Posted by Ken Kurtis on November 07, 2001 at 00:59:55:
In Reply to: Re: Nitrox/longer stop/how long posted by TDI Diver on November 06, 2001 at 18:30:59:
TDI Diver wrote: Is this some kind of arbitrary/proprietary tabel you have or just a "best guess" at prevention.
It's a "best guess" (referring to my suggestion that she should have stayed at 15' for 10 minutes).
The thing to remember here is that there are a zillion variables that could have affected this dive and the outcome: longer saftey stop time, breathing nitrox on the dive, less bottom time, slower ascent rate (not to say she went too fast), off-gassing on a hyperoxic mix at 15', more time at the deep stops, getting more sleep the night before, not going all the way to the bottom but just diving the top of the wreck (aka less depth), etc., etc.
To single one factor and out and insist that IT is the one true and only solution, to my way of thinking, either indicates a blind adherence to a doctrine without regard to fact or simply an inability to rationally analyze a problem and all it's possible solutions/variables.
Bottom line when it comes to providing the solution that would have prevented this problem is . . . we don't know, it's impossible to say with any certainty, and anyone who claims otherwise either is pushing a hidden (or not-so-hidden) agenda or simply doesn't know what they're talking about. (IMHO.)
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, Ca.