So we are down 26 mts in a wreck . The hose gets snagged on something sharp. :depressed: What the hell do you do? :shocked2:
Exactly what I was
correctly trained to do...way back on my OW course.
1. Signal buddy.
2. Obtain buddy's AAS.
3. Breath from AAS.
4. Ascend safely.
well in cuba courses. with free flow. your told to put the reg in half way in the mouth. use the tung as a splash guard. Breath off the acquired air as the rest flows away. so you don't get a lung expansion injury. But use the free flowing air to make it to the surface , You may need to do an emergency ascent. Hmmm So what if the air is rushing out els where?
Firstly, a rupture elsewhere in the system will not mean air becomes inaccessible from your regulators.
If you mean....your primary hose is severed...and not providing air through your primary reg....then you can switch to your own AAS in a second.
Signal buddy, monitor your air and ascend...being prepared to switch to your buddy's AAS in the unlikely event that your own air becomes depleted from the leak before you surface.
If you mean....your primary AND AAs hoses are severed...and not providing air through your primary or AAS reg....then you
can breath directly from your LPI inflator. However, it is much easier to use your buddies AAS.
Have you been there? Have you tried it for real? Probably not!
As a relatively novice diver, I once had a dramatic second-stage freeflow at 32m in an ice cold UK quarry. My 15L tank had drained by the time I reached 16m, which was shocking. Luckily I had a pony cylinder...and nearby buddy...so there were plenty of easy, logical options.
One thing that was
never an option was to conduct a full equipment remove and replacement (backwards), disconnect my regs and breath directly from the tank valve.
daft!
My Dear instructor Tim, used to put dive tanks with no regs into a swimming pool. We swam for a time from tank to tank breathing off the out let by turning the tap on gently . Breathing of the stream of air and then moving on to the next and so forth, breathing out of corse from one to another. Damn good training.
I think you might find that this was a huge breach of agency standards (any agency you care to choose) and served no purpose at all.
Putting aside the issues of releasing un-regulated high-pressure air into your mouth.... there really isn't a conceivable option where a simpler, quicker and more straightforward alternative would exist.
By teaching this, your instructor has overly complicated the decision making process needed in an OOA emergency by providing ineffective alternatives. Such hinderances would slow, or completely interupt, your reaction process during the demands of a real emergency.
It sounds like ego (
"invented my 'own' method") won the battle against common sense and responsibility for this particular instructor.....
The reality. If a free flow happens . especially on the High pressure hose or an O ring. What the hell do you do from 26 MTS . Or what ever!
Very little... an o-ring leak (whether from reg or cylinder valve), or hp hose rupture simply leads to air depletion. It is not immediate. Air would still be available from your regulator for as long as it lasted in your tank.
Even in the situation where a buddy was not available to donate air, you would have adequate time to complete a safe CESA - with the benefit of breathing from your regulator until your tank completely drained.
Given that you are never more than 4 minutes from the surface (within recreational depth limitations and at the slowest of the agency advocated ascent rates), then it is extremely unlikely that your air would deplete before you got to the surface...and, even if it did, you would then have only a short distance to ascend without air.
The critical factor is to recognise the problem and make an
immediate decision to ascend. This is only achieved when your decision making process is uncluttered with options and alternatives.
1 DONT PANIC! Just take in that last breath or the breath you have. If your Buddy is there . All the Better. if he's not? remember keep the air way open! Do Not hold your breath! you must stay calm but speed is important.
Ok..."speed is important"...... but you then say.....
This is what to do. relax take of the BC like you been shown. in your training from the left buckle to passing round the back from Left to Right. turn the air off Immediately!
you may have to breath of the free flow first before. However PUT THE BC IN LIKE A REVERSED Jacket. So the tank is in front of you.
1, This is a SLOW reaction. It takes too long. You could be
at the surface already in the time it took you to perform a bc remove and replace, tank shut-down and orientated yourself using your proposed method. All
your methodachieves is to waste a whole lot of time...when time is critical and your air is bubbling away.
2. It is too complicated. The more complicated the response is to an emergency situation, the more it will add to your stressors. It could easily lead to the diver concerned becoming completely task-loaded and consquently overwhelmed. Remember the priniciple KISS. Your proposition is ludicrously over-complicated.
Remember to practice the What if . And lets hope you will never have to do so in reality.
Practice is great....it is critical if you are to respond effectively in an emergency. However, you have to practice sensible, effective techniques... and keep your options simple and direct. Adding too many possibilities reduces your ability to react effectively and can lead to a complete break-down in response to an emergency.
I would not recommend your proposed method to
any scuba diver.
I wrote to the The HSE with this 6 years ago never got a reply. I call it the RFFA Method. Or the gary bridger technique.
Call it what you will.... I would advise you to save money and don't bother to patent the idea.
I strongly expect that the HSE would have filed your proposal in their 'special' cylinderical filing cabinet.....
