
Articles about Rebreathers (in English)Please feel free to download, read and distribute any of the following article (as a secured pdf file). You need Acrobat Reader 7.0 or above (available for free at www.acrobat.com) to open these files. However these articles are registered at the U.S. Office of Copyright and subject to the international laws of copyrights. You cannot copy, reprint or modify any of these articles without the written approval of their author.
|
UNCONSCIOUS RECREATIONAL REBREATHER DIVER AND RESCUE TECHNIQUES
|
MOTOR SKILLS LEARNING AND CURRENT BAILOUT PROCEDURES IN RECREATIONAL REBREATHER DIVING
|
A BUYER'S GUIDE TO REBREATHER DIVING
This morning when you woke up, you felt something strange, as if some minor and weird changes happened in your body. Nothing to do with Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, but the last few weeks, you found your dives to be very noisy, with all these bubbles escaping from your regulator and getting on your nerves when they reach your ears. You also found all your dive gear very heavy, with all these tanks and regulators to carry everywhere.
It might sound like a strange question but it’s an important one. A closer look at the Internet forums and mailing lists and you’ll discover a lot of people selling their expensive and brand new rebreathers, the main reason being that most of the time, they just don’t use it! Yes you read it properly: after months of research and comparisons, after a financial investment the size of a small car, divers discover that they don’t need it, it’s too much hassle, they don’t have time or they don’t like it. The type of diving you do. A rebreather can definitely make sense for a diver who spends his/her time doing deep wreck dives or long video dives. But does it make sense for short and shallow reef dives in a tropical environment? It’s a question that only you can answer, but think about all the hassle to travel with a rebreather (even a small one!), filling Nitrox or Oxygen tanks, buying Sodalime, preparing the unit before the dive, cleaning it afterwards. All that work for something that can easily be done with a single tank you rent anywhere! (to be continued) |
THE BAKER’S DOZEN REASONS… TO DE-INVERT YOUR CCR TANKSBy Cedric Verdier Most of the Closed-Circuit Rebreathers on the market come with inverted tanks. It helps the diver to easily reach their tank valves and close them in case of emergency. That’s the main, if not the only benefit. Some rebreathers even come with upright tanks (Pelagian, RB80).
(to be continued) |
HOW TO DEAL WITH AN UNCONSCIOUS REBREATHER DIVERBy Cedric Verdier The title of this article was originally: “What to do if a convulsion happens”. Based on a lot of discussion, private or on various Forums, the protocol being presented here can actually be used for any kind of situation where an unconscious rebreather diver is found underwater. The main goal of this article is to end up with some guidelines to safely and efficiently deal with an unconscious diver. Those guidelines are purposely: Remember that the most important factors are:
So the most important thing to remember is to bring the victim to the surface safely and as quickly as reasonable. The initial cause of the unconsciousness is not really crucial and the rescuer shouldn’t loose a lot of precious time to determine if they are dealing with Hypercapnia, Hypoxia or Hyperoxia. (to be continued) |
10 QUESTIONS ABOUT DIRrebreatherBy Cedric Verdier
Since its implementation a few years ago, the Doing It Right philosophy has gained in popularity not only in the cave diving community, but also amongst technical divers and even recreational divers worldwide. An impressive work has already been done by the WKPP members and GUE Instructors in order to adapt the DIR Philosophy to the Halcyon RB80 Semi-Closed Circuit Rebreather. But many people thought that Closed-Circuit Rebreathers "can't be DIR". The DIRrebreather team is made of experienced and active Rebreather explorers and instructors who share the same goal: implementing the DIR Philosophy into Rebreather diving. Why diving DIR with a rebreather? Simply consider the following questions:
We strongly believe that proper training, thorough planning, team procedures, equipment selection and adaptation can help the rebreather diver to be a DIR diver. Standardization should help to make simpler and safer dives, avoiding confusion and improving team work and communication, especially when problems occur. (To be continued) |
COMFORT AND EFFICIENCY WITH A REBREATHERBy Cedric Verdier Most of the articles one can find about rebreathers deal with potential problems and limits of these wonderful pieces of kit. They give extensive information about oxygen sensors, scrubber duration, electronics and any of the risks associated with this kind of equipment. Becoming proficient with the emergency procedures is a very important component of training and experience. But an aspect that is sometimes a little bit overlooked is how to properly dive with a rebreather. Unfortunately even some experienced rebreather divers are not comfortable and efficient with their rig. Rebreather divers are most of the time so focused on how to adapt and to improve their units and how to safely deal with all these modifications that they forget the most important skills any diver with any kind of equipment should master. Words like simplicity and ease disappeared from their vocabulary. (To be continued) |
BAILING OUT! YES BUT HOW?By Cedric Verdier Bailing out to Open Circuit is like falling in the snow when you learn skiing. It’s a solution when facing a problem. Not always the most elegant solution, but always the easiest one and most of the time, the most efficient one. 1. Sanity Breaths When dealing with most of the problems that could occur with a rebreather (equipment failure, physiological problem, etc), one of the first reactions should be to do a diluent flush to make sure you breathe a safe gas for the few seconds you’ll need to switch to OC and take some sanity breaths from a known mix. 4 or 5 breaths should help most of the divers experiencing any kind of symptoms to quickly regaining their ability to think properly and to react in the most efficient way. In case of hyperoxia, hypoxia, mild hypercapnia, or any mechanical or electronical problem, a good diluent flush followed by some sanity breaths can help. Even if this doesn’t help, most of the time it doesn’t make any harm (if the mix is safe to breathe at that depth), apart from depleting the stock of gas available. These sanity breaths can be done in different ways: (To be continued) |
MODIFYING YOUR MEG FOR DEEP DIVINGBy Cedric Verdier Having spent the last ten years diving and teaching rebreathers, I had the opportunity to try most of the existing models, either commercially available, homebuilt or restricted to the military market. All of them have some benefits and some disadvantages, but none of them matched my needs like the ISC Megalodon CCR (in a previous article, I explained why the Meg became my favourite rebreather instead of the well-know APD Inspiration). 1. For a comfortable and streamlined rig
Without being a fully DIR believer (I wouldn’t dive a CCR otherwise!), I rather like to have a streamlined, neat and tidy equipment. So one of the first things I did with my Meg was to check if I needed all the Velcro straps, D-rings and plastic fastex buckles one can find on the counterlungs. I ended up with the conclusion that: |
REBREATHER FOR CAVE DIVINGby Cedric Verdier The use of rebreathers in caves is not new. Hans and Lotte Hass used a rebreather to venture a little bit in some marine caves quite a few decades ago. Names like Rob Palmer in the UK, Bill Stone, George Irvine and Jarrod Jablonski in the USA or Olivier Isler in Europe, are strongly linked to rebreathers and cave diving. Recreational cave divers discovered Oxygen CCR in the Navy surplus, Draeger Dolphin and more recently APD Inspiration. Nowadays, there are many different brands and models and they become even more popular within the cave diving community worldwide. Why? So why using a rebreather for cave diving, and what kind of benefits this type of equipment has compared to the highly reliable conventional open circuit scuba? - Extended dive time. One of main features of a rebreather in general is the longer dive time that one can expect. In a cave it means a longer exploration and the ability to do penetration dives much longer and further than what could be done with conventional open circuit scuba. But the rebreather also gives an additional safety margin as it provides the cave diver with more time to deal with an emergency situation. It could be a lost line situation, when the way to the exit is unknown, or it could be a situation when a team member is lost and extra time is required to look for them. A light failure or a complete silt-out is also a situation where extra time is needed, as the progression to the exit is very often drastically slowed. (To be continued) |
HOW TO FIT AND USE A KIRBY MORGAN SUPERMASK M-48 WITH A REBREATHERBy Cedric Verdier It has been just over a couple of months that I use the M-48 Full-face mask made by Kirby Morgan. I ordered it a few weeks before the Yamashiro Project dives in the Philippines and I needed a few dives and improvements in order to be fully satisfied with it. I used or tried quite a lot of Full-Face masks in the past (Ocean Reef, KMB, AGA, etc) but it was the first one I use with a rebreather, mainly because of its unique design: it’s made of 2 separate compartments, the upper one being an almost standard face mask, the lower one being a dry detachable compartment with a mouthpiece. One can remove the pod and breathe from another mouthpiece underwater, without having to remove the entire full-face mask. This is the only FFM I’m aware of that has this feature, a very interesting one for a rebreather diver. Benefits When I saw this mask for the first time, during a cave dive with another rebreather diver, I was surprised and interested. I had the feeling that this mask could have a lot of benefits for the type of dives I normally do:
(To be continued) |
PRELIMINARY REPORT ABOUT THE PRE-PRODUCTION UNIT OF THE ISC MEGALODON RADIAL SCRUBBERBy Cedric Verdier I had the chance to thoroughly test the radial scrubber in various diving environments and at different depths. Depths: Temperature: Absorbent material: Level of exertion: (To be continued) |
CONSIDERING A BAIL-OUT REBREATHERBy Cedric Verdier It always seemed to me so great to dive with a rebreather and so stupid to rely on the old fashioned open circuit scuba equipment if time comes to bail-out. So I played around with the idea of a bail-out rebreather (or a BOB: Bail-out Breather, as it sounds much better!) since quite a long time, without real success. And it looks like I’m not the only one. BOB, a rationale When do we need to bail out when we use a rebreather, especially a Closed-Circuit Rebreather? There are actually two types of situations:
A similar procedure will be applied in case of electronics failure. Some sanity breaths may help before switching to semi-closed rebreather mode. Same story in case of mild hypercapnia but some divers testify that it takes a very long time to recover from a CO2 hit and it can only be done on OC.
So it looks like, even if we have a bail-out rebreather, we still need a small amount of open circuit gas at least to clear the head, rest and properly think, before being able to start the emergency procedure. (To be continued) |
HOW TO MAKE A DIR INSPIRATION CCRBy Cedric Verdier A DIR Inspiration CCR. I really like this idea. It sounds almost as impossible as a cheap Ferrari. You must understand that the general concept is to:
If you think that the 4th item is obviously the most important, you first need to buy a black cover to replace the existing ugly-yellow-highly-visible-but-not-Tech-diving-compliant ABS cover. (To be continued) |
HOW TO MAKE SOLO REBREATHER DIVING SAFER?by Cedric Verdier Discussions about diving are very often boring. Always the same stories about numerous sharks dangerously close, strong current ripping a mask off or friendly dolphins playing during a deco stop. We heard them so many times. So if you want to have some fun, simply say that you dive on your own with a rebreather and wait for the reactions. You’ll hear some nasty comments about you being an accident waiting to happen, and some people will clearly show you their option about your mental health. Unfortunately, a poll amongst the rebreather diver community shown that only less than 8% of the rebreather divers who participated in the poll never did a solo dive. The other 92% have done at least a few solo dives, with 33% doing mostly solo diving. Of course, a poll only represents the opinion of a few individuals who want to answer the questions. It cannot be considered as the “big picture” of the entire rebreather diver community. Nevertheless, it shows that some rebreather divers keep on diving solo, even if the perceived risk is so high… Why people don’t dive solo with a rebreather? Simply because that’s one of the most basic rules one learns during the Open Water Diver course: "Never dive alone". It’s so famous that it’s almost a dogma. And it sounds so logical... (To be continued) |
SIDEMOUNT CONFIGURATION FOR REBREATHER DIVERSBy Cedric Verdier It has been a year now since I started to exclusively sidemount the off-board tanks of my Rebreather (either a Megalodon CCR or an Evolution CCR). Why? Simply because it's much more convenient! Let me explain the rationale. 1. A Sidemount kit for Open Circuit Divers A few years ago, there was no commercially available Sidemount kit for open circuit cave explorers. In the dark ages of cave diving, those who want a Sidemount configuration had to build their own equipment, mainly based on BCs and inner tubes. Then some kits like the Armadillo or the Dive Rite came into the market and gained in popularity as there are definitely some good points in using this kind of configuration: - Carrying each tank on the side, under the armpits, allows avoiding the large bulkiness of a twinset strapped on your back. So it gives a very streamlined profile when swimming horizontally or exploring low passages for a long time - With an easy-to-remove attachment system, each tank can be brought in front of the diver when the time comes to go through a major restriction. - In some place, you can’t find a twinset with an isolation manifold. A Sidemount configuration is a good alternative to the traditional independent tanks. - It's simple, reliable and much easier to carry than a Twinset, a clear benefit when you have to carry all the equipment for a long distance, either for sump diving, or for a long trip to an unexplored Cenote deep into the Mexican jungle. But like everything in diving, it needs some training and experience as the diver has to manage two independent gas supplies instead of the traditional twinset configuration with an isolation manifold. Not really DIR but used by a fair amount of Open Circuit cave divers worldwide. (To be continued) |
WHERE IS THE SAFETY MARGIN WITH A CCR?by Cedric Verdier There used to be a time when there was no safety margin in any activity that the human being wanted to participate in. In a merciless prehistoric world, on a daily basis, the cavemen were hunting with stones and sticks, a large variety of predators the size of a truck, expecting to feed a hungry family. As recreational divers, we were taught to plan for realistic safety margins. Remember: Rule number one states that you should always start your final ascent with at least 50 bar/500 psi in your cylinder. As rebreather divers, what kind of safety margin do we have? Rebreather diving is not an exact science Let’s put it that way: cooking pasta, launching sky rocket or diving with a rebreather all shares a common point: nothing is ever guarantee to work.
(To be continued) |
INSPIRATION vs MEGALODONBy Cedric Verdier It’s already more than a year and a half that I exclusively use my Megalodon CCR Rebreather after having been the first Inspiration diver and Instructor in France, almost 8 years ago. I travelled in many different places in the world, taught quite a lot of CCR courses with both units (and since several months with the Evolution as well) and had most of the problems you can imagine or experience with all theses units. I ended up with considering the Megalodon as one of the most performing rebreathers on the market, having a lot of benefits compared to the Evolution or the Inspiration. They are based on my needs and the problems some of my students encountered, but they maybe not reflect your needs or diving requirements: - Flexibility and transportation: it’s clearly one of the major points for me. It’s possible to use any size of cylinders and to configurate them the way I want. The in-board gas can be carried on the back, de-inverted or even as sling tanks or side-mounted tanks. It’s therefore possible to travel with no tanks and simply use the ones available from the local dive center. Then I clearly need to adjust my trim based on the size and material of the cylinders but it’s better than having to travel with tanks just because the cover box on my YBOD doesn’t provide me with any flexibility. Some Inspiration divers solved this issue by buying a DT box or a similar SS Frame, but it adds to the cost and the overall weight. (To be continued) |
THE 7 DEADLY SINS OF A REBREATHER DIVERby Cedric Verdier Nevertheless they should be regarded as valid for a rebreather diver, using a CCR or SCR. Looking at the statistics and the accident reports, the seven deadly sins of a rebreather diver can surely help you to buy an express ticket to hell. 1st class. One way. GLUTTONY --> Limit your oxygen exposure. (To be continued) |