There’s a bit more to it than gas
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE GETTING ‘NARCED’ Every beginner’s dive class introduces its students to the topic of nitrogen narcosis: the anesthetic effect of certain gases particularly nitrogen, when breathing compressed air or other gas mixtures under high pressure. It’s an important piece of info. In many ways, critical knowledge for any level of diving. However, for the most part, initial discussion, even in some advanced recreational courses, is pretty basic stuff. It’s just enough to scratch the surface of what is a complex and nuanced topic. And the proof of just how basic is right there in the name. What tends to be overlooked, is that although nitrogen partial pressure is the trigger, there are a bunch of factors other than it playing an important role in magnifying the effects of being ‘narced.’ The confusion begins when we try to define where it starts: that is, what depth represents the threshold between being okay and feeling the effects of narcosis. That boundary is far from fixed. As with so much related to physiology, it varies from person to person. Even more frustrating when we try to find a hard edge between fine and fudged, is that it also varies from day-to-day. That’s to say, diver A may feel nothing on a dive on day one of a trip and be close to incapacitated on day two while doing the same dive to the same depth. Because of this, most agencies, RAID included, publish a conservative depth/partial pressure guideline: conservative but possibly misleading because by definition nitrogen load, which is what depth considers, makes no specific mention of the contributions of alcohol, fatigue, task-loading, anxiety, and hypothermia, which are each said to have a synergistic effect. Another factor is the additive effects of carbon dioxide buildup in the blood. This latter coming from both incorrect/rapid breathing or the actual work of breathing at depth due to poorly designed scuba regulators or those in need of servicing and a tune-up. So, there’s much more to it than nitrogen… it pays to be fully aware of just how much more. HOW IT FEELS, WHAT IT DOES – Euphoria, similar to alcohol intoxication. – Impaired judgment, confusion, and difficulty concentrating. – Slowed reaction times and reduced coordination. – In severe cases, hallucinations or unconsciousness. – Symptoms typically worsen with increasing depth. DEPTH THRESHOLD – Narcosis usually becomes noticeable at depths greater than 30 meters (100 feet), though susceptibility varies among individuals. – Symptoms intensify as depth increases, with severe impairment, in colder water and under stress, often occurring beyond 40-50 meters (130-165 feet). RISK FACTORS – Deeper dives increase the risk. – Cold water, stress, fatigue, and alcohol consumption can exacerbate symptoms. – Individual susceptibility varies; some divers are more prone to narcosis than others. MANAGEMENT – Limit dive depth to reduce the risk of narcosis. – Use gas mixtures with lower nitrogen content, such as nitrox (higher oxygen, lower nitrogen, but the jury is not totally decided on the efficacy of this particular strategy) or trimix (helium, oxygen, and nitrogen although this is unavailable or prohibitively expensive in many regions). – Avoid rapid descents and allow time for the body to adapt to pressure changes. – Stay calm and avoid overexertion during the dive. – If symptoms occur, ascend to a shallower depth, where the effects will diminish. – Communicate with your dive buddy and monitor each other for signs of impairment. – Abort the dive if symptoms are severe or unmanageable. LONGTERM EFFECTS – Inert gas narcosis is temporary and resolves upon ascending to shallower depths or surfacing. – There are no long-term effects if managed properly, but repeated or severe episodes can increase the risk of diving accidents. CONCLUSION Inert gas narcosis is a well-known risk in deep diving, but it can be managed through proper training, depth limits, and gas mixture selection. Divers should be aware of the symptoms and take precautions to ensure safety during deep dives.
Monthly Specials
FEB/MARCH 2025 — VERSATILE SIDEMOUNT Learn to fly sidemount with the experts. RAID’s sidemount specialty is one of the most popular and something the agency is famous for… RAID has early bragging rights! If you’re ready to add this to your scuba adventure, you’ve come to the place: the place where it all started. The foundation of any new skill is to start the journey learning from comprehensive manuals and challenging quizzes. Students tell us our online course is excellent on both counts. That’s no surprise really, our sidemount specialty materials and standards were created by SMEs* who have been diving and teaching open-circuit sidemount for a couple of generations in conditions as diverse as under the ice in eastern Canada to caves under the Mexican jungle, the wrecks of Truk Lagoon and coral canyons off the Philippines. They know their stuff, and after a RAID sidemount specialty course, so will you. Typically, once a student has completed the online work, their chosen instructor will conduct an academic session in the classroom, covering the relevant theory and various techniques and alternate configurations in detail. Following this there will be a comprehensive equipment workshop. The focus will be on the best options to deal with local dive conditions and kit demands (such as drysuits or dive skins). At this stage, students will learn about all necessary equipment, how to assemble it, and how to make adjustments to fit their body type and the demands of the local environment. This segment will be followed by skills development in confined water and then it’s off to the final open water checkout dives. To start your new adventure, start your course via RAID FREe-Learning and then contact your local RAID Dive Centre >>> *SME is the abbreviation used to describe a subject matter expert. At RAID, this is most often an experienced dive professional
Diving is Risky Business
RAID’s UNIQUE QA SYSTEM HELPS… Playing in water can be dangerous. There are risks associated with diving of every description. This is something we have to accept and learn to deal with if we want to go diving. The goal of any RAID instructor is to deliver this message, but, more importantly, it’s to dive students the knowledge, skills, and techniques to manage those risks. Making them disappear is impossible. The best any of us can do is to identify, mitigate, and avoid, but risk is always a factor to consider. RAID professionals are chosen to represent the agency and to deliver the RAID brand of training for many reasons: skill, empathy, knowledge, spirit, desire. These traits are probably shared by the majority of instructors across the diving industry, but we try to go further. In part, student safety is a function of standards and sticking to them. RAID’s standards exceed by far the minimums accepted as ‘good enough’ across the industry. Shortcuts, courses that are hurried and packed to the maximum possible, are discouraged and policed heavily. RAID students, every one of them, takes part in that process by default. They are required to complete a questionnaire about their training as part of the final course assessment. That is 100 percent of students, not a select few. RAID cannot guarantee student safety, no agency can, but we come closer than most to being able to make that promise.
What does RAID stand for…

A REMINDER FROM WHEN DRI WAS FORMED Regardless of whether you are a student taking your first breathe underwater, or a professional instructor teaching every specialty RAID offers, it is really important to understand what your training agency stands for. In other words, what are its core beliefs and how do they influence how you will progress as a diver, a dive professional, or a dive shop owner and operator? First off, RAID is a diving agency for divers, by divers. Like you, our love of the water knows no bounds. The people who work at RAID are not office clerks and bean counters… they are divers. This means that no matter what role that person plays at the agency, they are focused on making the experience fun, safe, technologically advanced and as inclusive as possible for our members and their students. Our vision is to be the benchmark brand for quality dive training globally through improved technology, training techniques, a proactive quality control system and ensuring the highest standard of dive instruction. The measure of our success is not the number of divers we train but the quality of the divers we help to create. Every diver we train is an ambassador for RAID. Our Mission is simple and based on that vision: RAID believes in the application of technology, superior yet inclusive instruction and environmental responsibility to improve the quality, enjoyment, and safety of the scuba experience for a new generation of divers. RAID FOR DIVERS | RAID FOR DIVE PROS | RAID MEANS OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESS GROWTH ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN JANUARY 2022.
Decompression Diver
WHEN YOU DON’T WANT TO LEAVE THE PARTY EARLY RAID’s new advanced diving course has been engineered to be a soft introduction to staged decompression diving: it’s a simple but open-ended entry point into all the excitement and challenge of technical diving. This is Sidemount or Twinset diver course. This course allows for dives up to 40 meters /130 feet using three cylinders. This includes two filled with bottom gas (twinset or sidemount see below), and one with.decompression gas. The decompression gas for this course can contain a maximum of 100 percent oxygen when conditions are suitable with minimum of 50 percent recommended. Prerequisites to join this course are for students to be 18 or older, and to be an experienced open water divers with 30 hours/25 hours or more logged underwater with Deep, Nitrox (or Nitrox Plus), and Explorer 30 or Advanced 35 specialties. Decompression diver showcases RAID’s different approach to deep diving, and introduces students to more complex dive planning, the benefits of using a dedicated decompression gas. and smooth team work before, during, and post adventure. The Decompression Diver course may be combined with either sidemount or twinset training and cert cards will be configuration specific. During 2025 rollout phase RAID Deco 40 instructors or higher may conduct the Decompression Diver course. Limited Trimix may be conducted by Deco 40 Trimix instructors or higher. Each student must complete these requirements.
Be the best buddy ever…

CHECK OUT RAID‘s INDEPENDENT DIVER PROGRAM Since RAID first opened its doors, the agency and its instructor core have promoted diving at every level as a team endeavour. Scuba diving is something done with a buddy. However, the buddy system is based on a each of the team being equals and equal to the task. And all that centers on two or three divers with more of less equal experience, training, and ability. A group of peers each being capable and willing to lend a hand when needed without putting their buddy or themselves at risk And yet we all know that there are plenty of occasions when we may be obliged to dive with a fellow diver who is not a peer. He or she may have less experience, may be counting on us to guide them. When we dive with a youngster, can we really expect them to offer a high-level of support, and get us and themselves safely back to the surface? As an instructor, can we count on our students to help us in a real emergency? Should we? How about diving with a camera? Are we a good buddy when we are concentrating on framing the perfect shot of a nudibranch crawling around on the lip of a barrel sponge? And can we honestly rely on our buddy when they are hovering over the forepeak of the wreck we are photographing, which puts them 10 metres or more away from our side? There are many instances like this when an experienced diver is essentially diving without the guaranteed support of a buddy, and those divers are who we had in mind when we developed our Independent Diver Program. The major skills taught in this course focus on the mindset and familiarity with special equipment that allows an experienced diver (one with 100 logged dives or more) to dive safely and comfortably without having to rely on a buddy for support in the case of an underwater ‘surprise.’ This course is about planning dives where the core competency is the ability to self rescue. And of course, one outcome of that is that a RAID Self-Reliant Diver makes the absolute perfect dive buddy! TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS COURSE, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL RAID DIVE CENTRE>>>ARE YOU A RAID PRO WHO WANTS TO TEACH THIS NEW SPECIALTY? CHECK THIS OUT>>>
Choose a career with RAID!
Looking to take your diving career to new levels? RAID is proud to announce its ascent as the leading agency for diving leadership. Why RAID? There are 1001 Reasons but here are four to think about Discover the Leader in You! Embark on a journey with RAID, where leadership meets adventure beneath the waves. Whether you’re starting your leadership path or looking to advance your skills, choose RAID — where leadership and diving unite seamlessly. Dive into Leadership Today RIGHT HERE! RAID – Setting the Standard for Diving Leadership Worldwide.