FII Level 2 June 2-5

10 sec down and 10 up :@
I 'll leave the 132' for Jim. The man can hold his breath longer than a freaking seal :thumbsup2:
Jim are u coming for the May class?

Thanks, JC. I can't make it that week as I have a friend's wedding to attend. I'm shooting to get to the July course, but I'm already going to a bunch of places that month (including La Paz, Mexico)! Might end up being all the way in October.

Jim

ill take you to a 132ft wreck Jim and you can test out your skills there on some fish! :thumbsup2:

Sure thing, just rig a perfectly vertical line and make sure there's no current whatsoever! You can be the safety diver and pick up my fish at 15 meters while you wait there to meet me.

JC, I didn't beat Harry's static record at PFI. If I'm a seal, Harry is a walrus!

Quote from Wishihadgills

Just out of curiosity what is the static record?

World record men?
11:35
Women- 8:23

rule of thumb dive time breath hold about half of your static but that's just a ball park-it depends on stress, exertion ,etc.

An interesting thing happened at Vertical Blue Competition last week. Walter Steyn of Aus became "narked" (nitorgen narcosis) at 122m and ending up staying there for 40 sec before he realized he needed to come up
Total dive time 4:28

here is the dive profile.

Whoa! He really got narced. Now he knows he can glide 20 more meters if he can equalize.

Scary

Quote from O2 deprived

World record men?

An interesting thing happened at Vertical Blue Competition last week. Walter Steyn of Aus became "narked" (nitorgen narcosis) at 122m and ending up staying there for 40 sec before he realized he needed to come up
Total dive time 4:28.

This is why I don't dive to those depths but I'll keep it in mind next time I reach 120m:laughing3:

some comps have divers on re-breathers others rely on the counter ballast system. Fortunately, there have been no serious accidents in comps . There have, of course, been tragedies in no-limits record attempts.

I don't know what the PFI static record is. I was in a course with a guy who did about 5:45- tragically he died of a blackout a few months later off Oahu. Sergio Goens- a famous underwater photographer. It can happen to anyone.

Quote from Wishihadgills

I was referring to the PFI record that Jim mentioned. I have always been curious why they dont have a safety diver ( on scuba) that down deep in case of emergency. I know things like this dont happen very often but in extreme competitions things like this can happen and deep water black out is a possibility. Seems like it might be worth it as divers are diving deeper and longer than ever.

What they told is that when you go very deep in competitions you must wear a lanyard that is attached to the dive line and they can pull you up in a hurry in case of an emergency. Safety divers meet you 1/3 or 1/4 of the way where 99% of blackouts typically occur.

Quote from Wishihadgills

I was referring to the PFI record that Jim mentioned. I have always been curious why they dont have a safety diver ( on scuba) that down deep in case of emergency. I know things like this dont happen very often but in extreme competitions things like this can happen and deep water black out is a possibility. Seems like it might be worth it as divers are diving deeper and longer than ever.

There's no PFI record that I know of. It's just something between Harry (greekdiver) and I. Actually, its not between us because Harry doesn't care about it. I just set 6:00+ as a goal (and failed to meet it).

Quote from O2 deprived

An interesting thing happened at Vertical Blue Competition last week. Walter Steyn of Aus became "narked" (nitorgen narcosis) at 122m and ending up staying there for 40 sec before he realized he needed to come up
Total dive time 4:28

I didn't see that dive in the results. With the dive time so far in excess of the announced time, did they raise the plate?

Quote from Wishihadgills

Jim - what was your time before the class?

JC - Ive heard about the lanyard but it seems like if something were to go wrong at the bottom it could be a long time before they find out. Like in this dive if he had failed to surface it would have been a few minutes before they realized that something had gone wrong. sorry if Im being difficult by playing devils advocate but its terrible when you read about accidents that happen to some of the top divers.

Before - 4:15 on the couch. I don't really practice statics that much.
After - 5:50 in the pool. I was in deep convulsions and came up really low on O2. JC was my spotter

You'll learn in the course why and nyspear alluded to it, but you basically have very predictable dive times. A 30 meter dive takes 30 seconds down and 30 seconds up (meter per second of travel time).

Wow, Jim. That's a monster static. Congrats.

Once that Cuda bit Jim, he received special aquatic powers much like spiderman.

Quote from nyspear

I didn't see that dive in the results. With the dive time so far in excess of the announced time, did they raise the plate?

It was a Variable Weight dive which is not a competition discipline-- only for records. He did it at the end of the competition.

In regards to the counter ballast and lanyards; the diver is on sonar and observed from the platform crew. If there is a problem the counter ballast is enacted and the diver is pulled up. Like everything, the system is not perfect but so far so good in competitions. There are a team of safety divers. The deep safety meets the diver at 30m on their ascent and the second safety comes in at 20m. In the case with Walter; the safetys waited for over 1:30 as Walt was late. It was scary but it all worked out and Walter was fine. He did stay on O2 for sometime after the dive for recovery purposes.

Here is a good article from the NY Times about the comp. I was interviewed but I guess too dull to make the news!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/sports/17dive.html

Quote from greekdiver

Once that Cuda bit Jim, he received special aquatic powers much like spiderman.

:laughing3::laughing3::laughing3::laughing3:

Who was the Greek Guy that bit you?

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D