Computers & DIR

[Scuba_Steve]

Well said Lamont. I can see we've come to the same conclusions on our own accord, as we've both said several times on this thread. I'm glad we have in print some rules of thumb that many of us use so the next time a poster starts asking about this we can point them to this thread. (Wading through the mounds of garbage posts aside).

 

[lamont]

Another thing to point out is that while I'm not trained to do deco, I understand where my weaknesses are that need to get fixed before Tech 1 -- because of those weaknesses I tend to overengineer for gas. The typical open water diver probably has additional weaknesses which would make all of this a very bad idea.

 

[kalvyn]

Plus, I frequently forget to set my computer to EAN32, and it goes 10-15 mins or so into deco and I get in good practice at dealing with simulated deco obligations...

Been there, done that.

Something that I forgot to mention in my post, and that Lamont alludes to in his post, is the utter importance of gas management. Dive with a computer or without, but take the time to fully understand the importance of rock bottom. Always leave yourself enough air to deal with anything that might crop up on the dive. Just dropping down to 100 fsw and staying down there for 20 minutes because someone said that equals 120 is idiotic if you don't have enough gas left after those 20 minutes to get both you and your buddy to the surface safely.

Teaching real gas management is sorely lacking in the dive education industry in my opinion. I know that I had NO idea how to "get back to the boat with 500 PSI"... heck I had no idea what "turn pressure" was until I dove with NWGratefulDiver and he explained the concept to me.

All this talk about computerless diving is great, but in my humble opinion understanding gas management is FAR more important in the long haul.

Jimmie

 

[lamont]

Been there, done that.

Something that I forgot to mention in my post, and that Lamont alludes to in his post, is the utter importance of gas management. Dive with a computer or without, but take the time to fully understand the importance of rock bottom. Always leave yourself enough air to deal with anything that might crop up on the dive. Just dropping down to 100 fsw and staying down there for 20 minutes because someone said that equals 120 is idiotic if you don't have enough gas left after those 20 minutes to get both you and your buddy to the surface safely.

Teaching real gas management is sorely lacking in the dive education industry in my opinion. I know that I had NO idea how to "get back to the boat with 500 PSI"... heck I had no idea what "turn pressure" was until I dove with NWGratefulDiver and he explained the concept to me.

All this talk about computerless diving is great, but in my humble opinion understanding gas management is FAR more important in the long haul.

Jimmie

Also, one of the "weaknesses which I need to address before Tech 1" that came up in RecTriox is dawdling on the bottom fixing issues. I'm definitely better than this after the class, and have had one issue come up where I immediately headed for shallower water to address it. Still, rock bottom plus 5 more minutes at depth, plus 10 mins of deco of you and your buddy is probably closer to how you should be managing gas if you're playing at the edge of the NDLs without being trained to do deco. More gas gives you more time to be a cluster and get away with it.