I am disappointed in myself...

[DandyDon]

On a related note: Personally, I think it's not a bad thing at all to think long and hard if I REALLY need to drop my weights. Unless I'm overweighted, there is no reason why I should sink on the surface and I hate the idea of littering the sea floor with lead just because I can't handle my diving.

She was struggling at the surface, and there seems to be confusion over whether she was overweighted; it sounds like she was. No, we don't want to drop them needlessly, but if solutions don't work quickly, drop them before you start to sink as Panic is just around the corner waiting for a change.

 

[TSandM]

I hate to say it, but all I see here is a validation of the buddy system. The OP had a problem, knew she had a problem, but wasn't entirely sure what it was. She was coping and calm, but as she said, wouldn't have wanted to fin herself to stay at the surface indefinitely. Her buddy came over when signaled, recognized the nature of the problem, and took the appropriate action.

Those of us who dive doubles are familiar with the sequence. If the valves are behind you, you can't aways know exactly what has gone wrong back there. You take the initial steps that you can, and call your buddy in to make a precise diagnosis and take precisely appropriate action, and then communicate the nature of the problem to you.

OP, I don't think you should be disappointed with yourself! You remained calm and methodical in the face of an unknown malfunction. You called in your help, and he diagnosed the problem and decided what steps needed to be taken and took them. This is team diving as it should be.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

She was struggling at the surface, and there seems to be confusion over whether she was overweighted; it sounds like she was. No, we don't want to drop them needlessly, but if solutions don't work quickly, drop them before you start to sink as Panic is just around the corner waiting for a change.

Good point, DandyDon.

 

[tfsails]

Sounds to me like her corrugated hose either came off of the plastic elbow at her left shoulder, which would allow lots of water into the bladder, or the plastic elbow came off of the bladder fitting, which would allow lots of water into the bladder. This could occur if the elbow were cross-threaded onto the fitting, or if it had come loose over time and the OP failed to notice it. In this scenario, the diver (or his buddy) would probably notice a fairly significant leak from the fitting because the gasket will come unsealed before the elbow comes off.

FWIW, I store my BC fairly fully inflated. This serves two purposes: one, it keeps the wet inner surfaces of the bladder from touching one another and possibly drying out and "welding" themselves together. Two, it lets me know how airtight the bladder system is and whether or not I need to work on it. I should state here that I am a scuba service technician and do this kind of work for a living.

If the hose came off the elbow, I would recommend that the OP see that it is reconnected and secured with TWO zip ties at each end. Nothing quite like a little redundancy, eh?

As an aside, if you use your pull valve to dump air from your BC, be sure to pull on the inflator and not the corrugated hose. The inflator, not the hose, has the cable attached to it that actuates the dump valve.

 

[Cleavitt]

OP, I don't think you should be disappointed with yourself! You remained calm and methodical in the face of an unknown malfunction. You called in your help, and he diagnosed the problem and decided what steps needed to be taken and took them. This is team diving as it should be.

I would have to agree with that. Also, keep in mind that the action your instructor took (holding your weights for you) is not the same as the decision you were faced with (completely ditching your weights). You were dealing with an issue and the issue wasn't becoming critical enough at that point to warrant ditching your weights. Had it become a more of a problem I'm sure you would have done the right thing, but it sounds like it wasn't neccessary at that time. What if you had overreacted and dropped your weights on another divers head while they were at depth? Of course that is unlikely, but the point is you don't always need to resort to emergency procedures if the situation doesn't call for it (yet). An experienced diver is able to constantly assess the situation and take the right measures when appropriate.

On the other hand, your instructor only had to make the decision to hold your weights for you. There are no downsides to this action and no reason to delay doing it. Just because your instructor WAS ABLE to help by holding your weights does not mean that you NEEDED to completely ditch your weights at that time. It sounds like you handled the situation just fine. So much in fact that your husband was not aware you were having an issue that required some attention.

 

[ahava]

Okay you were brand new and with a lousy instructor, but still.

[/CENTER]

How did the instructor become the bad guy? They got the diver safely to shore. If the diver was taught to ditch weights in his class but just forgot how is that the instructors fault (if that is what you meant). By the way glad the outcome was a happy one.

 

[DandyDon]

Sorry, ahava - I was excerpting from this post but did not link to it. Different Instructor...

Jeanne, I had a similar experience on my first certification dive- a beach dive in rather choppy conditions. The BC that I was in was a child's BC but the instructor had put 16 lbs on my weight belt. I started struggling to stay afloat on the way out &, like you, never thought to drop my weight belt. Luckily a friend was along for the dive & noticed my struggles- the instructor wasn't paying any attention to me. (he was too busy playing with his GF who had come along on the dive). I wound up handing off my weigh belt & doing my surface skills without it. Then, I put it back on to do the actual dive (&, yes, my instructor spent the dive playing footsie with his GF). Needless to say, I had some very harsh words to share with the shop owner when I got back but the bottom line is that I came back safely & learned a valuable lesson early on about the options that I had. Like you, I did not think to drop my belt or put my reg in my mouth & go down (10-15 ft of water) & come back to shore.

VERY glad you made it back safely! :fruit: Here's hoping that your story & mine might make a difference to someone reading this thread.

 

[jeanne001]

I am going to my dive center monday to talk with my instructor about what happened. I'll let you know what happens. In looking at DandyDons BC Pic the hose became detached from the BC at the left hand shoulder. Not where it makes a 90 degree turn, but lower. Below the point where it looks like it may screw into the cordura (fabric of bc). When I looked at the BC after the dive, it looked like there was a gasket glued to the cordura (fabric of bc) and a big hole where the corrugated hose fit into and was now completly detached.

 

[DandyDon]

I am going to my dive center monday to talk with my instructor about what happened. I'll let you know what happens. In looking at DandyDons BC Pic the hose became detached from the BC at the left hand shoulder. Not where it makes a 90 degree turn, but lower. Below the point where it looks like it may screw into the cordura (fabric of bc). When I looked at the BC after the dive, it looked like there was a gasket glued to the cordura (fabric of bc) and a big hole where the corrugated hose fit into and was now completly detached.

So this is not your BC, but a rental...?

Sounds like oral inflation would have failed, and dropping weights was exactly the prudent action. If a BC will not float, it is a failure. One of the reasons we do fun dives is practice for The Real Show in the sea, St.Lawrence, a Great Lake, etc where decisive action in the face of a gear failure and perhaps larger waves than expected - and the BC is certainly an important piece of safety gear - can make the difference between a save and a lost body. Yes, do talk it over with your Instructor, good for you to learn from, and let us know. And if you ever feel a need to drop weights, always best to possibly err on the side of caution regardless what we Monday Morning Quarterbacks might say here.

If you're talking about where my Red Arrow is pointing here, that's significantly different case than the LPIH connection at the Yellow Arrow...
[c]

[/c]

 

[Jim Kerr]

For many divers, especially those that dive from shore that is a useless configuration since they would need to breathe shallow or carry rocks for the last 1/2 of some dives.
Actually a slow gentle ascent from 15 feet is important for any diver and I don't know why anyone would want to begin to go positive (the neoprene factor) that deep. There are not that many pounds between us but I would not jump to "seriously overweighted". Keep in mind that she was staying afloat.

She was wearing a 7mm suit and a 7mm vested hood. If she is neutrally buoyant at 15 feet with no air in her BC, when she attempts a slow ascent from her safety stop, her suit will expand causing a much too rapid ascent. Neutral buoyancy with no air in the BC and an almost empty tank should be at the surface (expect for free divers for whom it should be at 30 ft).

I dive with a 7mm suit and can hover at the SS with no air in my BC and 500psi in my tank. I am able to make a slow "controlled" ascent to the surface after the SS with no problem. Never ever, have I not been in control. The neoprene factor does not come into play here gentleman, if the weighting is right. It "can" be done.