How far do you swim?

[JonG1]

Cheers tbone I spotted it was feet but misread his post about distance in, think that would have been a bit too far for me!

 

[tbone1004]

Cheers tbone I spotted it was feet but misread his post about distance in, think that would have been a bit too far for me!

I'm far too lazy to swim that far which is why I don't do the reverse traverse and back in Peacock. It's just too damned much kicking. I can do it, but I really don't want to.

 

[Superlyte27]

I'm far too lazy to swim that far which is why I don't do the reverse traverse and back in Peacock. It's just too damned much kicking. I can do it, but I really don't want to.

Agreed, probably farthest I've swam in flow.

 

[ofg-1]

Swim? You mean after your scooter dies and you ditch it, right?

 

[karstdvr]

Just wondering if anyone has rules of thumb about how far they are comfortable on fin power alone.

Obviously flow/no flow will influence this as would open or closed circuit and depth/deco.

Locally we are no flow and a mixture of OC and CCR but the environments are mainly less than 25m deep.

I'm relatively new to the darkness and interested in what limits people set themselves.

As long as it is not a syphon and you have performed conservative gas management ( not 1/3rds which is way to liberal), then IMHO that is going to be the best means, because you are not dependent on a mechanical device which can fail. I have swam over 10,000 ft several times, swam to the Heinkel in high flow etc , never once did I come close to 1/3rds. I would ask the converse of your question, those that are scooter dependent, do they have the physical ability to make a long swim out if there are failures as max penetration.

 

[tbone1004]

I would ask the converse of your question, those that are scooter dependent, do they have the physical ability to make a long swim out if there are failures as max penetration.

Can I? Yes. Do I want to? Absolutely not. The deco penalties of kicking out alone are tremendous in certain environments. I can get out in 25-30% of the time it takes to kick in most situations. I plan gas much more conservatively than that, but I also have a backup scooter for a reason...

 

[karstdvr]

Can I? Yes. Do I want to? Absolutely not. The deco penalties of kicking out alone are tremendous in certain environments. I can get out in 25-30% of the time it takes to kick in most situations. I plan gas much more conservatively than that, but I also have a backup scooter for a reason...

The concern is that there are those that have become so scooter dependent , that a safe exit plan may not be possible if they don't have a functional scooter to exit. A couple years ago I guided a guy that complained because the site we went to wouldn't allow scooters until you did 3 swim dives. We had to take 4 rest breaks in this low flow system with him clutching the wall and stopping with maybe a 1200ft linear penetration. This individual had no business doing anything more than a cavern dive. At least you have a back up scooter,for systems that are scooterable.

 

[Jack Hammer]

The concern is that there are those that have become so scooter dependent , that a safe exit plan may not be possible if they don't have a functional scooter to exit. A couple years ago I guided a guy that complained because the site we went to wouldn't allow scooters until you did 3 swim dives. We had to take 4 rest breaks in this low flow system with him clutching the wall and stopping with maybe a 1200ft linear penetration. This individual had no business doing anything more than a cavern dive. At least you have a back up scooter,for systems that are scooterable.

Yup, dont forget the Mainland incident.