PADI tables finally going away?

[Blackwood]

Lol, what happened?

I actually don't think I've ever been asked. If I were, though, I don't think I'd volunteer that my "computers" are in gauge mode.

Went to Maui with my buddy chris (same guy you met) about 5 years ago.

I had a computer, he did not. The DM "forced" him to ascend at a given time and "allowed" me to keep diving.

It was pretty stupid.

When they asked in coz, I merely lifted my wrist the show the unit. Didn't say it was a computer, didn't say it wasn't.

 

[Frosty]

I agree. I am also always amazed at the number of people that are less proficient than a grade schooler at assembling their thoughts into a coherent sentence with proper spelling and grammar. Fixed that for you.

Theres a fairly big difference between grammar and a skill thats going to keep you alive isn't there?
But hey if one feels so small in ones personal life that one feels the need to belittle others for spelling issues.......

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Went to Maui with my buddy chris (same guy you met) about 5 years ago.

I had a computer, he did not. The DM "forced" him to ascend at a given time and "allowed" me to keep diving.

It was pretty stupid.

When they asked in coz, I merely lifted my wrist the show the unit. Didn't say it was a computer, didn't say it wasn't.

I went to Australia and the DM's treated everybody like children. I was using tables at the time and before I could do any diving they strapped a computer on my wrist.

On the charter boats in Hawaii they didn't care if I used tables.

On the dive boats in California they just plain don't care as long as you don't get bent, don't die, don't do something stupid (like drift out of and away from the oil rigs), or come back when you're supposed to. Other than that have fun.
I've never had more fun diving than on California charter boats.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

ZKY, I will send you a PADI dive table, that only goes to repetitive group N, If you spend 20 min's at 140' you spend 6 mni's at 10'. take it on travel dive, they wont know its 30 years old.

The old tables were awesome, now how do we dive if PADI has taken the tables away?





Happy Diving

 

[diverrex]

....
On the dive boats in California they just plain don't care as long as you don't get bent, don't die, don't do something stupid (like drift out of and away from the oil rigs), or come back when you're supposed to. Other than that have fun.
I've never had more fun diving than on California charter boats.

Our charter boats out here in California are fairly easy going with generally only a few rules, none of which I have a problem with:

Come back to the boat with 500 psi, but nobody will check you
Generally come back to the boat after 1 hour (sometimes longer)
Obey fish and game laws
Answer your own name at roll call
Zero tolerance drug policy
You can start drinking anytime you want but that ends your diving for the day
Use computers, tables or whatever, it's your own business

 

[AfterDark]

ZKY, I will send you a PADI dive table, that only goes to repetitive group N, If you spend 20 min's at 140' you spend 6 mni's at 10'. take it on travel dive, they wont know its 30 years old.

The old tables were awesome, now how do we dive if PADI has taken the tables away?





Happy Diving

I still use the US Navy tables for air. I increase the stop times a little, has worked for me for decades. I have a computer that I'll show the dive boat op its most useful as a depth gauge, the big numbers are easy for these old eyes. Most of the time my fudging of the stops times keeps the computer happy.

 

[Tigerman]

...
Use computers, tables or whatever, it's your own business

That one I don't quite agree with unless you're solo diving. If you're diving as part of a buddy team it's also the other people in the teams buisness - but still not anyone outside of the teams buisness.

Other than that the rules are pretty much as I like them to be, in particular the part with "don't drink and dive" as I prefer the people I dive with to be sober enough to enjoy the dive rather than just feed the fish

 

[notivago]

Tables will make a nice footnote in the history of diving, but they are obviously not being utilized by the diving public at this point. It's time to for the agencies still holding on to the facade to stop deceiving themselves that inflicting tables on students gives them a better idea about on-gassing/off-gassing physiology. It's easy enough to see your gas loading on any modern dive computer and then to see the load decrease during your surface interval.

Teaching them how to use the GEAR that they will actually be using only makes sense, which is probably why some oppose it! Too many divers have no idea what to do when their alarm goes off or how to track their dives since NO ONE HAS TAUGHT THEM. That's the real travesty: we refuse to teach these important skills.

Tables should be reserved for those who WANT to learn them as an add on or even as a specialty. Yes, you will need them if you ever get into tech diving, but very few go that route. As for the lame argument about what to do if your computer fails... well, you will need to do the same thing as when your SPG fails or if your reg free flows: end the dive! You're bound to find a rental at most dive resorts/charters.

Dive computers may be cheap around where you dive, but here for example, the cheapest diving computer costs R$1000, that is almost three times the minimum salary, and most of the population does no earn that much. Even for those on privileged professions, it does not comes as cheap.

For its price, I dont even think that you can rent dive computers around here, never tried thou. So computers should be taught to those that have access to them and thus learning them is what should be a side course.

Besides: "if you computer fails you can rent another". Really? What is your loaded gas so far? How do you input it in your new computer? How do you know it if you are relying on your computer to do your job for you?

The argument that you can use the table if you computer fails rely on the presumption that you are being conservative, that you are using both the table and the computer, so if your computer fails, you still have the table.

Doing so, sometimes you can continue the dive, although the table being more conservative oftentimes forbid you, having only the computer simply leave you with no option than calling the dives for the next days.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Our charter boats out here in California are fairly easy going with generally only a few rules, none of which I have a problem with:

Come back to the boat with 500 psi, but nobody will check you
Generally come back to the boat after 1 hour (sometimes longer)
Obey fish and game laws
Answer your own name at roll call
Zero tolerance drug policy
You can start drinking anytime you want but that ends your diving for the day
Use computers, tables or whatever, it's your own business

I am a member of the Sea Divers and the Peace takes us out to some of the better wilder spots.
If the crew knows you they will let you dive with no BC, one single second stage, and solo if you want.
I haven't tried seeing what happens diving with no spg and only a J valve and a double hose, they might wince at that one, or maybe not.

As far as me getting another computer, right now I don't think so.
I'm to cheap.
My bottom timer and brain work fine.
I just use tables and take them a step further with some depth averaging and a few added deep stops. Good enough.
I just can't see wasting the money on a computer that I will always probably just use in gauge mode anyway.
I could use the money instead for more dive trips.

 

[Quero]

Dive computers may be cheap around where you dive, but here for example, the cheapest diving computer costs R$1000, that is almost three times the minimum salary, and most of the population does no earn that much. Even for those on privileged professions, it does not comes as cheap.

For its price, I dont even think that you can rent dive computers around here, never tried thou. So computers should be taught to those that have access to them and thus learning them is what should be a side course.

Besides: "if you computer fails you can rent another". Really? What is your loaded gas so far? How do you input it in your new computer? How do you know it if you are relying on your computer to do your job for you?

The argument that you can use the table if you computer fails rely on the presumption that you are being conservative, that you are using both the table and the computer, so if your computer fails, you still have the table.

Doing so, sometimes you can continue the dive, although the table being more conservative oftentimes forbid you, having only the computer simply leave you with no option than calling the dives for the next days.

Tá brincando, né, notivago? You know as well as I do that the minimum salary of Brazilians has nothing to do with the ability of the vast majority of Brazilian divers to buy dive computers! Scuba diving is costly on so many levels that the community of divers in Brazil is quite small given the population of the country. People in Brazil are not saying to themselves, "Gee, if dive computers were cheaper, I could afford to learn how to dive and practice this sport." Besides, it's not hard at all to rent dive computers in Brazil--a diver can find them for about R$40 per day. The reason you don't know this is that even with fewer than 24 dives, you already own a dive computer.

Computer failure during a dive is not unknown, but it is very rare. Certainly so rare that using the possibility as a reason for compulsory instruction with dive tables is simply silly. Much, much, much more common are mistakes divers make when reading tables--getting on the wrong line or the in the wrong column. Basing their dive planning on wrong pressure groups due to these kinds of little mistakes in reading the tables is certainly a much more serious problem for divers.

If your computer fails, you don't need to call the dives "for the next days" but only the rest of the dives for that day. Twelve hours out of the water is enough on a recreational dive, based on the decompression theory used to base dive tables on, to start diving with a fresh computer.

Perhaps you didn't really learn as much from the tables as you thought you did.