Bad dive on the USS Spiegel Grove

[pilot fish]

Ah yes, we spoke on the phone about this after your dive. Overall a great learning experience and you upbeat attitude on the phone about gaining some new knowlege and making the best of the dive was great to hear!

Thanks. To me a lot of dives are a learning experience.

 

[pilot fish]

I'm saying that ops that run to the SG have so many tanks in reserve, that they probably can't afford the expense of Steel tanks vs alum. Also, they already charge an arm and a leg for a trip, how much would that go up if they had to buy steel tanks for everyone?

If you can't dive the dive then don't. If you are diving the SG, and an AL 80 isn't enough gas for you, bring your own tanks... It's that simple.

Obviously, there was no gas management plan. 1000 psi simply isn't enough gas to make all of those stops and a safe ascent rate. I'm sure you'd agree on that one.

Hope I didn't mislead you on my turn pressure. I turn on 1500, usually, but would probably turn on 1800 that day. I did just one swim thru to the other side of the wreck and back to ascent line because I saw my air going quicker than usual. I did not swim the length of the ship this trip, as I have done on previous SG dives, so I really had no turn.

I was OK with 1000 psi on the up line, which would give me one 1 minute half stop and 4 to 5 minute 15 ft safety stop. I did wish I had a jon line at 15 ft, as Red suggested

 

[MikeFerrara]

Thanks Scubadoo. Since I had done this dive 3 times before I think I thought I'd be OK, Pulling myself along the wreck line winded me because I did not fully inflate my BC and was hurrying too much. Why? The DM yelled over to me to stop finning and just use my upper body on the granny/wreck line and go nice and slow. Another thing I learned. I caught my breath after about a half minute at the mooring ball and did the dive.

My dive buddy was calming me realx and saying take your time and we'll wait till you get your breath etc. That also helped.

Having a fully inflated BC may make it easier to stay at the surface but it makes getting anyplace that much harder. In rough seas, staying at the surface just means being beaten half to death by the waves. I get neutral and get below the waves. Even whan I'm hanging on a tag line waiting for my turn up the ladder, I'll get below the waves if things are rough.

 

[MikeFerrara]

People go OOA or very low on that wreck every week. I don't understand why NOT a safer configuration like a steel 100 or 120 with an H-vavle? Why not be safer when there are scores of patently unsafe divers with newly minted AOW cards diving from multiple dive boats who might need to share your air?

Recreational divers do dives everyday with equipment and dive plans that make for margines that are slim to none.

One of my first dive trips away from the local quarries was a trip to NC. Our first dive was on the Papoose (or what is called the papoose). As I recall, the top of the wreck is at about 90 ft and it's about 120 to the sand. Vis was lousy and the current was blowing so you had to stay down behind the wreck. My wife and I got near the sand at 120 and decided it didn't make sense to go anyplace given the amount of gas we had so we headed back up the line. The other divers took off down the wreck. We hung out midwater in good vis watching the jacks and cudas while we waited for the other divers. About half of them came racing up the line without enough gas to do a safety stop. One guy was really racing because he was literally stretching his last breath. As the song says, "They were steppin and fethchen, like their heads were on fire and their azzes were catchin."

A wreck that's near 100 ft is no place for such tiny tanks and no redundancy, IMO.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Hope I didn't mislead you on my turn pressure. I turn on 1500, usually, but would probably turn on 1800 that day. I did just one swim thru to the other side of the wreck and back to ascent line because I saw my air going quicker than usual. I did not swim the length of the ship this trip, as I have done on previous SG dives, so I really had no turn.

I was OK with 1000 psi on the up line, which would give me one 1 minute half stop and 4 to 5 minute 15 ft safety stop. I did wish I had a jon line at 15 ft, as Red suggested

If it's important to you that you get back to the ascent line, you ahould be diving the rule of thirds so each diver has enough gas to get both back to the ascent line in a worst case situation where one suffers a total gas loss at the furthest point in the dive. However, since the ascent will require a significant amount of gas, the amount needed for the ascent should be backed out prior to calculating your halves, thirds or whatever you're using.

If getting back to the line is desireable but not an absolute requirement, you could turn at half of your useable gas but your useable gas is what you have left after backing out the ascent gas needed for two divers. It's not going to be 1500 psi in an AL 80.

Do the math. If you reserve enough for you and a buddy in that worst case, you see that an 80 isn't enough for much of a dive. I know lots of divers do it but they don't have enough for an elegant solution to that worst case scenario.

 

[pilot fish]

Having a fully inflated BC may make it easier to stay at the surface but it makes getting anyplace that much harder. In rough seas, staying at the surface just means being beaten half to death by the waves. I get neutral and get below the waves. Even whan I'm hanging on a tag line waiting for my turn up the ladder, I'll get below the waves if things are rough.

That sounds like a good idea. Yeah, being a cork in the water is not fun sometimes:lol:
For my first 75 dives or so I used to switch to my snorkel at the surface, post dive, and even not switch to my reg to bend under water to take my fins off.:shakehead Like, uh, what are you saving that air for?