Have you ever deliberately dived beyond your certification?

[Dinner Lady]

Originally Posted by Ainsleyberryman

For me a certificate is something that tells others I can dive it.

I Agree with this thought. When I did my first sea dive last summer (I hadn't quite finished my AOW course) I buddied with a guy who was qualified and very confident which at the time made me feel more confident. It wasn't until we were descending and he went flying past me, stopping only once he hit the bottom in a heap that I felt kinda scared! A lesson was learned that day.

[londonsean69]

According to PADI, even though I am an instructor, as I haven't done the deep specialty, then my limit is still 30m.

Pah, 42m on the Basil, with 30 Mins. deco on 50%. Bet they would love that

I now have Adv. Nitrox, so can use upto O2, but still can't do deco (because that will stop me )

Also, on my RB, I don't deliberately dive past my certification, as there is none, AND it has had 21/35 in it in the past

[Gareth J]

Whilst I don't recommend it, yes I did dive beyond my qualification, when I first started diving.

When I was a Sports Diver we where diving to 50m (on air!). But when you started you had a very experienced buddy & the depth buildup was progressive. Also the deco time progressively increased.

When I was a Diveleader, I remember getting out of the water after decompressing for 60minutes - then having a discussion about sigining up for this new fangled Nitrox (AdvNx IANTD).

When the ERD coarse came out I went along & did that, then Trimix.

It was almost as if the coarse's where arriving to suit the diving we where already doing.

The most importent thing is the Instructors. I was blessed with exeptionally good instructors - in the early days (makes me sound old), the number of 'technical' instructors where few & far between & they all new each other or of each other, so it was easyto get recommendations + they used to check up on you between themselves!


There is a lot less excuss now - there are progressive coarses all the way through. Well, until you get really excessive, +100m, 3hrs deco etc! I would always recommend taking the coarse - I always learnt something new! If nothing else it makes you think about what you are doing. Its always worth considering changing instructor & orgainisiation for a new view point!

[ChrisP]

I have delayed replying to this thread because I have not known what to say. One wants to be responsible without appearing to tell others to "do as I say not what I do."
So here goes.
My first "naughty" dive past my OW qualification was my 8th dive and was to 21.5m. Then I did my AOW course. After that, dive 39 was to 42.1m - I was narked off my bonce and although all ended well it was probably good that I was with someone far more experienced than me. I then did dive 107 to 50.3m with no further training. It was my first deco dive, on a single ally 11.1L tank in clear water on the Bianca C in Grenada and it remains one of the best dives in my life. We saw Bull Sharks and I surfaced with 30 bar and felt fantastic.
Following that I did my Adv Nitrox and Deco Procs course which I think gave me a cert to 45m - 50m (?). Dive 200 was on the Moldavia - 50m, another of my top 5 ever dives.
Since then I have done a load of 30-40m dives.
I have tended not to dive much below 40m on air except for a few trips to NDC and on my favourite ever wreck which is in Bonaire which is 60m to the seabed. Floating just off a wreck at 55m when you can still see the surface is just awsome and although I would never recommend it I think the addition of narcosis at that depth enhanced the experience.
Last November I finally got round to doing my entry level trimix course which I suppose certifies me to 60m I have yet to use that cert as I recently declined a 40m or so dive as after the winter break I did not feel personally ready.
So back to the original question- yes, as I suspect almost all other divers have and maybe still do. Despite what I have done I do not recommend deep diving on air.
Cheers

[Little Pete]

Yes.

I was a DMT and dived to 39.8m (30m qual) with a diver I was guiding. Down there for a min or two tops but felt pretty narked even in the clear water (Cook Islands). Both had a great dive but I'd borrowed a comp so got a major bollocking from the bosses when I got back....fully deserved

Now I'm a lot more cautious about diving (nothing like 3m vis in England to curb the tekkie wannabe desire). Looking to slowly work up now.

[Wacker]

My very first openwater dive (dive 1 openwater course) was down to 23 meters! at stoney. Whilst still OW I was regularly 23 > 32M!
"BUT"
If I had not gone to 23M on that first dive my buddie would no longer be with us as the viz was appaling and our instructor didn't realize we were no longer in the group (10 students and only one instructor) I was seperated from my buddie and saw a hand looming out of a flurry of silt and bubles wizzing up just ahead of me.
The next 100+ dives were on OW qualifications BUT my regular buddie was a BSAC club instructor!
The only reason I botherd getting qualified to DM was because I was helping train students and blagged the courses for nowt
So do as I say not as..................

[hyweldavies]

Surely you don't needed training to monitor you (own) air ?
Anyone not doing this is a f***in idiot; trained or not.
When I started diving I looked at my gauge at least every 3 seconds.

There was an article in the Torygraph some while ago about a diving journalist who'd drowned having run out of air. Despite their usual stance on the "nanny state", and "ambulance chasing", somehow this was the dive school's fault and a scandal. Whilst it's a tragic loss for the poor bloke's family, you do wonder what on earth he was doing. He'd seemingly run out of air the previous day too. And he was qualified after a fashion too.

Back to the original post, I usually dive beyond my qualification level (well, for the 1st dive of the day, anyway). Qualified to 30m, dive to 40m. Even once I've done more training (TDI 45-50m or whatever) I doubt I'll dive much deeper than 40 as I just don't feel right. Moreover the diving police view that I'm "not allowed" to be sold nitrox makes my diving more dangerous than it needs to be (to be fair, I've not actually tried to buy any, but am told this is the rule).

Not sure if I'm "allowed" to use my drysuit either.
Mind you I have studied extensively on the internet

An earlier poster suggested people shouldn't be "allowed" to buy a twinset without a qualification. How can it possibly make sense to stop people taking plenty of air ?

Dear me !

Hywel

[dry suit diver]

Originally Posted by hyweldavies

Surely you don't needed training to monitor you (own) air ?
Anyone not doing this is a f***in idiot; trained or not.
When I started diving I looked at my gauge at least every 3 seconds.

There was an article in the Torygraph some while ago about a diving journalist who'd drowned having run out of air. Despite their usual stance on the "nanny state", and "ambulance chasing", somehow this was the dive school's fault and a scandal. Whilst it's a tragic loss for the poor bloke's family, you do wonder what on earth he was doing. He'd seemingly run out of air the previous day too. And he was qualified after a fashion too.

Back to the original post, I usually dive beyond my qualification level (well, for the 1st dive of the day, anyway). Qualified to 30m, dive to 40m. Even once I've done more training (TDI 45-50m or whatever) I doubt I'll dive much deeper than 40 as I just don't feel right. Moreover the diving police view that I'm "not allowed" to be sold nitrox makes my diving more dangerous than it needs to be (to be fair, I've not actually tried to buy any, but am told this is the rule).

Not sure if I'm "allowed" to use my drysuit either.
Mind you I have studied extensively on the internet

An earlier poster suggested people shouldn't be "allowed" to buy a twinset without a qualification. How can it possibly make sense to stop people taking plenty of air ?

Dear me !

Hywel

ahh but the nanny state would say that taking more air would encourage divers to stay longer etc,when we patently know that that doesn't happen

[Mr T.]

Originally Posted by hyweldavies

Surely you don't needed training to monitor you (own) air ?
Anyone not doing this is a f***in idiot; trained or not.
When I started diving I looked at my gauge at least every 3 seconds.

There was an article in the Torygraph some while ago about a diving journalist who'd drowned having run out of air. Despite their usual stance on the "nanny state", and "ambulance chasing", somehow this was the dive school's fault and a scandal. Whilst it's a tragic loss for the poor bloke's family, you do wonder what on earth he was doing. He'd seemingly run out of air the previous day too. And he was qualified after a fashion too.

Back to the original post, I usually dive beyond my qualification level (well, for the 1st dive of the day, anyway). Qualified to 30m, dive to 40m. Even once I've done more training (TDI 45-50m or whatever) I doubt I'll dive much deeper than 40 as I just don't feel right. Moreover the diving police view that I'm "not allowed" to be sold nitrox makes my diving more dangerous than it needs to be (to be fair, I've not actually tried to buy any, but am told this is the rule).

Not sure if I'm "allowed" to use my drysuit either.
Mind you I have studied extensively on the internet

An earlier poster suggested people shouldn't be "allowed" to buy a twinset without a qualification. How can it possibly make sense to stop people taking plenty of air ?

Dear me !

Hywel

Whilst it might be interesting to read about your thoughts on just who's a "f*cking idiot..", care to do what other members do and submit an Intro in the appropriate section before regaling us with any more tales of derring-do?

Thanks

[Janos]

Originally Posted by hyweldavies

Back to the original post, I usually dive beyond my qualification level (well, for the 1st dive of the day, anyway). Qualified to 30m, dive to 40m.

Well you're a braver man then me. 40m scares the shit out of me.

Originally Posted by Hyweldavies

Mind you I have studied extensively on the internet

It's a shame there isn't a tongue in cheek smilie on the forum isn't there...

Originally Posted by Hyweldavies

An earlier poster suggested people shouldn't be "allowed" to buy a twinset without a qualification. How can it possibly make sense to stop people taking plenty of air ?

I'm pleased that there is remarkably little diving regulation in the UK. You don't need a card to dive Nitrox, or indeed to dive at all. You certainly don't need a card to dive a twinset.

However I think that it's a very good idea that people learn to dive a twinset (whether formally or informally) before progressing to depths. Especially if diving a manifolded set. There is a risk that people become blase about the amount of air they have You can run up a serious deco on a twinset and most times you'll get away with it. It's how you deal with it when it does go wrong that's important.

Janos