| Hmmm Deco
Over the last few weeks I have been having a very interesting and informative discussion with a a guy who happens to have written and continues to modify one of the foremost deco packages out there (I am deliberatly not saying which). It also happens I am involved, (all be it in a small way) with a group in UCL (University College London) that are doing research into hyperbaric medicine, I have now put the two groups in touch with each other.
These recent discussions have taught me a lot about current theory into decompression. To say that deco is an in-exact science is no longer an accurate statement, in fact, there is a great deal known about what how why and when. Since the advent of doppler testing it has been possible to measure the formation and reduction of bubbles in the blood with absolute accuracy. It is also no accident that the majority of successful deco profiles, no matter what system was used to produce them are remarkably similar.
Deco on the fly is a joke, not because it doesn't work, it does, it is because it relies on the most falible of computers - the human brain, this is not my opinion, but that of far more experience people than myself. Buhlmans with gradient factors is also a bit of a joke, the ability to apply GF is in fact a fix to make the system work. The VR3 applies a further bodge to this by arbitraily adding in deep stops of two minutes, it does put them in the right place though. That being said if you run a profile out from the VR3 and compare it to the VPM-B algorythm it is so close as to be the same. RGBM is useless for deep dives because it is not designed to do them.
If you want the most accurate system that is the closest to current deco and hyperbaric theory/knowledge then follow the VPM-B process.
This being said, it is all just my opinion, me personally, I will continue to use my VR3, it rocks. I know enough to trust it's profile, I also have my own empirical data to go on (I've felt OK so far).
It's late, this is not the best post I have done, but I felt the need to comment, mainly because of the thread on the DIR page about DOTF.
Take care all,
Andrew  |