmitt]

Well if it can be done, I'd take the lung infection over suffocation. Can you pull a breath off today's BC (standard power inflater/deflater) or is their a pressure issue? I'd assume since you can vent the gas off, you should be able to inhale it... does it get more difficult with added depth ?

 

[nereas]

Without getting sick by the way.
The thread on pony bottle has me wondering if someone can easily do an OOA from 120'. One of the divers there apparently can. I guess for some divers there's no need for redundancy when doing an open water dive. So what depth can most of you do it from safely. If you end up sick it doesn't count.

Seems an emergency swimming ascent would be a more like what I'm asking about.

Do you remember what Haldane got in his goat experiments?

2 ATAs n'est pas?

So that would give you 33 fsw, technically speaking.

 

[Thalassamania]

Without getting sick by the way.
The thread on pony bottle has me wondering if someone can easily do an OOA from 120'. One of the divers there apparently can. I guess for some divers there's no need for redundancy when doing an open water dive. So what depth can most of you do it from safely. If you end up sick it doesn't count.

Seems an emergency swimming ascent would be a more like what I'm asking about.

Just about all of our students can hold their breath for two minutes, an ESA from 120 should take about that long.

 

[drbill]

The deepest I have done one from (my tank valve clogged and I hadn't strapped my pony on for that dive) began at about 75 ft. I had just exhaled when I tried to take another breath and thee was nothing so my lungs were largely evacuated. It happened about 5-6 years ago, and it was very difficult to make the ascent as there wasn't a lot of air in my lungs to expand as I ascended. Of course I'm an old fart, and I'm sure the young studs can do one deeper... but I hope I never have to!