Do you always follow your training?

[TSandM]

I think kazbanz's point is that PADI teaches a buddy check before getting in the water, and he wasn't part of doing one, because he was already in the water. My reaction would be that, if the conditions are benign enough to throw your gear in and get get dressed there, do your buddy check there. We do this quite often in Seattle, especially in summer, where waiting on shore in heavy exposure protection can make people honestly sick.

 

[drbill]

The only "training" I received back in the winter of 1961-62 was "don't hold your breath." That was it until I finally got certified in 1969 (it was required in California where I moved). Do I still follow that bit of training? Not completely. I do hold my breath while I'm filming if at a constant depth. Otherwise I breathe regularly at all times. As for my official training (certification), my original LAC certification allowed me to go no deeper than 130 ft. I've exceeded that by quite a bit over the years without any additional training. HOWEVER, I did a fair bit of research and experimentation before doing so.

Back when I started we only had one set of gear between us, so we could only dive solo. Although my later training (certification) strongly suggested buddy diving only, I have been a solo diver almost all my life.

Do I recommend that others violate their training? That's not for me to even suggest unless it is a diver whose skills, equipment and response to emergencies I know well. And since I'm mostly a solo diver, there are very few divers for which I have such knowledge.

 

[Griffo]

1. Have you ever reacted to an underwater situation in a way that was not in accordance with your training?

Yes

2. Can you describe the situation, and explain why you reacted in the way you did?

I'm a relatively new diver, and to my much shame have more posts here than I do dives. But I love the sport and read as much as I can here.

Last weekend I finally got wet again after a number of cancelled trips. I went on a live-aboard in Jervis Bay in conditions that were far from ideal.
I was diving in gear that was fairly new to me. We'd done a couple of pool dives to start the familiarization process, but let's be honest, it was still very new with everything in different places.
Mostly though the main issue was I was still working out my weighting in this gear setup. I'd also bought a brand new wetsuit for a previous trip that I'd decided to take, so I was really guessing.

The dive was a live-drop in moderate swells, with a live pickup at the other end of a short wall dive. Needless to say, I did not in any way shape or form want to be under-weighted, so went with my weight from the previous dive (I was working my way down 1KG at a time on the previous dives. By the end of the trip I can say that I was around 4KG too heavy on this dive).

Jumped off the moving boat, co-ordinated with my buddies, and started the descent as quickly as we could to get out of the swell. I pulled out my torch at this time as it was also very murky and I wanted it for signalling.
As we descended, I quickly realized that I had dumped way too much air, and was rocketing down, losing my buddies and struggling to keep up with equalization. Reached for the inflator when bang i heard the LPI hose pop off the nipple.

I remember thinking "huh, so it really does happen", taking in an extra large breath to try and increase my bouyancy, clipping off the light, and finning upwards hard to slow the descent. Popped the hose back on, inflated, went back up a couple of meters to help clear my ears and all was sweet as I waited for my buddies to catch up.

Not a big problem, no dramas in sorting it, and to be honest it felt like I reacted without thinking. But it was situation I'd never been instructed to even consider, let alone practice. I'd only really considered and thought about dealing with such an event due to reading sites like Scubaboard. If i'd have kept descending, most likely I would have ended up with ear damage, if not worse. I can see how someone could easily panic in such a situation turning a minor issue into a major one. So thanks to the SB community.

On the flipside, the reason the hose popped off was due to following dodgy advice on SB on ways to bungee off your inflator
3. Do you, in hindsight, feel that your response was appropriate?

I do, but would happily consider any advice on what I might have done better

4. What did you learn from it?
Don't do a live drop when unsure on your weighting
Manage your descent rate earlier rather than later
Don't follow dodgy advice about equipment setup
Oh, and it really isn't a drama dealing with the unexpected underwater as long as you approach it rationally.

5. Do you feel that your training could have prepared you better to handle it? And if so, how?
Yes. My training did not cover this topic at all.

 

[Quero]

On the flipside, the reason the hose popped off was due to following dodgy advice on SB on ways to bungee off your inflator

What exactly was this 'dodgy' advice, and why did it provoke the problem? (If you can find it, a link to the place you read this advice would be nice.)

3. Do you, in hindsight, feel that your response was appropriate?
I do, but would happily consider any advice on what I might have done better

Did it occur to you to orally inflate your BCD rather than/in addition to finning up?

5. Do you feel that your training could have prepared you better to handle it? And if so, how?
Yes. My training did not cover this topic at all.

Are you saying that your course should have included this topic? What you should do if you overweight yourself and descend too fast but discover your LPI isn't connected properly. I have to admit that I don't teach this 'what if' scenario. What I teach divers is how to ensure that they are correctly weighted and to verify that the LPI is attached correctly.

 

[Griffo]

What exactly was this 'dodgy' advice, and why did it provoke the problem? (If you can find it, a link to the place you read this advice would be nice.)

It was a topic on bungee'ing the inflator hose. The post advised to only put the LPI hose and not the corrugated hose through the bungee. This caused the bungee to get caught and disconnect the LPI when I lifted it up a little.

Did it occur to you to orally inflate your BCD rather than/in addition to finning up?

I figured I could snap on the inflator hose quicker than adding air via a breath to any affect. It's a 32# wing. That's a lot of breaths. In retrospect, it could have been used as a tactic to slow descent or even halt it at which stage I'd have all day to reconnect it.

Are you saying that your course should have included this topic? What you should do if you overweight yourself and descend too fast but discover your LPI isn't connected properly. I have to admit that I don't teach this 'what if' scenario. What I teach divers is how to ensure that they are correctly weighted and to verify that the LPI is attached correctly.

Lol no . But my course never covered the LPI hose coming off period (apart from making sure it's on before diving in). In other circumstances I could have spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out what was happening, but I knew immediately. I put that down to reading about it.

Appreciate the input / advice.

 

[Quero]

It was a topic on bungee'ing the inflator hose. The post advised to only put the LPI hose and not the corrugated hose through the bungee. This caused the bungee to get caught and disconnect the LPI when I lifted it up a little.
Appreciate the input / advice.

My pleasure.
I really think your LPI wasn't correctly attached or it wouldn't have just popped off with the little tug that lifting the LPI assemby gave it. When you test to see if it's connected (during your pre-dive safety check/buddy check), you should tug on it a little bit while it's pressurised; if it's not quite connected, it can still deliver air to the bladder, so just testing by pressing the inflator button isn't always enough.

 

[Griffo]

My pleasure.
I really think your LPI wasn't correctly attached or it wouldn't have just popped off with the little tug that lifting the LPI assemby gave it. When you test to see if it's connected (during your pre-dive safety check/buddy check), you should tug on it a little bit while it's pressurised; if it's not quite connected, it can still deliver air to the bladder, so just testing by pressing the inflator button isn't always enough.

It actually popped off again later in the dive, so I tested when we got back on the boat and found I could get it to do it. My wife with the same gear but different D-Ring height didn't have a problem. Just happened to be where the (short) inflator sat on me, the bungee would get caught betweent the inflator and the hose bit. Lift up, it would catch on the connector, and pull it back.

 

[Quero]

It actually popped off again later in the dive, so I tested when we got back on the boat and found I could get it to do it. My wife with the same gear but different D-Ring height didn't have a problem. Just happened to be where the (short) inflator sat on me, the bungee would get caught betweent the inflator and the hose bit. Lift up, it would catch on the connector, and pull it back.

Oh, I see, there was something going on besides the lifting of the inflator above your head--something was catching on the sleeve of the connector, effectively disconnecting it. That is very weird.

 

[TSandM]

It's actually not weird, and is a known issue with arranging the bungie as described. The benefit of doing it is that the bungie slides easily up and down the hose; the drawback is what happened in this case. I have always chosen to deal with the bungie around the corrugated hose, myself.

This post, though, illustrates an issue I have with the way I see OW taught a lot of the time. I'm sure the poster practiced connecting and disconnecting the LP inflator hose in his OW class -- it is, at least, a required skill in PADI classes. But it would be my guess that no one said, "Can you imagine a circumstance in which you would have to do this?" and made the students think through WHY they were being taught the skill. It's just like the oral inflation . . . I'm sure he had to practice that, too, but the thought didn't come to him at the time it was needed, because he had never had to think about when he might require that skill. The skill, and the circumstance, had not achieved any linkup in his mind.

 

[Quero]

It's actually not weird, and is a known issue with arranging the bungie as described. The benefit of doing it is that the bungie slides easily up and down the hose; the drawback is what happened in this case. I have always chosen to deal with the bungie around the corrugated hose, myself.

Thanks for that explanation. I've never seen it happen, so I guess my imagination is lacking. If it's a known failure point, it would seem to be something to avoid rather than to encourage.

This post, though, illustrates an issue I have with the way I see OW taught a lot of the time. I'm sure the poster practiced connecting and disconnecting the LP inflator hose in his OW class -- it is, at least, a required skill in PADI classes. But it would be my guess that no one said, "Can you imagine a circumstance in which you would have to do this?" and made the students think through WHY they were being taught the skill. It's just like the oral inflation . . . I'm sure he had to practice that, too, but the thought didn't come to him at the time it was needed, because he had never had to think about when he might require that skill. The skill, and the circumstance, had not achieved any linkup in his mind.

I know that my own IDC and those I've been involved with have stressed the importance of exploring what PADI calls the "value" (but what I would term "motivation") for each skill. Therefore, if the skill is covered as instructors have been trained to do and evaluated on doing during their instructor examinations, the sorts of circumstances in which an inflator might need to be detached and reattached should be part of the briefing. Again, I have to admit that I would never have imagined providing the potential scenario of the inflator coupling sleeve being snapped open during the course of a routine air dump, but now I will. So I'm quite pleased to have learned something new here!