a spin off to the dying a hero thread...

[Blackwood]

I have never run out of air/gas, and I would regard it as a very serious matter if I ever did. I had an occasion a while back when on a recreational dive one of the group did run out of air. I put him on my octopus, called the dive, and sent up my DSMB. While I was starting to reel in the line (we were at around 50ft) one of the other divers also ran out of air and grabbed my reg from my mouth. This second diver was moderately panicked so I left him on my primary second stage, ensuring he had a good grip on my harness, and started to buddy breathe with the other guy who was on my octopus. Doing that whilst reeling in the line was quite tricky, plus controlling the buoyancy of the slightly panicked diver who was all for bolting to the surface. That was an interesting dive, moderately stressful, mainly in hoping that I wouldn't run out of air (with two people hanging off me I couldn't see or reach my SPG).

If that isn't stressful, you're inhuman.

If it happens (which yes, it a serious matter) in the confines of an otherwise well oiled team, not so much.

 

[peterbj7]

Sounds like the divemaster drill on steroids. Not sure I see what the advantage of doing it a 170 feet is, but I won't second guess your IT.

It just made it potentially more stressful, and that was the object - to stress me. I didn't know it was coming, by the way, I was just told to do it NOW.

 

[Blackwood]

It just made it potentially more stressful, and that was the object - to stress me. I didn't know it was coming, by the way, I was just told to do it NOW.

I never learned the "take off all your gear and swim over there" hand signal. If my instructor ever wrote that in his wetnotes, I'd claim I was narced and thought I was hallucinating.

 

[rjack321]

Sure. But that does not mean you shouldn't do both.



Yes, which is why it is important to do this in training and stress someone out with an OOG where instructor has told buddy to swim off and has taken both your masks. So you know the importance of having a good team and being prepared for an OOG.

It does not take very long, for it to become physically stressful if you have no air and you have to swim for it. And it is good to know how one will handle this, some people just shut down and give up.

I've had buddies swim off while I was OOA. And fail to donate too.

I am not opposed to instructors turning off gas in certain circumstances, but to use Blackwood's analogy it shouldn't be a "magic lightening bolt" to instantly and arbitrarily instill supposedly maximum stress.

Oh and harried emergency switches to deco gas are a really bad habit that should not be trained/reinforced.

 

[peterbj7]

Who said anything about deco gas?

I think you're missing the point, which is not about how much stress is created but how well the diver manages it. If you've dealt with a bad situation that was contrived during your training and come out the other side, you'll be far more relaxed about it when/if it happens for real and there's no-one there to bail you out.

 

[Sas]

I've had buddies swim off while I was OOA. And fail to donate too.

In training or in a real situation?

I am not opposed to instructors turning off gas in certain circumstances, but to use Blackwood's analogy it shouldn't be a "magic lightening bolt" to instantly and arbitrarily instill supposedly maximum stress.

You've been missing the main point here: do you think that students should undergo stress testing as part of training?

Oh and harried emergency switches to deco gas are a really bad habit that should not be trained/reinforced.

Agreed but that hasn't been the gist of this discussion.

 

[Rainer]

If you are mature & developed as a diver (and your buddies are as well) its not stressful. More like jeesh OOA too? Sigh.

Lol, the one and only time I've had to donate to an actual OOG diver, he wasn't frantic, he wasn't waving his light madly, he wasn't making crazed slashes at his throat. Nope, he just started shaking his head slowly in apparent embarrassment. When he finally got around to a couple light flashes, I understood and handed him a reg.

Lesson: If you're going to do a lot of shallow water descents/ascents for practice, occasionally checking the SPG before descending isn't a terrible idea.

 

[rjack321]

Lol, the one and only time I've had to donate to an actual OOG diver, he wasn't frantic, he wasn't waving his light madly, he wasn't making crazed slashes at his throat. Nope, he just started shaking his head in apparent embarrassment. When he finally got around to a couple light flashes, I understood and handed him a reg.

Lesson: If you're going to do a lot of shallow water descents/ascents for practice, occasionally checking the SPG before descending isn't a terrible idea.

LOL awesome!!

 

[Blackwood]

I've sat awake at night reliving and replaying things that happened in training. If its a bunch of stuff that would all likelihood never happen, I'm much more likely to brush off and ignore a failure. My own failures, however, tend to consume me until I reconcile them.

If my instructor unscrewed both of my posts and sliced my wing after taking my teammates' mask and simultaneously filling his wing and suit, it's unlikely I'd be able to resolve it. But I also wouldn't care. That's the difference.

(again, this is just how I learn. YMMV.)

 

[Blackwood]

Lesson: If you're going to do a lot of shallow water descents/ascents for practice, occasionally checking the SPG before descending isn't a terrible idea.

and maybe don't carry two bottles with a leaking singles wing.

But yah, checking is pretty good.