Posted by Wayne on January 19, 2001 at 08:12:37:
In Reply to: Tracking NDL's - unanswered questions posted by AADIVER on January 19, 2001 at 05:48:08:
>> How, specifically, does a diver accurately
>> track his/her NDL's on multi-level repetetive
>> dives using only a bottom timer and a depth >>guage?
He/She doesn't except in those rare occasions when the depth profile fits a mold not often found in our local waters. If we dove the Yukon and started at the bottom looking at sand, then went to the starbard rail, it works. But go to Avalon Underwater park and swimout to the SuJac and back and it does not work at all. Doing vertical traverses of a reef is also a problem.
Before computers we dealt with it as best we could. We would know that we peaked at, say, 100 feet. We would know that half our time was above and half below 50 feet. We would then "weigh" the data by judgement and feel. And we rarely got bent. And we rarely made four dives in a single day! I'll never go back to the precomputer days. It's so Amish.
>> How long would it take the average sport diver
>> to master this skill?
Forever. Mastery of this is not practical for most divers who rarely dive. Furthermore, why woudl they want to. I am sure it can impress a few at the bar when we do the math in our heads, but it is not a necessary skill or activity for recreational diving. When I di d moy O/W, we had to swim laps in underwater breathing from a tank's J-Valve. While it taught me mastery of a skill that is usefull for impressing friends in Jacuzzis ("Hey let's see who can hold their breath the longest." He he he), it is not a practical skill that I or any of my diving friends have needed underwater. Regulators made this skill obsolete and computers make doing deco-guesstimation obsolete.
>> And, finally: if all divers used this skill in
>> lieu of a computer, as DIR mandates, should
>> the computer makers be notified that they're
>> soon to be put out of business?
No. Did the scuba tank made the snorkel makers go out of business?
Just my little opinion
Wayne