Still Finding New Ways to Screw Up

[dumpsterDiver]

I keep finding new and creative ways to screw up while diving. I figure my mistakes may provide some amusement and maybe a little lesson.

This is a little video from one of last night’s dives. Go-Pro head cam, so it is kinda jerky.

I tried to describe the issue in the video, but here is the narrative:

Solo, night dive to the top of the wreck at 70 feet off West Palm Beach. Current is maybe 1.5 kts on surface, so pulling down an anchor line is not the best idea. Visibility is maybe 35 feet and I have a small light.

My objective is to be dropped up current of the wreck from a live boat, locate out grappling hook (which I had previously set) and then attach a lift bag to it and send it up. The Halcyon Brand lift bag has an inflator adapter that is compatible with a standard BC inflator. It is not my lift bag.

I sometimes dive with a BC that has an Air 2 and sometimes with a BC that has a standard inflator, so my regulator has two different inflator hoses on it.

I locate the hook, move it to a location to send it up, attach the lift bag to the hook, disconnect my BC inflator hose… and then I do something stupid in the dark… I apparently get the inflator hoses confused and grab the AIR 2 hose and attempt to connect that to the lift bag. It delivers a little air to the bag, but (due to the miss-matched fitting) a lot of air is blowing out the sides.

I recognize the excessive air loss; remove the fitting and now the Air 2 fitting is “screwed up”! It is blasting TONS of air out.

I immediately recognize the problem, but, at the time, have no clue how to resolve it. I kinda spaz out - whipping the hose back and forth – possibly I banged it into the wreck. I realize that this degree of air loss is a major problem and my air supply will be compromised very soon (this is the third dive on this single tank).

I quickly re-assure myself that I have a pony bottle, so I am not really scared… and then the hose just seems to stop blowing air… all by itself… I have no idea why it stopped.

I imagine, I pushed the fitting in too far when hooking it up to the wrong fitting, and somehow it re-seated itself. If it had NOT re-seated and if I was NOT using a pony bottle and with all the air out of the BC (to allow me to be heavy and work on the wreck) and with the inflator unconnected… the situation could have developed into a problem quickly.

I’ve never seen this “stupid human trick” before. One more reason that my little 6 cu-ft pony bottle keeps me warm and fuzzy-even after midnight when I am alone and in the dark.


[video=youtube_share;gl4YR3lhmyU]http://youtu.be/gl4YR3lhmyU[/video]

 

[Jack Hammer]

Let be the 1st to congratulate on posting your mishap with the accompanying video for all to see

 

[rhwestfall]

2,500 - 4,999, and still going strong. Experience breeds composure. Anything else kills..... I'd dive with you any day.

 

[decompression]

Thanks for posting DD, it can take some bravery to show our mistakes but most of us don't.......except that one time I...............


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[dumpsterDiver]

2,500 - 4,999, and still going strong. Experience breeds composure. Anything else kills..... I'd dive with you any day.

thanks, I guess that means you wouldn't do a night dive, huh?

 

[PfcAJ]

There's something to be said for diving the same standard kit (whatever you choose) every time.

 

[scubadiver888]

Good recovery. Nice to see you relying on the most important piece of dive equipment... the one between your ears.

 

[tajkd]

Thanks for posting. It's been my experience that several things need to line up (not just one) in order for a big problem to occur. I never lift a grapple when there's a line attached to it. Perhaps I'm wrong but why didn't you just invert it and attach grab the line? Then again, using a lift bag that wasn't your own and even using a connection to inflate a bag. I always use my back-up so I can control the air going in. So many questions and so many ways to learn in this sport.

 

[Newfie]

Thanks for posting this. I think there’s always something to be learned from incident analysis and constructive criticism. Hopefully this doesn’t come off as overly critical though.

Almost all of my non-technical dives are solo but personally I wouldn’t have done this one alone. For me, the combination of night and lift bag deployment make the risk, particularly of entanglement, unacceptably high as a solo dive. (Admittedly my tolerance to risk has decreased over the years). Other points that could have been major complications are lack of redundant lighting and inadequate redundant breathing gas. A 6 cu-ft bottle would probably be insufficient in the event of a real emergency such as entanglement. I wouldn’t go with less than a 19 but a 30 or 40 just seams to rig and sling better than a 6 in any case. I won’t start about the three dives on the one cylinder or the two inflator hoses...or the Air 2 as an alternate second stage .


In any case, I don’t really consider this an emergency for you, it was more of an inconvenience. But you know how things can go…

 

[Carl_F]

Actually, it seems that this is exactly what the pony is for and even being heavy and using the pony without assist from the BC, following up the anchor line would have addressed the heavy part (or perhaps a breath into the BC to aid in ascent ... the Air 2 oral inflation still works.) It wasn't an emergency but the beginnings of a scenario for the exact reason you are carrying the pony.

I suspect the QD female attachment had the spring jam when it was forced onto the incorrect male fitting. I also suspect the Air 2 QD male fitting is larger than the BC spare male fitting ... otherwise it just would not have attached, it wouldn't have ben able to be inserted into the QD female. For what it's worth.