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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 28 July 2007 02:56 |
Ascents
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| Ascents should occur at the end of every dive ... right? One should hope so, so let's spend a little time talking about making a proper ascent. |
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Ascents in General
You should try to maintain a 30' per minute ascent rate on every ascent. If you were trained using a different ascent rate then by all means use the ascent rate that you are comfortable using. If you are one of my students you learn 30' per minute as the proper ascent rate.
Make sure you are where you need to be to make the ascent. For boat diving in the gulf coast area that generally means being at the anchor line. If you are not that is a whole other ballgame which we'll discuss shortly.
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Before Beginning The Ascent
At the ascent point, before starting up, get your hand on your inflator hose and I mean on the purge button, like you are going to push the button to let air out of your BC, which is what you are getting ready to do.
Once your hand is on the inflator hose start up and establish a 30' per minute ascent rate. |
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Historical note: Years ago, when recreational divers used dive tables based upon the Navy Dive Tables, the proper ascent rate was considered to be 60' per minute. For a lot of reasons, trial and error with the 60' per minute rate, the realization that your average recreational diver doesn't approach the physical characteristics of a Navy diver and many other reasons, the acceptable recreational ascent rate has become slower and slower.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 28 July 2007 14:11 )
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