CT-Rich
Contributor
It doesn’t need to be a single factor. Getting narc’d is pretty reasonable reason, limitation of existing equipment is a pretty good reason, so is a practical “what can you realistically do in such a short period at that depth is another.
The creation of standards was probably as much about laying out what was already being taught rather than defining what should be taught. IMHO instructors were already telling students not to do dumb things that would get them into trouble.
130’ is pretty deep for 1960s gear. A new diver would have a single steel 72 with a j-valve no BCD. If they were in a wetsuit, suit compression was going to make the trip up harder than the trip down. Gas consumption at 130’ is going to make the margin for error very small because they were not going to have a redundant air supply. Most instructors were telling students not to do stupid things. Beyond 130’ with 1960s recreational equipment probably falls into the category of stupid things to avoid.
The creation of standards was probably as much about laying out what was already being taught rather than defining what should be taught. IMHO instructors were already telling students not to do dumb things that would get them into trouble.
130’ is pretty deep for 1960s gear. A new diver would have a single steel 72 with a j-valve no BCD. If they were in a wetsuit, suit compression was going to make the trip up harder than the trip down. Gas consumption at 130’ is going to make the margin for error very small because they were not going to have a redundant air supply. Most instructors were telling students not to do stupid things. Beyond 130’ with 1960s recreational equipment probably falls into the category of stupid things to avoid.
