Posted by MHK on March 21, 2001 at 15:22:36:
In Reply to: Re: Trimix at 60 FSW ?? posted by Kevin on March 21, 2001 at 14:07:26:
I'll buy food if Frank and Ken Kurtis joins us ;-)
Seriously, the benfits of He are phenominal but just simply misunderstood. I'll grant from the get go, as up front and honest as I can be there is a cost associated with He, but short of that the physiological benefits are manifest.
In particular, as we note the reduced narcosis issues are significant, the long term cell rigidty benefits are of note, the added training and decompression theory discussions will add a whole new element to your diving knowledge.
He is known to on gas and off gas at a rate of 2.65 times the rate of N2, and as such provide for added ability to explore areas and depths that have heretofore been deemed beyond the recommended NDL limits nad/or recommended recreational limits.
I have stated many times that I will no longer go deeper than 100' unless I have He in the mix. I say that as a guy that has admitedlly done dives 250'+ on air. I was reckless, I was lucky and I got away with it, but I know strongly believe ( as a guy that has a very substantial basis for comparison) that diving deeper than 100' on air is stupid..
Military and commercial divers have long since known this, but have kept this advance privledged.. The secret is out of the closet and shouldn't be dismissed, but yet should be advanced, should be talked about and should be encouraged..
While I know George Irvine is a polarizing figure he says often that * Helium is your friend* and he is dead on accurate...
It's simply a misunderstood gas, much like nitrox, but as more divers gain the requisite knowledge about Nitrox so to will they gain the understanding of the He benefits...
Later