Safety Question

[penguinpete]

We were just diving in Belize over the 4th of July. On the boat ride back in my regulator line broke at the tank end (I may not have the correct jargon). The dive that we just completed had an enclosed swimthrough about ten yards long at 85 feet deep. It occurred to me that I may have been in trouble if the line would have broken in the swimthrough.

I am assuming that I would not get air to my regulator if the line broke at the tank end. I also assumed that my octopus should still work, so the safest thing for me to do would be to grab my octopus and start breathing through it. If that did not work then I would have to catch my wife (dive buddy) and use her octopus. I would appreciate any comments on this scenario as to what would be the safest thing to do.

The regulator hose blowing out brought another situation to mind. We doing a drift dive in about 40 feet of water with strong current. The dive site was Mini Reef out of Puerto Morelos MX. When we surfaced I was joking with my wife that everytime I looked for her she was twenty yards away and going the other direction.

We got in a discussion about what would be the safest thing to do if the regulator hose blew on that drift dive and I could not use my octopus. I say that I should inflate my BC and head for the surface. She thinks that maybe I should try to swim to her and use her octopus, and she would be twentty yards away and going the other direction.

Any comments about the safest way to handle either situation?

 

[pnw_diver]

If your LP hose were to blow, your octo may still work - but not for long. Probably not long enough to make a safe ascent from 85'. Watch your SPG while letting your reg free flow and you'll get a pretty good idea of how fast your tank is going to empty.

Were I in that situation, and I couldn't get to my buddy very quickly, I'd ascend on the octo if I could, and CESA if I couldn't. An emergency buoyant ascent would be option of last resort.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

We were just diving in Belize over the 4th of July. On the boat ride back in my regulator line broke at the tank end (I may not have the correct jargon). The dive that we just completed had an enclosed swimthrough about ten yards long at 85 feet deep. It occurred to me that I may have been in trouble if the line would have broken in the swimthrough.

I am assuming that I would not get air to my regulator if the line broke at the tank end. I also assumed that my octopus should still work, so the safest thing for me to do would be to grab my octopus and start breathing through it. If that did not work then I would have to catch my wife (dive buddy) and use her octopus. I would appreciate any comments on this scenario as to what would be the safest thing to do.

The regulator hose blowing out brought another situation to mind. We doing a drift dive in about 40 feet of water with strong current. The dive site was Mini Reef out of Puerto Morelos MX. When we surfaced I was joking with my wife that everytime I looked for her she was twenty yards away and going the other direction.

We got in a discussion about what would be the safest thing to do if the regulator hose blew on that drift dive and I could not use my octopus. I say that I should inflate my BC and head for the surface. She thinks that maybe I should try to swim to her and use her octopus, and she would be twentty yards away and going the other direction.

Any comments about the safest way to handle either situation?

The simplest solution to both situations is the same ... learn to stay closer to your dive buddy.

I've been in that swimthrough you're referring to ... and at the time I was also at about your experience level. It's not particularly restrictive ... you can easily swim within arm's reach of your dive buddy at all times. Learn to do so.

With the drift dive, stick closer together ... currents can often eddy, which will push you in different directions if you're separated by too much distance.

Don't rely on gear to solve skills issues ... you dive with a buddy for a reason ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[SailNaked]

Good idea to think of these things in advance. you do what works at the time. I would not ever use my inflater hose to go to the surface.
you can go through about 300# of air in 10sec if the primary breaks, at that point you have a decision, 1. find a buddy to use their secondary or 2. use the air you have to make an ascent.
if it is early in the dive and you have lots of air and you are not too deep and your buddy it too far away and not looking in your direction and cant hear the really loud sound behind your head then go for the surface, as a recreational diver we have that option, but do so at 60 ft/m while exhaling and inhaling if you can.

if your buddy or someone else hears the noise and you have their attention swim to them and use their air. a buoyant ascent is always your last possible choice.

my .02 psi, YMMV. opinion only.

 

[Jax]

FYI, the SDI manual says that a low pressure hose failure will drain an full AL80 in 83 seconds.

How long to the surface?

 

[Superlyte27]

Jax, new regulators will do it much quicker than that. Remember the post about me blowing out my dryer vent? It took less than 30 seconds to empty a full AL80. Granted the hose wasn't blown, it was disconnected from the second stage, but I doubt it would change much.

 

[Jax]

So you're saying your hose is bigger?

 

[fisheater]

In addition to what others have said about sticking close to your buddy, I am concerned about your mention of inflating your BC to ascend

If you're doing it right, you should never have to inflate your BC to ascend. It's there to compensate for buoyancy shifts caused by compression of your exposure protection. Thus, you should be adding air as you descend and venting air on the way up.

The only time you add air to the BC with regard to an ascent is when you get to the surface. In that regard, you should be mentally and physically ready to orally inflate after an OOG situation.

 

[SailNaked]

So you're saying your hose is bigger?

I went by my students pushing their purge valve and memory, your number is prob better than my 100 seconds estimation.

 

[Dragon Eye]

LOL your dive buddy sounds like mine in the ocean. Get in the ocean and I'm a fin grabber. If you get too far away I pull you back by your fins. It's not as enjoyable if your the buddy who has to keep up, keeps tabs and lets your buddy know they have ADD. You should have your wife dive with someone else to appreciate you more as a buddy. AND talk about it with every dive, because I'm sure she would want you to surface and being a bad buddy may prevent that from happening.

I can say after a talking to with my buddy they were a much better buddy on subsequent dives. I think the infinite visibility just didn't register.