almost died

[johnnyseko]

DBULMER, I guess my reason for solo if selfishness, too eager to dive even when my buddy can't make it, feeling of "nothing's gonna go wrong". I have nothing against buddies. I seldom solo dive. I have a couple guys I contact when I plan to go and whoever can meet me is my dive buddy. Its called, I really wanna dive but no one can join me...what the hell, solo time. what's it called?wreckless and unprepared?

Reading through this thread, I was curious WHY you solo'd to begin with. Especially at wetherill! I was there yesterday with another SB member. There were about 30 other divers around there as well. The place was packed. If you can't get a buddy, Ocean State Scuba does a fun dive every weekend at 10am. That is where I go. I show up at the shop alone and they take you out and you meet others from the area (including CT) that are looking for buddies. You get a tour of the many dive sites in the area with a DM. Did I mention it is free? So you missed out on a great dive w/ OSS and took an unnecessary risk. Also check out NELD on this forum. Post a request looking to dive. There is always someone looking to get wet.

So I've been kicking around the idea of soloing as well. Now I will think again....thanks for posting your incident. Maybe we'll see you at OSS one w/end

 

[BarryNL]

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.

I think the case against solo diving without complete redundancy has already been settled.

 

[ranger979]

Did you too read wrong and asume that I held my breath while ascending?

I'm suprised no one else has mentioned this, but you shouldn't have been holding your breath while you were trying to recover you regulator either. You should have been slowly exhaling. It is easy to inavertently ascend while you a preoccupied with the recovery.

 

[Diver0001]

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.

A couple of from-the-hip comments: (you did say don't hold back, right? :14: )

1 - Practice taking your reg out of your mouth and making small bubbles. Count while you do it. With a little practice you'll be able to count to 30 or more while calmly performing other tasks (like finding your octopus - I like to practice this in the pool while swimming on my back and blowing bubble rings...20 or 30 at a time ). You obviously don't need to do what I do but do something to help you react more calmly in the future. Many people fear instant death if the reg falls out of their mouth and either try to fix the problem too fast or feel enormous time pressure when the pressure is mostly between your ears.

2 - You appear to have a couple of skills problems. One is dealing with the line and you didn't mention what you are going to do to deal with that. You did a CESA and you're maybe lucky that your line (which at this point would have been draped over your chest and back as far down your body as your flippers if my visual image is correct) didn't snag on something while you were still 6 inches under water..... I think you see the image I'm presenting here. Learn to deal with the line to avoid a repeat.

3 - The other skills problem I mentioned already in #1 but I'll just point out that throwing gear at a skills problem doesn't work. Spend the time to learn the skill. More gear is not a solution to less skill.

4 - You did a CESA and got yourself out of danger. I haven't read the other responses yet but given your state of mind and your depth I don't think it was the wrong thing to do. In a perfect world you would have responded differently but the important thing is that you are still here.

5 - From the limited information in this post I have the impression that you should work a little more on your skills before you start solo diving. 15ft isn't deep but 6 inches is deep enough, if you get my meaning.

R..

 

[MASS-Diver]

all of the above. They're tuned to prevent freeflowing which makes them breathe harder and won't deliver air well at depth. Not a good thing for an already stressed recretional diver. A tech I know who works on them, says they're of poor quality. I trust his word as he's a master instructor, cave instructor and equipment tech.

Anytime the inflator is used for something other than inflation/deflation is going to be problematic for an already stressed diver. Make sense?

ditto, air2s are a nightmare.

Time to get some real gear and practice some air sharing in the pool or confined water. I don't think having a buddy would have even helped in this case, new divers need to put in the time to acquire a basic skill set, simply diving with other poorly trained divers is not a quick fix. You are lucky you made it out OK, lots of people get away with not having good skills for a long time before it bites them in the ***.

 

[RonFrank]

I dive with an Octo+. I practice switching between my primay, and the Octo on just about every dive. I've also practiced dumping air while breathing on the Octo+. It does NOT breath as good as my primary, but then my primary is tuned so that it breaths VERY easy, and will FreeFlow at the surface if I don't handle it properly. I have breathed on my Octo+ at about 80feet, and it breaths about as well at that depth as it does at 15 feet.

Most Octo's are tuned down to prevent FreeFlow.

All the instructors at our LDS dive with Airsource 2 type systems with singles. The Rental/Student BC's all have Air2 type systems, so in fact everyone I did my OW with was doing UW drills using that type of second.

I'm not going to get into a battle over Air2 vs. Octo. The topic has been debated a LOT to no good conclusion. :11: Ironic that most people trashing the Air2 systems don't dive them, but seem to have VERY strong opinions against them?

This diving incident comes down to one thing based on what I've read, skills training. He had a second source for air, but did not think to put it in his mouth. That is why I practice switching between my air sources on every dive with the hope that if I DO need to do so, I'll be comfortable enough under stress to grab my second. It really does not matter if that second is a Air2, or Octo as long as one is comfortable with grabbing it in need.

 

[ianr33]

Ironic that most people trashing the Air2 systems don't dive them, but seem to have VERY strong opinions against them?

Why would I choose to dive something that I know is a bad idea?

 

[punisher]

point taken, never realized how important it is for certain procedures to become second nateure before attempting solo dives. as well as the need for redundancy even with a buddy. if i was following a buddy while diving, and my line got snagged and pulled my reg out, I would hope that I can correct the situation quickly because when its pulled out after exhaling, I'll only have seconds before he turns around and realizes I'm having an emergency. solo or not I think both types of divers need to be highly prepared for emergencies...like I said before, I consider this more dangerous than firefighting

 

[Jasonmh]

Most Octo's are tuned down to prevent FreeFlow.

This diving incident comes down to one thing based on what I've read, skills training. He had a second source for air, but did not think to put it in his mouth. It really does not matter if that second is a Air2, or Octo as long as one is comfortable with grabbing it in need.

I agree with you Ron. My AirII works fine, and I have never had any of the problems others describe.
It would be different if the poster said that they ran out of air, grabbed their airII, and the thing didn't work cause it was a piece of crap. In this case the diver didn't think to go to his backup. It doesn't matter if it is attached to his side (in typical rec. diving fashion), on his inflator hose, or hanging around his neck, or tied to his foot for that matter, if he doesn't think to use it. Training to encourage being familiar with your equipment and having an automatic response (to go to the backup without hardly even thinking about it) is far more important than arguing about what brand or type of backup to use.
I personally like having the backup around my neck, but it doesn't do me any good if I don't think to go for it in an emergency.

 

[mpenner]

You are confusing DCI with DCS. DCI includes DCS AND lung overexpansion injuries - yet again something else you should know from O/W. The two types of injuries are grouped together under DCI because in an emergency situation, they are treated the same way: to have the patient lie down and receive oxygen.

Holding your breath and then doing an uncontrolled ascent ("started swimming up fast as I could") can put you at risk of DCI, but it is unlikely from 15 feet.

The shallower you are, the MORE risk you are at for DCI (overexpansion injuries). This is simply based on pressure differentials for a given change in depth. Ascending from 15fsw to the surface (case 1) is a .5atm pressure change, the same as ascending from 100fsw to 85fsw (case 2 - hypothetical). In case 1, the gas in your lungs expands by 50% (using the ideal gas law that you learned in your OW course), whereas in case 2, the gas expands by 12%. Which do you think is more likely to pop your lungs?