Quote: (Originally Posted by wizbang)
A general saying we have for new rebreather divers is "hours for metres" (in multiples of 10). eg 10m till 10 hours 20m till 20 hours etc
Has worked in a rough way for several friends.
Actually Wiz, I seem to remember it being;
"Do 10 at 10m, 20 at 20m...
Come on - lets go dive the Don Diago this weekend"
Actually, I think the depth thing is a complete crock of shit on a rebreather.
They are as dangerous (if not more so) shallow than they are deep - every problem I've had has happened on descent in the first 15m, normally shallower. Once your head is underwater, you should have your shit sorted at a basic level.
A 50m multilevel no stop dive is less stressful that a planned deco dive in 30m. There is a big leap between dives where you can simply bail back directly to the surface on OC bailout, versus those where you need to do significant deco.
So I'd suggest;
1. Get your shit together as far as making sure you know how the rebreather works, while sitting on the couch.
2. Do 'no deco' dives to whatever depth until you have the muscle memory down pat for your unit, and you are confident you can sort out most failure modes.
3. Dive until you get scared, hang until you get bored.
In phase 3 you'll learn that you didn't know shit in phase 2, but hopefully you will be able to figure things out in time.
Getting trimix certified between 2 and 3 might be a good idea.
Mike