I have found a new diving friend, Mr Carcharodon,
Going gradually deeper is extending the range.
Speaking from the perspective
LA County training ADP did CESAs from 30-40 fsw and UICC did CESAs from 100 fsw.
Years ago the classes were 100 plus people, certainly 1000 plus people over the years, with no adverse affects that I know of. But no one was expected to do a CESA from 100 fsw on day one, or under stress. In a sense this is like doing a S drill air share. We used to do those at the end of dives until it became routine. When the actions to resolve an emergency become routine it is not an emergency any more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some may recall post #5 to this thread
1) George Bond USN made a free ascent from 300+ feet
2) Dick Bonin, founder of SCUBA Pro, while in USN testing regulator performance with/for Doug Fane made a free ascent from 200+ feet under the ice cap
3) LA County UW instructions association UICC (the first and most difficult civilian training program) required a free ascent from 33 feet followed by free ascent from 100 feet.
The LA County basic program required a free ascent from 30 feet
4) I have made a free ascent from "considerable depths "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
to expand a bit
1) George Bond was a USN Doctor and father of the US "Man in the sea program." He was affectionately know as Poppa topside during the programs short life. There is a book of the same name probably available on Amazon
2) Dick Bonin was a USN officer during the Korean war. Spent a lot of time testing SCUBA equipment, specifically regulators for *Doug Fane prior to the USN adapting SCUA in October 1954. As I recall a Northhill regulator was the one that froze while he was at 200 feet-- he chose to make a free assent.
After Korea Dick worked for Divemaster in his naïve Chicago and is credited with designing and marketing via Divemaster the worlds first dive log .
In 1963 he was the cofounder of SCUBA Pro
* Dough wrote a book
The Naked Warriors which was made into a Hollywood movie. Zale Parry was his daughter -( I have an inscribed copy of Dough's book)
3) LA Co Underwater instructors program UICC was and is the most difficult and demanding civilian program in the world. It was based on demonstrable performance and knowledge not money and time in grade.
To be accepted in to the program was an honor to graduate was a huge honor. Many applied, a few were accepted and a precious a few were certified.
All were water men and women with years of water experience
During UICC many assents were made; one test was a D&R (D&D) from 33 feet. Remove tank & regulator, surface breathe up, dive down and replace (Oh the horror of it all !)
At one of the 2 day Catalina weekends or on a boat trip a 100 foot free assent. No problems - the students were all long term watermen and it was just a minor requirement of the intensive 3 months long program
The LA Co Advanced Diving Program was also 3 months of intensive training - every Thursday night a 3 hour lecture by an expert in diving, Saturday 2 training dives, every third week end it was Saturday and Sunday training dives -- and yes a 33 feet free assent was part of the training
In both programs the participants were required to maintain an LA County UW instructors dive log, developed by Tom Ebro and the second dive log in the world .
All this occurred prior to the creation of the rest of the organizational alphabet
And that is the way it is..
Sam Miller, 111