Posted by Wayne on November 07, 2001 at 11:18:40:
In Reply to: in addition, deep stops on NitrOx help whereas deep air stops hurt posted by Karl S. on November 07, 2001 at 10:46:27:
"Deep stops" on air is another way of slowing the ascent rate. While your point is correct that you are still taking on N2 while stopping at depth, this is primarily in the "slower tissues". The "faster tissues" will have become more saturated in the dive and are off gassing during the ascent and at these short stops stops of a minute or few. Therefore these "deep stops" reduce the effective ascent rate and reduce the saturation of these fast tissues. On 'normal' recreational dives (however we define that today), the fast "tissues" are the exciting ones. Blood, and other liquids are in the fast category.
So what I am trying to say is this: Deep stops and shallow stops are all good things -- independant of the gas you use. A slow ascent is safer and one way to slow the ascent is by pausing on teh way up.
Wayne