mos11b1p
Registered
Perrone made two statements in an hour-long discussion that changed the way I'll veiw diving forever. The first was simply this:
Decompression divers seek to offgas while still underwater where pressure keeps micro bubbles small and safe to pass out of solution. Non-deco divers rely on surface interval for most of their offgassing to take place. (After a long discussion about physiology, I came to realize that what I do in spearfishing, FOUR back-to-back dives in a single afternoon, depths sometimes to 130-150 feet, bottom times of 20+ minutes from the standpoint of nitrogen offgassing one-hour surface intervals simply aren't sufficient to remain safe over the long run!)
Perrone then made a second comment that got me to rethink diving as I currently understand it. He simply said this:
One day you will achieve the training and knowledge that you are currently seeking and you will look back on this time and recognize it to have been some of the most RISKY diving you ever engaged in throughout your whole diving career.
I thought about that LONG AND HARD after hanging up the phone. I consider myself a very safe spearfisherman diver. I carry bolt cutters for self extraction (and TEST them before each trip. Yes I make sure they still can wack thru a stainless steel cabnit screw even though my cutter is rusty. And I do ALL I CAN to try to urge my fellow spearfisherman that the paramedic snips they carry will NOT CUT THROUGH 1/8 steel cable the cable we use on our guns in the Gulf.) My dive tool is dummy corded so that I can't loose it under stress. I can draw with one hand, use and return to sheath without looking (practiced it many times.) I have NEVER gone into deco not even ONE time. But I carry a redundant 19cf that affords me (at my current air consumption rates) more than 20 minutes of deco gas at 20 feet at rest. I have that pony mounted such that I can pull it from myself, hold on to it, and ditch the rest of my gear. I have practiced ditching ALL my gear and returning to the surface on that pony (Inverted! Yes... in my 7mil wetsuit, you're going to the surface pretty quick if you ditch your gear...so I have practiced upside down kicking downward to control ascent speed.) I have a host of self regulating rules in my head about depths/remaining air supply as to shots I am willing to take or NOT take .etc. I utilize a "riding rig" configuration that allows me to "ditch my spear shaft" if a large fish is dragging me to the bottom. I return to the surface at proper ascent rates (faster at depth, slower at the shallows 3 min safety stops ALWAYS etc.)
Still I have returned to the boat at least ONE time, and begun to feel very strange on the surface. I could not put my finger on it but something wasnt right inside me AT ALL. To be honest it was scary.
After a LONG talk with Perrone the night before this last spearfishing trip I broke out my Aladin Tec2G manual and read PROFUSELY on micro bubbles and set it to the highest level of micro-bubble intermediate stops. I was SHOCKED at what my computer told me to do this Saturday. Crystal blue water in the Gulf off Venice, Louisiana with vis beyond 150 feet allowed for four dives (one hour surface intervals) all depths of 140-150ft bottom times only in the teens and here's what my computer told me to do:
stop at 30 feet for one minute stop at 20 feet for 3 minutes stop at 10 feet for SIX minutes! (Were NOT talking deco stops! I never went into deco. We are talking micro bubble offgassing stops that added a FULL TEN MINUTES of time just to offgas before gettin out of the water!)
Summary: According to my nitrogen loading bar on my computer, I left the water with LESS nitrogen loaded than I EVER have in the past! I left the water with CNS leves of 0 or 1% and I left the water and felt physically GOOD on the boat all day. Most important.. perhaps for the first time since I began spearfishing a year ago (from a standpoint of nitrogen offgassing) was diving SAFE. Thankyou, Perrone.
Decompression divers seek to offgas while still underwater where pressure keeps micro bubbles small and safe to pass out of solution. Non-deco divers rely on surface interval for most of their offgassing to take place. (After a long discussion about physiology, I came to realize that what I do in spearfishing, FOUR back-to-back dives in a single afternoon, depths sometimes to 130-150 feet, bottom times of 20+ minutes from the standpoint of nitrogen offgassing one-hour surface intervals simply aren't sufficient to remain safe over the long run!)
Perrone then made a second comment that got me to rethink diving as I currently understand it. He simply said this:
One day you will achieve the training and knowledge that you are currently seeking and you will look back on this time and recognize it to have been some of the most RISKY diving you ever engaged in throughout your whole diving career.
I thought about that LONG AND HARD after hanging up the phone. I consider myself a very safe spearfisherman diver. I carry bolt cutters for self extraction (and TEST them before each trip. Yes I make sure they still can wack thru a stainless steel cabnit screw even though my cutter is rusty. And I do ALL I CAN to try to urge my fellow spearfisherman that the paramedic snips they carry will NOT CUT THROUGH 1/8 steel cable the cable we use on our guns in the Gulf.) My dive tool is dummy corded so that I can't loose it under stress. I can draw with one hand, use and return to sheath without looking (practiced it many times.) I have NEVER gone into deco not even ONE time. But I carry a redundant 19cf that affords me (at my current air consumption rates) more than 20 minutes of deco gas at 20 feet at rest. I have that pony mounted such that I can pull it from myself, hold on to it, and ditch the rest of my gear. I have practiced ditching ALL my gear and returning to the surface on that pony (Inverted! Yes... in my 7mil wetsuit, you're going to the surface pretty quick if you ditch your gear...so I have practiced upside down kicking downward to control ascent speed.) I have a host of self regulating rules in my head about depths/remaining air supply as to shots I am willing to take or NOT take .etc. I utilize a "riding rig" configuration that allows me to "ditch my spear shaft" if a large fish is dragging me to the bottom. I return to the surface at proper ascent rates (faster at depth, slower at the shallows 3 min safety stops ALWAYS etc.)
Still I have returned to the boat at least ONE time, and begun to feel very strange on the surface. I could not put my finger on it but something wasnt right inside me AT ALL. To be honest it was scary.
After a LONG talk with Perrone the night before this last spearfishing trip I broke out my Aladin Tec2G manual and read PROFUSELY on micro bubbles and set it to the highest level of micro-bubble intermediate stops. I was SHOCKED at what my computer told me to do this Saturday. Crystal blue water in the Gulf off Venice, Louisiana with vis beyond 150 feet allowed for four dives (one hour surface intervals) all depths of 140-150ft bottom times only in the teens and here's what my computer told me to do:
stop at 30 feet for one minute stop at 20 feet for 3 minutes stop at 10 feet for SIX minutes! (Were NOT talking deco stops! I never went into deco. We are talking micro bubble offgassing stops that added a FULL TEN MINUTES of time just to offgas before gettin out of the water!)
Summary: According to my nitrogen loading bar on my computer, I left the water with LESS nitrogen loaded than I EVER have in the past! I left the water with CNS leves of 0 or 1% and I left the water and felt physically GOOD on the boat all day. Most important.. perhaps for the first time since I began spearfishing a year ago (from a standpoint of nitrogen offgassing) was diving SAFE. Thankyou, Perrone.