Always carry spare air - in your lungs

[drcolyn]

Although this post might bore a couple of experienced divers it might evoke some use full after thoughts as well.
When I did my CMAS 1star course I was already an experienced abalone and crayfish diver so not even the doffing and donning exercise in the pool could really test my metal. We did our 5 dives in open sea and then came graduation day and final pool evaluation. I breezed through the whole test and then the last event was announced as a “fun” scuba “relay race”.
The pool was 25 meters long with a deep end of 4 meters. The lady instructor (don’t be fooled – real tuff cookie) has quietly been selecting her over confident victims and I was one of those that had to complete the first sprint which I did with much zeal being the competitive type and all. In the mean time the instructor told those that stayed behind for the “second sprint” to signal for a buddy breathing exercise once we returned. (All equipment belonged to the club and did not have octo’s). I was reasonably fit but after going flat out UW for 50 meters with full scuba gear I was puffing and when my buddy signalled for air I tried to take my DV out of my mouth. I just couldn’t control my breathing reflux long enough and swallowed water every time I passed the DV to my buddy. There was a party afterwards which I did not enjoy at all since I was being nauseous after all the water I swallowed but I got the message very clearly: Never exert yourself to the point that you cannot go two minutes without air as that is the surest way to loose all common sense during an emergency.
Although maintaining a normal CO2 level in your blood may sound like an elementary diving technique I have caught myself often enough getting into a situation of abnormal breathing rate – whether it be a tough swim out to a diving spot (that was with a buddy mind you) and or struggling to get down with too much positive buoyancy (dry suits can be a pest here). One great addition to my diving equipment was a compass which enables me to take the shortest route back underwater as no amount of spare air will save you if you get lost – something that always manages to increase the rate of my ticker a bit.

 

[TSandM]

Good points, and good post!

 

[Darnold9999]

Something that took me many dives to figure out. Well said. It is all but impossible to think and process a situation if you are CO2 overloaded. The panic reflex is just that much closer leaving you no margin whatsoever for error.

 

[DCBC]

I don't know why this is in the Solo Diving area, but it sounds like you enjoyed the course and learned some valuable lessons from it. After you have the 10 dive prerequisite, I'd encourage you to take the CMAS ** program. About 50 hours of instruction and 20 openwater dives will give you the necessary skill sets to dive independently under more conditions. Good luck and thanks for your post!

 

[drcolyn]

I don't know why this is in the Solo Diving area, but it sounds like you enjoyed the course and learned some valuable lessons from it. After you have the 10 dive prerequisite, I'd encourage you to take the CMAS ** program. About 50 hours of instruction and 20 openwater dives will give you the necessary skill sets to dive independently under more conditions. Good luck and thanks for your post!

Did you mean the 100 dive prerequisite?

 

[diver_doug]

ahhh, I know why this thread is in the solo-diving forum...because the aforementioned excercise taught you an invaluable lesson about the dangers of diving with a buddy. Well, welcome aboard!

 

[drbill]

Although this is slightly different, I'll mention it here. Years ago I descended with a full cylinder and after exhaling I tried to take a breath but nothing came through the reg. This was the one time I got too complacent to put my pony on for the dive. The max depth was about 80 ft and I had to do a CESA from about 75 ft with little residual air in my lungs. It was a difficult ascent but I made it and am here to dive again another few decades.

Now I make sure I don't exhale as completely as I did that time... and carry my pony bottle on almost every dive.

 

[jghflash]

Back in 1978 I certified in a PE class while attending college. My instructor was a great guy named Paul Meng, who went on to become a fairly renowned instructor and cave diver. He spent a semester working with us in the pools doing all sorts of drills.....never telling us what was required to become certified. One of his training requirements was a timed drill where my buddy and I had to swim 100 meters side by side in the pool, then 100 meters buddy breathing. Of course, the first FOUR times we tried to pass the test we went out like a house afire and burned through the first 100 meters. Naturally, when we started buddy breathing, one or the other of us sucked water just like the OP. On try five we finally figured out we had to sprint and then slow down on the last 25 or 30 meters of the buddy swim so that when we started the buddy breathing we could manage to pass the regulator, stay under and still swim fast enough to be under the overall time limit. This was one of Paul's many ways to ingrain "planning the dive and diving the plan". Another thing we would do for 15 minutes at a time was to put one diver in a blackout mask and then buddy breath while swimming constantly. You learn a lot about trust doing that and also about getting to where you can really feel what your orientation underwater is by where the bubbles are going either by feel or by sound. By the time we got to check out, it was almost a let down because we had practiced so much more difficult tasks in our pool training.

 

[Mike Boswell]

Although this is slightly different, I'll mention it here. Years ago I descended with a full cylinder and after exhaling I tried to take a breath but nothing came through the reg.

Bill - Why no air? Was the dip tube clogged up?

 

[sylpha]

The Paul Meng chap sounds like an old BSAC training course. I learned to dive 17 years ago and part of the training was buddy breathing, a technique i hope i never have to use. In a situation where i had to supply gas to a buddy i was glad to have my completley seperate regulator, but if not my training would have kicked in.

i always dive with 2 cylinders, not the manifolded 12 litre sets so loved by tekkie divers, but 2 independant 7 litre cylinders. one is attached to my stab jacket (you call it a BC) and the other to my drysuit. AND I ALWAYS CHECK THEY ARE ON BEFORE I GET IN THE WATER complacency can kill!


and i'm wondering why you wouldn't carry a compass?