almost died

[punisher]

this was my first near death...it was yesterday...ft wetherill, RI. solo dive around noon. dive flag string had too much slack I would think. it came over my rt.shoulder, and in front of my face. wave pulled flag buoy up. string yanked reg out of mouth. down 15ft at this time. held breath and leaned right to regain my reg. 2 or 3 tries, gave up, and then started swimming up fast as I could...all the while trying to exhale a little air as I swam up...scared sh_tl_ss fearing DCS. reached surface and then inflated BCD. waited to die or something...nothing yet. so I took up the slack on my flag. dropped down to 6 ft and headed back to shore. 10 minutes away.

one of my mistakes was not realizing that when sweeping for the reg, don't expect to feel it in my hand. I suspect that when I swept the first time, it was right between my bicep and chest. thats where it normally ends up when I practice it. didn't remember that under distress.

another mistake was not grabbing my secondary reg which is a ps2. didn't remember that I even had a second reg. therefore am now buying a pony with reg setup. ps2 is now considered 3rd reg.

and according to some of you, most important mistake was going solo to begin with.

I think I owe it to my loved ones and to the dive comunity not to be another statistic. hurts the family real bad, and has negative impact on diving industry.

any feedback from you guys?

don't hold back by the way

 

[Doc Intrepid]

All sorts of weird stuff happens down there. Its impossible to prepare to respond adequately to each and every conceivable possibility. Some of them you can't even foresee (like a wave yanking out your reg)...

Don't dive solo. A good buddy is there to save your butt when things get sideways.

Glad you're okay. Sometimes guys don't get another chance to learn that lesson.

Dive safe,

Doc

 

[fairybasslet]

I'm confused. You were at 15ft when this happened?

 

[WileEDiver]

How will a pony bottle help if you don't have the presence of mind to grab your octo?

Not trying to be harsh, here, but your post leaves a lot to question. Like solo diving, holding your breath, a CESA at 15'.

 

[JRScuba]

Yep you guessed it. Diving SOLO is not a good thing. Diving solo with minimal EXPERIENCE is a real bad thing. Solo diving if you are inclined to do so is done witih redundant life support, you obviously did not have. You lucked out, coming up from 15ft will not give you DCS. Your BIO says Living on the edge. IMHO with your experience and your dive plan, you will be living on the edge if you were down, let's say 80ft.
Give up solo diving. Get a good dive buddy so you can dive safely and get experience at the same time.

Hopefully you learned your lesson and will give more thought to a good dive plan.

JMHO

Joe

 

[Derek S]

Punisher -

First and foremost, I'm glad to hear you walked away from it. As someone who has been tangled up in float line, I understand your frustration. Luckily I had 2 dive buddies with me to help me out of it.

As a husband and father of two young sons, I can't stress enough, well, to put it bluntly, how selfish and how stupid it is to solo dive.

As you found out, it doesn't need to be at 100+ft, anything can happen at any depth. We had a diver die recently in less than 20ffw while trying to fix something on his boat. He was solo.

Myself personally, one of the best parts of diving is the bond that I share with my buddies/teammates and the sense of community I feel with other divers, regardless of locale, background, ect.

Be safe, imagine the grief your loved ones would go through, and it is preventable....

-DS

 

[fairybasslet]

coming up from 15ft will not give you DCS.
Joe

Well, I'm glad you clarified that for me. If he held his breath, he could have gotten an embolism, but to worry about DCS from 15ft? That seems rather odd to me.

 

[Randy43068]

Glad you came out of it unscathed. Your story makes a good case for a secondary on a necklace, doesn't it? It's always right there when you need it. Also makes a good case against solo diving.

Again, glad you are OK.

 

[fishnchips]

1stly, it is good to hear you are alive to tell the story. Many highly experience divers never had a second chance to tell theirs.......

Solo diving is not for everyone. BUT it is not a bad thing. Lots of experience and ability to stay calm, redundant air source are just a few necessary elements to do solo dive safely.

Seemed like you were at the beginning of your dive at 15ft, your experience should have allowed you to swim to surface in controlled manner, or reach for your octo automatically, if you lack these both simple skills, please don't solo dive. Again, you seemed to lack the simple skills to conduct a dive safely, and this has nothing to do with solo diving. In your beginner class, you should have learned how to use octo, reg recovery etc. May I suggest a refresher class?

Do you mean you dive solo without a redundant air source?!

Your near death eaperience has nothing to do with the danger of solo diving. It's your lack of experience and lack of basic scuba diving skills, fail to plan and inability to stay calm.

Please leave solo diving out of the discussion as you are obviously not at the level where you should attempt solo diving, and your accident has nothing to do with solo diving but rather lack of basic diving skills.

Are you a certified diver? If not, a class is highly recommended and if you are certified, it would be very helpful for you to take a refresher. And again, at your current skill level, pls do not attempt another solo dive.

 

[Cacia]

this was my first near death...it was yesterday...ft wetherill, RI. solo dive around noon. dive flag string had too much slack I would think. it came over my rt.shoulder, and in front of my face. wave pulled flag buoy up. string yanked reg out of mouth. down 15ft at this time. held breath and leaned right to regain my reg. 2 or 3 tries, gave up, and then started swimming up fast as I could...all the while trying to exhale a little air as I swam up...scared sh_tl_ss fearing DCS. reached surface and then inflated BCD. waited to die or something...nothing yet. so I took up the slack on my flag. dropped down to 6 ft and headed back to shore. 10 minutes away.

one of my mistakes was not realizing that when sweeping for the reg, don't expect to feel it in my hand. I suspect that when I swept the first time, it was right between my bicep and chest. thats where it normally ends up when I practice it. didn't remember that under distress.

another mistake was not grabbing my secondary reg which is a ps2. didn't remember that I even had a second reg. therefore am now buying a pony with reg setup. ps2 is now considered 3rd reg.

and according to some of you, most important mistake was going solo to begin with.

I think I owe it to my loved ones and to the dive comunity not to be another statistic. hurts the family real bad, and has negative impact on diving industry.

any feedback from you guys?

don't hold back by the way

Don't hold back? I don't want it to sound harsh, fish n Chips is right. You may want to stick to bungie jumping because it would probably be safer. People get upset because it is kind of like the person who compares the guy with twelve kids and keeps his handgun under the sofa cushion...to...well you get the idea. I am not saying you are that guy but you should get the lay of the land before going it alone. Fifteen feet and your reg falling out should not have been a life threatening issue. Good thing you are checking up on yourself.