bad day on charter

[sean_nc]

Wow.......I understand this was a paniced diver, but he blew through 800 PSI at 65- feet in 30 seconds, that's a lot of gas. Then he sucked down your HP120 @ 1400 PSI so you both had zero............more gas! You had your hands full with a diver who should have never been solo diving in the first place (and I like to solo dive). I normally grab an OOA diver by the BC and try to control them in an acsent, venting his BC and looking into his eyes, trying to calm him, if you can. They will never think to do these tasks, they only want to get to the surface.

So he used 80 cu ft, plus your gas in fifteen minutes at 3 atm........outrageous.

Pony bottles are really the answer. But I must think, he would have sucked down my 30 in these conditions really quick. I always carry my 30, and doubles too, so I take plenty of gas.

I'm glad you guys are OK, and you managed this problem as efficently as you could.

I think your onto something. He didn't need a pony, he needed more gas. Could have been a pony, could have been doubles, could have been more air in his single.

I like and use a pony but it's a smaller one based on my gas consumption. This other guy would have probably sucked it dry before he got to the surface.

I know you should always plan to have gas to get you and your buddy to the surface but it sounds pretty tough to plan for a random buddy that needs that much air to come out of nowhere when your near the end of your solo dive.

 

[waterpirate]

If you are diving same day same ocean, with different profiles, and a mix of unknown people, "you get what you get". I would gladly hand off my 30cuft pony, the end. I am not going to take responsibility for anything beyond that. If diving with a ceiling..... that may be a different story but the answer is the same.
Am I suposed to get jammed up because another diver needs remedial? Offer assistance yes, but not at my expense. Darwin does not care if you are the rescue or the rescuer.
Eric

 

[idocsteve]

If you are diving same day same ocean, with different profiles, and a mix of unknown people, "you get what you get". I would gladly hand off my 30cuft pony, the end. I am not going to take responsibility for anything beyond that. If diving with a ceiling..... that may be a different story but the answer is the same.
Am I suposed to get jammed up because another diver needs remedial? Offer assistance yes, but not at my expense. Darwin does not care if you are the rescue or the rescuer.
Eric

That's what's so disturbing about this thread.

The rescuer was diving solo, minding his own business when he was faced with a desperate panicking diver. What are you going to do in this scenario? Hold up a slate that says "Sorry, Solo diver here, the surface is that way" with an arrow pointing up?

You can't help BUT get dragged into the whole mess, even if you did turn your back on the poor guy to leave him to die he isn't going to take that one sitting down and the last thing you want to do is have him BEHIND you.

That leaves you with a struggle for the remaining air which could easily be a battle to the death, or you help the guy out, which can easily go from bad to worse.

 

[aquaregia]

Reminds me of DCBC's Windjammer story: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/near-misses-lessons-learned/315141-deep-solo-wreck-dive.html

 

[idocsteve]

Reminds me of DCBC's Windjammer story: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/near-misses-lessons-learned/315141-deep-solo-wreck-dive.html

That was a good read, although that one is credible, there are many similarities. And even though this thread is likely spawned off of a troll post, or at the very least an "embellishment"... it is food for thought.

When faced with a situtation where you must risk your own life to save one or more perfect strangers, given that you have no legal or moral obligation towards them since they are not your assigned "buddies", how far would you go?

I can easily say (and I have said it on threads in the past), that I would not place myself at significant risk to save a stranger who basically screwed it all up.

One difference between this (hypothetical?) thread and the other one is that here, the "rescuing diver" almost had no choice because the panicking diver was right in his face. Turning his back probably wasn't an option even if he was so inclined.

 

[aquaregia]

I keep DCBC's bookmarked purely because it scares the crap out of me. I'm not certain I'd be able to look a guy in the face and say "sorry mate." When I took Rescue and the instructor was explaining not making one victim into two, everyone else was nodding along, but all I could think about was DCBC's Windjammer story.

 

[idocsteve]

I keep DCBC's bookmarked purely because it scares the crap out of me. I'm not certain I'd be able to look a guy in the face and say "sorry mate."

Me neither. I can only hope that if I'm ever in that situation and I'm forced to make a decision that will not be in his favor, that his mask will be fogged.

 

[Rainer]

And even though this thread is likely spawned off of a troll post, or at the very least an "embellishment"... it is food for thought.

When faced with a situtation where you must risk your own life to save one or more perfect strangers, given that you have no legal or moral obligation towards them since they are not your assigned "buddies", how far would you go?

I can easily say (and I have said it on threads in the past), that I would not place myself at significant risk to save a stranger who basically screwed it all up.

Look, I too plan to come home from every dive and I'll be damned if I'm going to set out to kill myself for a stranger. That said, I'd *hardly* consider it "placing myself at significant risk" to try bringing up an OOG diver with 50cf in my cylinder at only 65'. If that scenario seems too risky to most, I'd suggest doing all your diving via the interwebs. It's significantly safer (physically, not mentally).

 

[idocsteve]

Look, I too plan to come home from every dive and I'll be damned if I'm going to set out to kill myself for a stranger. That said, I'd *hardly* consider it "placing myself at significant risk" to try bringing up an OOG diver with 50cf in my cylinder at only 65'. If that scenario seems too risky to most, I'd suggest doing all your diving via the interwebs. It's significantly safer (physically, not mentally).

Look, I feel the same way that you do, I plan to come home from every dive as well, but we've all got our dealbreakers, and I know mine because I speak from personal experience here.

The poor guy was signaling to me with the "hand slice across neck" motion, and I looked at my gauge reading 500 psi and I made a split second decision and I turned and climbed the ladder and exited the shallow end of the pool and never looked back.

 

[Rainer]

As you said, food for thought. I agree, the OP appears to be a total troll, but these scenarios are worth thinking about. In the end, I try to mostly surround myself with other divers who have made similar risk assessments. We dive in a manner which negates 99% of these scenarios where you have to choose yourself or them. Less drama, more fun.