Place of dive tables in modern diving

[oldschoolto]

As most here know.. I'm really big on having the tables burned into your brain and basic Deco numbers in your head also.. If you don't have a clue, Your in deep s##t if your computer dies...

Jim..

 

[northernone]

As most here know.. I'm really big on having the tables burned into your brain and basic Deco numbers in your head also.. If you don't have a clue, Your in deep s##t if your computer dies...

Jim..

I agree, particularly the value of the sanity check aspect.

Here's my error two weeks ago that having rough mental deco tables along alerted me to:

Diving air, I drop to my target depth. NDL countdown normal. Deco begins to display... Much slower than normal. After 20 minutes I had far less deco than I had expected. Rough numbers of my typical deco schedule in my head has alarms going off. Dug through my settings, found during the bouncing predive ride the computer has turned on a deco gas I wasn't carrying (had not carried for a few hundred dives and was disabled). Of course this was my own failure to diligently check my computer's settings before splash down every dive. Regardless, mental tables alerted me to my error before I got into trouble.

Regards,
Cameron

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Check out commercial dive practices and military dive practices (like the Navy Dive Manual). Much/most of the work is square profiles, tables are fine. In fact, the most recent Navy Dive Manual (rev 7) has a nice chapter on dive computers and points out the advantage is "The NDC credits the diver for time spent at depths shallower than the maximum depth of the dive. This greatly increases bottom time." Sound familiar? Perhaps they are just catching up....

Not convincing at all.

While it is true that commercial divers who are doing underwater welding and cutting etc will be at a fixed spot for some time but that is not the only type of work they do. If they are laying an underwater cable over a terrain that is going up and down then their profile will be extremely varied. The question here is why bother studying dive tables? A computer can handle a flat profile as well as a varied one so why not remove tables from the curriculum, strap a dive computer and live happily ever after?

The marketing slogans that recreational agencies use would sound so outrageously idiotic if military and commercial diving agencies started using them.

THE WAY THE WORLD LEARNS TO DIVE - PADI

same concept invented for military diving would be something like ...

BUDS: THE SPECIAL FORCES DIVING COURSE THAT NO ONE EVER FAILS - (NAVY SEALS)

FIRST AGENCY TO TRAIN DIVERS ON DIVE COMPUTERS - SDI

Same concept invented for commercial diving school would sound something like ...

THE WORLDS FIRST COMMERCIAL SCHOOL TO THROW AWAY AN ENTIRE SECTION ON DIVE TABLES. EACH OF OUR GRADUATE WILL BE REQUIRED TO BUY A CRESSI LEONARDO AFTER GRADUATION BECAUSE THEY WILL KILL THEMSELVES WITHOUT IT!!! (DIVER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY)

 

[TracysaCADiver]

LOL! That is the first time I've ever heard the eRDPML being in the category of the best of ANY world!

Well, considering what I had available to me at the time, I considered it good.

 

[MargaritaMike]

I have one more thought about this subject. It just occurred that it is easier to visualize being at depth for a given amount of time and being "loaded" with nitrogen with tables. Flip the table for your SI and you know how loaded you are for your next dive. Easy to visualize.

Computer - push this button, go diving.

Conclusion: They both serve their masters in a way their master expects. Computers do it all "behind the scenes" while tables are a physical thing which gives a sense of accomplishment.

It's all good.

Cheers -

 

[Steve_C]

Tables are just the print out of a model created by somebody. I carry both the SDI and Navy tables. I use them once in a while to estimate a different dive situation. The calculations that produce that table are just as much behind the scenes as the calculations that a computer does. Use tables a lot and you get to know what it should tell you in a familiar situation. Use your computer a lot and you learn to know what it should tell you in a familiar situation. Computer and Tables are both just a means to keep us from having to actually run an algorithm in our head while narced.

 

[MargaritaMike]

Tables are just the print out of a model created by somebody. I carry both the SDI and Navy tables. I use them once in a while to estimate a different dive situation. The calculations that produce that table are just as much behind the scenes as the calculations that a computer does. Use tables a lot and you get to know what it should tell you in a familiar situation. Use your computer a lot and you learn to know what it should tell you in a familiar situation. Computer and Tables are both just a means to keep us from having to actually run an algorithm in our head while narced.

Another difference: MOST people use their tables above water before and after a dive, while MOST people use their computers under water during a dive (some actually use them before a dive above water)
But you are right about calculations while being narced.
Cheers -

 

[_Ralph]

Its probably been said already now with the 6 pages of posts ....

Dive computer backs up my computer (brain) aka sanity check. If I don't know what the 'tables' are for the gas I'm diving, I shouldn't be diving that gas!

_R

 

[tursiops]

Not convincing at all.

While it is true that commercial divers who are doing underwater welding and cutting etc will be at a fixed spot for some time but that is not the only type of work they do. If they are laying an underwater cable over a terrain that is going up and down then their profile will be extremely varied. The question here is why bother studying dive tables? A computer can handle a flat profile as well as a varied one so why not remove tables from the curriculum, strap a dive computer and live happily ever after?

The marketing slogans that recreational agencies use would sound so outrageously idiotic if military and commercial diving agencies started using them.

THE WAY THE WORLD LEARNS TO DIVE - PADI

same concept invented for military diving would be something like ...

BUDS: THE SPECIAL FORCES DIVING COURSE THAT NO ONE EVER FAILS - (NAVY SEALS)

FIRST AGENCY TO TRAIN DIVERS ON DIVE COMPUTERS - SDI

Same concept invented for commercial diving school would sound something like ...

THE WORLDS FIRST COMMERCIAL SCHOOL TO THROW AWAY AN ENTIRE SECTION ON DIVE TABLES. EACH OF OUR GRADUATE WILL BE REQUIRED TO BUY A CRESSI LEONARDO AFTER GRADUATION BECAUSE THEY WILL KILL THEMSELVES WITHOUT IT!!! (DIVER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY)

You're just making up silly stuff now.

 

[lowviz]

I have one more thought about this subject. It just occurred that it is easier to visualize being at depth for a given amount of time and being "loaded" with nitrogen with tables. Flip the table for your SI and you know how loaded you are for your next dive. Easy to visualize. ...//...

You've said it far better than I was able to. That is exactly it.

You've clearly illustrated the USE of tables to keep everybody on the same page in order to get a concept across. This is a very different thing than TEACHING tables.

So this is my opinion as to a valid way to USE tables in modern diving.