Your thoughts on logging dives

Mick L

I read recently on Divernet about a series of fatalities involving qualified but inexperienced divers and have wondered if this would lead to a greater emphasis on diver experience & certification rather than just certification alone.

Should dive centres look at a divers log book to guage their experience as well as their certifications. I've been asked to show my certifications at dive centres but I've never had a dive centre look through my log book. One guide asked me how many dives I had done but they could all have been in 10 metres of water (they weren't btw) so that can hardly be used as a reliable measure. During your training, was logging your dives stressed, or even mentioned as an important procedure? Should it be?

Personally I log every dive anyway (so far). I have found it very useful when looking back on diving holidays to determine things like how much weight I need for my wetsuit as oposed to my drysuit or what dive sites are good, where to go and what to look out for. Also, after a holiday, all the dives seem to blend together somewhat, the log is a great way to look back and remember the individual dives.

ka

I currently log all my dives in a written logbook and then upload my computer profile and record some information there also.

I find it helpful for remembering sites. gear used etc.... also i find it useful for monitoring air consumption etc... my suunto has an option to mark interesting points in the dive - this is a useful way of jogging your memory when logging the dive. I am interested in marine biology - so if i see anything new or unusual i try to id it and log it.

When I have dived away, my log book was checked in most locations, as my open water initially was in warm water, but most of my diving is done in Ireland. They were making sure that i had current experience and if it was missing they would insist on a check dive.

I personally find it very useful. I have developed my own logging sheets for Diveology and also for the Sheephaven Sub Aqua Club

Peace

Yup,

if you're doing a a deep dive, say deeper than 40m, you should definately be required to show not only qualification cards but logged dives to show you have the necessary diving skill required to complete the dive safely.

Also gear configuration should be an issue. Some dives, deep dives, should not be done on singal cylinder rigs...its a little bit nuts. Also even if you are diving a twinset there should be both training and experience put in until you off the leash...

I also think that PADI dive centres have somewhat a duty of care, kinda ties in with the above points. They should never allow a diver to do a dive if either the skipper or diver have reservations. However if a dive operation market themselves as somewhat of a water taxi service then fine.....let the divers dive what they want...its their business. Its very much a "i'll be here to pick you up when you get back" kinda thing. However if a centre is going to call itself a PADI dive centre then it should live up to the branded name.

daveg

I too log all my dives but I have a question to ask the group. Ever since my buddy and myself did our training 4/5 years ago I have never planned a dive and calculated the depth/nitrogen intake to calculate how long your dive can go on for at a certain depth. Now I'm leaving myself wide open here but does anyone do that? I have to say 99% of my dives have been shallow(ish) up to say 15-20 meters so I generally dive till my air is low. Also I always carry out a safety stop about 1/2 meters from the surface.

Opinions?

Evil Phil

I always log my dives, as a record of what I've done (At least until I lost my log book). Once in Thailand I was asked for my log book before I was allowed to dive, just to make sure they said. Which is fine with me, nice to know they're looking out for you and not just your money.

Mick L

Well done daveg, gotta love that philosophy, dive until the air runs out.

My dive planning has gone full circle, started out using tables to plan the dive and then (in theory) dive the plan. That was fine for a while until I got a computer which took care of nitrogen loading for me. The computer is well worth it if you're going to be doing a lot of repetitive diving, e.g. if you're on a liveaboard. If you had tables there I doubt you'd get anywhere near as many dives, or if you did you'd end up with your last dive just being a safety stop!!! Having used the computer for a while, I'll likely be moving to accelerated deco with stages, so I'm back to calculating the dive before hand and then diving the plan, only this time there is a PC program ( GAP ) to do it rather than tables.

So in answer to your question, every dive I do has a plan of some sort, either preplanned with PC/runtimes or continously planned suring the dive with a dive computer.

daveg

Originally posted by Mick L
Well done daveg, gotta love that philosophy, dive until the air runs out.

Well... you know what I mean Not litrally "I can't breathe... oh oh... air out... better hit the surface". More so when the dial is nearing the red end the dive.

In hindsight of your post perhaps a dive computer is the answer.

What does everyone else do?

NordicDiver

I dive until am low on air,cold or have to pee

Low on air: after a nice shallow dive....

Cold or have to pee: always after deco...


I always used to log all dives but there was this time when i had done the same dive seen the same area , played with the same lobster over and over again, then i started too just put numbers in the book, i kind of stopped logging.

These days i log technical and commercial dives or if there is an interesting dive.



:horned:
Looks like me, a norwegian viking:)

Mick L

Originally posted by NordicDiver
Cold or have to pee: always after deco...

This can be quite a problem alright. Lately I have had to stop drinking for a while prior to a dive, trying to balance that with dehydration. I wonder how reliable the drysuits with the relief zips are?

Originally posted by NordicDiver
These days i log technical and commercial dives or if there is an interesting dive.

What kind of commercial diving do you do? If you want to do some technical dives here check out the useful links thread, there's a link there to Operation deadlight about German subs off the Donegal coast.

NordicDiver

I have heard a lot of strange stories about relief zip`s .

Mostly inspection, non saturated down to 50 meters.

I looked into the site briefliy, but the problem i dont have any trimix or technical sertificates, but it looked very interesting.

Have had saturated dives deeper than they are diving but thats a bit different, but give me a bell and a hot water suit and i will be down for a few hrs.

Peace

Originally posted by NordicDiver
give me a bell and a hot water suit and i will be down for a few hrs.

Don't tell me you pee in your suit?? Thats just not OK..:eek:

TacT

I log all my dives but this summer I didn't log any...
They were all 10-20M dives but mostly in the 10M range so it didn't seem to be of any great importance.
With regards equipment and the sites, well I know the sites because I've been snorkelling and spearfishing their for over 10yrs and it's usually nice and warm.
You don't need any gloves/booties (I hate gloves, feel they detract from any interaction you may have with anemones on walls etc, nothing like that rubbery feeling as you watch em all suck and close up while you touch em)

Hell you could've gone down with nothing at all apart from your tank/stab/fins/mask/knife because most of the sites are pretty shallow -10M

Going beyond 10/15M I can appreciate logging the dives but anything below that unless you require some specific info about the site or whatnot seems a bit silly to me

NordicDiver

Don't tell me you pee in your suit?? Thats just not OK..

Well, its no problem to just open the zip a little bit .... when you use a hot water suit or a normal wetsuit with a front zip. Just make sure that you hide from any female or trigger fish..:eek:

Mick L

Originally posted by NordicDiver
Well, its no problem to just open the zip a little bit .... when you use a hot water suit or a normal wetsuit with a front zip. Just make sure that you hide from any female or trigger fish..:eek:

Not all of us are concerned about hiding from females , isn't that right Phil.