Forgot to hook up inflator - near miss

[Mx617]

Been meaning to post this for a while, it happened back in August.
My buddy and I were diving a lake during a family function. On the first day we cut a dive short and left our gear mostly set up at the dock. My buddies tank had a leak from the LP inflator hose where it connects to the first stage. We fiddled with it a bit then left it to the next day.

Next day arrives and we fiddled with the hose a bit more trying to see if we could stop the leak. Eventually we decided it wasn't a significant enough leak to affect the dive and got in the water. We descended and after a couple minutes I shoulder checked to locate my buddy and realized he had surfaced. I rose up to meet him and found him in distress on the surface - his inflator hose never got hooked back up after we fiddled with it. He was really struggling to swim at the surface and took his reg out, head was bobbing in and out of the water. I finally got him to put his reg back in and we descended a couple feet where I was able to connect the inflator.

Needless to say that was the end of the dive. After we got back to the beach via surface swim our mistakes were pretty clear. 1) didn't reconnect the hose 2) didn't do pre-dive safety check which would have discovered mistake #1.

It was a pretty scary incident, everything they say about a panicking diver on the surface was true - he grabbed me, tried to climb on top, etc. Luckily once he got his reg back in he calmed down, but it was a pretty serious event maybe one step from being a critical event.

Anyways, just wanted to share. I know we fu*ked up on this dive and I'm grateful it wasn't a worse situation, maybe it's a good reminder for someone else!

 

[Leighen]

our mistakes were pretty clear. 1) didn't reconnect the hose 2) didn't do pre-dive safety check which would have discovered mistake #1.

Mistake 3. Forgetting that you can manually inflate a BCD.

 

[grf88]

It is a good idea to practice orally inflating your BC occasionally so you remember how to do it.

 

[FreeFlyFreak]

It is a good idea to practice orally inflating your BC occasionally so you remember how to do it.

Like every dive pre dive.

In distress on the surface with perfectly good regulators available.
I hope he learned a valuable lesson.
Reg in mouth, breath in, kick up, orally inflate, reg back in, breath in, kick up orally inflate. Repeat as necessary. Hell you can do it all under water if you need to.

Good job on saving him.

 

[Degenerate]

I always inflate my wing manually before splashing.
It's a good habit, and I don't want to waste my gas on my wing unless needed

 

[lermontov]

make it a habit to put some air in the bcd - i do it even when in a dry suit -get a pre jump checklist and do it religiously until its habit - you probably knew to put air in bcd - now you understand

 

[lermontov]

you

I always inflate my wing manually before splashing.
It's a good habit, and I don't want to waste my gas on my wing unless needed

you must be on a very tight margins

 

[happy-diver]

What wisdom is this

Reg in mouth, breath in, kick up, orally inflate, reg back in, breath in, kick up orally inflate.

 

[FreeFlyFreak]

What wisdom is this

I had a good instructor.
Did it like that, and with simulated OOA.

Practiced buddy breathing from a shared reg.
I heard it's frowned upon but Im glad we did it.

 

[scubadada]

I have had my inflator hose disconnected on a few occasions, generally my fault on initial connection. It is sometimes a bit difficult to connect under pressure. Luckily, you can inflate your BC manually and deal with the problem.