Posted by MHK on December 05, 2000 at 09:28:45:
In Reply to: Re: on-gassing while ascending posted by AADIVER on December 04, 2000 at 19:05:47:
Frank,
It's very important to keep repeating that there are other factors contributory to a potential DCS hit and it's not just a simple calculation of M-values. While the M-values have served the diving community pretty well and are generally accepted as a pretty consistent indicator there are other factors that need to be considered and for that reason alone I would advise against blowing off a safety stop irrespective of the fact that you have an enriched air mix ( ie; 40% ).
Using 40% you have the following P02's:
10' = .52
15' = .58
20' = .64
While these are certainly increased P02's, which is helpful in the *offgasing* process, I'm not sure what you really gain by blowing off the stop.. It seems to me that you have an increased safety margin by staying at 15' for 3 minutes. As I understand it you are advancing in age and I seem to recall you mentioning some injury ( I think it was your hip, but I could be mistaken) and you would be well advised to increase your safety margins. Moreover, from what I gather from your posts you seem to do a fair amount of salvaging at depth, which generally requires a bit of work so it would also seem wise based on this fact that you hang for 3 minutes..
Just my 2 cents..
Later