Surface Support for Technical Diving

[MykaDives]

Reading through the Incidents & Accidents forum there is a lot of discussion regarding surface support (or the lack of).

I'm curious, technical divers - where do you draw your line personally for the dives you typically do? There are a ton of variables between each individual (which conditions are usual for you? salt? fresh? mountains? lake? ocean? hours from a chamber? etc etc etc), what is your protocol? Which parameters do you personally consider when determining the surface support you're comfortable with? At what point do you require a MD or a chamber on the boat in order for you to proceed with a dive? At what point do you require support/check divers? Which situations have you been faced with that you called the dive due to lack of surface support?

Please, let's discuss.

 

[happy-diver]

FFM and COMMS for technical diving

 

[PfcAJ]

My most frequent types of tech diving are longer range cave diving and ocean diving in the 150-240' range.

Determining support needs isn't really black and white. What I prefer and what I require are often two different things.

In the ocean, I require at least 1 deckhand. Tech dives without a helping hand on the boat aren't something I'm interested in. Its a pain in the butt. A deckhand also can help get an injured diver out of the water. Its pretty much mandatory. In water checks aren't really needed. There's barely any gear (relatively).

Cave diving gets weird. There's no rush to get in or out of the water. I do like someone coming to visit in-water about midway through the deco on long dives (>5hrs) just to see if we need anything and to take spent stages and scooters. >6 and I REALLY like having someone on the surface since I'm fairly spent after the dive and some help to move the gear makes a big difference. But smaller dives really don't require any help.

For instance, the last exploration dive I did (10hr runtime) we had a visit when we were at about 90ft and the crew took spent stages and scooters, then another visit about halfway into the oxygen stop where they took spent deco bottles and made sure we're happy campers. Surface crew took care of moving gear back to the trucks (grateful!). A dive like that requires help.

 

[lermontov]

The deeper or more involved the dive the more skill and experience I like from the support. I don't want my fiends friend to 'look after the boat' while im doing a deep (50m+) dive. Anything deeper than that I get proportionally more particular

Ideally the surface support should be a fellow diver who has done similar dives so that they understand the process involved and to know what to do if the schedule changes. My view is the support divers need to be as experienced as the divers they are looking after especially when/if theres a problem to solve.
Self sufficiency is par for the course in technical diving, as others have said at the end of a long or demanding dive most are mentally and physically tired so its very reassuring when you see a familiar face who is super capable to help you finish.

 

[rjack321]

Chambers on-site aren't ever going to happen lol

Once I get past 2 deco gasses I like someone to come down and take empties and scooters to have that much less junk on me. They can bring an al40 of extra EAN50 gas along and it doesnt get in the way of removing empties. Then once they hand off all the junk to the boat come back down and meet us at the 20ft stop.

Deckhand is a requirement and a competent skipper. I haven't called a dive due to lack of support but I also haven't had a day where someone didnt show up.

 

[Diver-Drex]

I’m doing fairly straight forward OC wreck deco dives. What I’m used to seeing and I am comfortable with is -
A mate and hand, one of which can splash in an emergency.
Extra cylinders of air or bottom gas that could be sent down.
Deco reg hanging at 20’.
O2 and an AED on board.

 

[Johnoly]

... My view is the support divers need to be as experienced as the divers .

And usually on Ocean tech dives,,,,,there is a cost that has to be covered for extra 'experienced' support divers. That's usually where 'Glory' divers will push the limits and not pay the extra money to do it right.

 

[broncobowsher]

After reading the above comments, I have to start with the disclaimer that while I do tech diving I am not as hard core as the above posters. No caves, no scooters, 1-2 hour run times. I don't have empties to be hauled off during deco. I end up doing this off a boat almost all the time. Near shore (less than 30 miles out). What other qualifiers have I left out?

One warm body on the boat is my minimum. I recently passed on a dive that I wanted to do because of lack of surface support. 200' and just two of us. That is where I have drawn the line and called the dive. It was near shore, good conditions, generally favorable. I don't like an empty boat.

As for typical, 2 on the boat (caption and a deck hand). Typically a good handful of useful divers to help out as well.

 

[jadairiii]

For Ocean tech dives first and foremost, my buddies and I, buy the boat. That way we are the only ones the capt needs to worry about and, we are all diving the exact same profile. 2, we carry a torpedo float the whole dive (while scootering). If it is a wreck, we will tie it off then untie to continue, boat always knows were we are. That capt is our topside support.

To me, going on a cattle boat to tech dive with multiple divers doing different profiles is a recipe for disaster.

 

[broncobowsher]

Multiple profiles on a cattle boat works fine. Just need a boat that knows what is going on. Couple of examples...
If it is all tech, single dive, the long profiles go first. Shorter profiles follow, but quick enough to still make it up before the long profiles. The short profile will be hanging at 20' and watch the long profile come up under them. Still have a staggered return to the boat.
Or if the boat does a 2-dive recreational dive on a wreck, the rec divers jump in first. This leave a little more deck space for the tech to gear up and jump in. You can just about pass the rec divers on the way down. Spend your hour on the wreck and when the recreational divers are coming back for round #2 you are heading back. Get back on the boat, raid the after dive snacks before the second round of the recreational divers are back.

The boat crew is busy longer, but isn't trying to push the volume of divers through at once. They are working at a more relaxed pace, does a better job. It's when everyone is rushing to be the first in the water that it turns into a cluster. A good boat will be checking your profiles. For the recreational divers, they pretty much know what it is going to be for any given site. For a tech diver, anything is possible. The boat may even state who goes in first.