Posted by Ken Kurtis on November 06, 2001 at 17:10:04:
In Reply to: Re: AAARRGGGHHH! I got bent! Or did I? posted by MHK on November 06, 2001 at 16:40:26:
Michael Kane wrote: Hopefully this point will not get lost by the anti-Nitrox crowd who is so skilled at misdirection..
Boy, THAT'S the pot calling the kettle black.
There's no way to say for certain whether ANYTHING anyone suggests would have made a difference, but I'm surprised that no one's looked at the safety stop. (Marta and I have already discussed this so I don't view this as a shot at her. I don't think she did anything overtly "wrong" on the dive.)
To me, the biggest thing is that she went into decompression. In my opinion, even if you've cleared deco on your computer, the fact you've been in deco should mandate a longer safety stop @ 15' than the 3-5 minutes we might normally do. (Since deco isn't a "normal" dive, in the recreational sesne of the word.) On a no-deco dive, we're not in the danger zone and the safety stop gives us added margin. But on a deco dive, we're already into the danger zone, so a longer stop might be a good precaution.
Personally on that dive, given the depth involved, the bottom time, and the water temp, I elected to do a 10-minute safety stop at 15', after a 1-minute stop at 30'.
I believe had Marta done a longer safety stop this all might mnot have been an issue but, even as Michael acknowledges about his view on nitrox for this dive, it's purely speculation and there's no way to say with any certainty whether or not it would have changed things.
(And just to be clear, this will be my only comment on the nitrox issue. That horse was beaten to death long ago.)
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, Ca.