deco dive frequency?

[_Ralph]

0 last year, but just getting hours in on the new CCR, and nothing that interesting here in a 4hr drive to incurr deco from depth.

But if I did those same profiles OC, I'd be incurring some deco.

Usually I do 10-20 deco dives a year with ~100 dives

_R

 

[JonG1]

Intriguing thread in some respects, and I had/have a similar perspective on deco as BigBella.

I am not sure on the medical studies to back it up but pretty sure there is latent damage from long and deep exposures, Billy Deans for one was convinced that you could/would end up with faculty impairment eventually .

In the 90s when deep air was rife we thought rightly or wrongly that we needed to develop/retain an edge by being at depth on air regularly and ended up doing a lot of deco as a result over the years, often in quarries over the off season.

Is it still the case though now, given that HE removes the narcotic impairment, so are deep training dives still as relevant?

 

[KentB]

Ah, apologies. After rereading your original post, I see you are Extended Range certified.

As for your question regarding frequency of deco dives, that's a difficult question for me to answer in a meaningful way. The majority of dives these days are cave dives as opposed to deep wreck dives, so the necessity of planning for long/complex ascents is less than the focus on other issues. However, in terms of the total number of staged decompression dives I've planned and managed to complete with all my fingers and toes intact, it's in the thousands. Which is a shock to me! LOL! But when I did almost exclusively Great Lakes diving, my guess would be 150 staged decompression dives a year (most on trimix below 50 metres). I NEVER plan decompression on back gas. Had to do it a time or two, but those were totally seat of the pants unplanned **** hit the fan affairs.

Interesting that you logged 800 minutes of bottom time during your ER course. Was it in BC conditions? If so, that's a tough ask!

As for carrying a fourth bottle in SM (two primary and two deco), it is manageable for sure, and having contingency gas does lend a sense of bliss should anything go pear-shaped... or even if things unfold as they should. My comment regarding the efficacy of practising come to Jesus scenarios holds regardless.

Dive safe and often.

no worries.
To clarify We did all 3 courses sort of as 1 long tech course. It was all done in Vancouver majority were boat dives

 

[KentB]

I thought I got out a fair amount but you guys put me to shame!

 

[rjack321]

no worries.
To clarify We did all 3 courses sort of as 1 long tech course. It was all done in Vancouver majority were boat dives

I didn't know anyone in this area even taught extended range anymore.

I haven't see you in the water but having done "one long AN/DP/ER" course I think its probably even more critical to backup a little bit and do some 40m dives with 1 deco gas and build up your experience slowly. And add helium ASAP.

 

[broncobowsher]

Depends on who I am with.

The recreational group of friends I plan for a 5-minute deco simply because I am often the first one in and the last one out (rebreather). Often never even get that, just make the plan in case someone gets in late they are not rushed. I would say less than 10% and that is with a conservative settings in the computer. If I changed to a more recreational (aggressive) profile that would drop to maybe 1%, if that.

But if I am with my tech friends, 90% of the dives will have some deco in it. That is how that group dives. That is what you plan for.

I rack up a lot more hours with my tech friends, but a lot more dives with the recreational friends. How do you want to count it?

 

[KentB]

I didn't know anyone in this area even taught extended range anymore.

I haven't see you in the water but having done "one long AN/DP/ER" course I think its probably even more critical to backup a little bit and do some 40m dives with 1 deco gas and build up your experience slowly. And add helium ASAP.

Seems regarding ER it’s fairly common here.......
It was 8 months and like 20 dives lots of dives in between.
Agree with helium I don’t like being narced. I can blend myself so costs of trimix aren’t a huge huge concern either. I have a fairly high tolerance for panic and basically I don’t. Mask ripped off and air shut off at same time while endless other things are happening I keep a level head and just sort out problems in order of necessity.
but this is getting off track of my original intention of this thread.
If you want to continue this direction I’m more than happy to do it in another thread or over PM.
cheers!