Calm-headed response

[Lorenzoid]

Wow, guys, this seems to have descended into an argument. I haven't read the past half dozen or so argumentative posts, but now that you guys are expanding the, uh, discussion beyond that DM with that group in that video to what any of us might do on any dive, this is what I do.

On a dive that has been planned as a classic OW dive, where there is no real or virtual overhead, minimal equipment, etc., I would follow the textbook OW procedure and secure an air source, then ascend to the surface without undue delay. I would like to believe this is ingrained in muscle memory from practice. I wouldn't intentionally complicate things even if I felt confident I could solve the problem underwater. As I mentioned earlier, the thinking is that small problems, er, inconveniences, can compound into bigger problems that I may not be prepared to handle. So long as surfacing is an option, better for me to simply deal with the small problem immediately, on the surface.

On a dive that has been planned on the premise that I cannot always make a direct ascent to the surface, then I would try to solve the problem underwater. Solving problems is part of the plan. I would probably have the redundant equipment for that. The muscle memory for handling the problem is matched with the equipment.

Sure, there is the rare OW dive in which something happens that prevents a direct ascent, such as entanglement. We obviously have to handle that as best we can. I make great efforts to avoid putting myself in such a situation. If it's planned as an OW dive, I dive conservatively to keep it an OW dive.

In summary, I try to take advantage of that essential characteristic of an OW dive. It's the beauty of OW diving. I can relax and save my technical skills for when I really need them and know I have the equipment to apply them to.

That's just me. Not arguing anyone should do what I do. YMMV. Etc. Etc.

 

[johndiver999]

Yes, I get that and, if your buddy isn't around (that's a whole separate issue), then that would be a good strategy to get to the surface, although feathering from a tank valve is more difficult than doing so from the second stage and, again, you don't know how long the air will last you--the flow could increase or decrease given pressure changes, etc. So again, I would look for my buddy's octo first and then thumb the dive. We agree the dive is over, yes?

I agree the dive is over, but I don’t know what you mean when you say feathering from the second stage? Perhaps that is an autocorrect or typo?

 

[ReadyDiverOne]

I agree the dive is over, but I don’t know what you mean when you say feathering from the second stage? Perhaps that is an autocorrect or typo?

I meant feathering the regulator, which one would/can do if it is free flowing and you can’t stop it. Thanks.

 

[stadevene]

I watched an experienced diver do a similar check. One of the...i’ll say lesser experienced divers was freaking out that he had bubbles coming from his tank and wanted to get in there and tighten it for him. Experienced diver had him back off and then he unbuckled and spun his gear around to take a look. Watching the whole thing, the leak was nothing significant, the other dude got overly excited. The experienced diver did the right thing to have him back off as it could have gotten messy. On the surface experienced guy said there was no way he was letting him get close.

Back to the video I wondered about a couple things.

Why the videographer decided to surface and after that why the DM felt he needed to shoot the SMB. It looked like they were in pretty controlled water and shooting the bag might have cause issues with the BCD on his arm and sharing air. Hard to tell as videographer doesn’t film the ending! Given what we see I’m sure he would have pulled it off with aplomb but it’s something I might not have bothered with until at the surface. Also videographer, while backing away some was good so he wasn’t in the middle of it, I thought he should have stayed closer to the group and at depth...perhaps all the alarming going on was him running low on air.

Also safety stop? At least videographer seemed to skip it...though they did seem in fairly shallow water. Still, unless he was running out himself, I think he should have done a couple minutes or at least checked his computer and let his team know what he was doing. Again, perhaps the beeping was him deep into the red on his supply.

 

[johndiver999]

The videographer probably got excited and neglected his buoyancy control and allowed himself to float up simply due excitement and distraction. The DM is very smart to want an SMB before he surfaces - especially when surfacing unexpectedly and early.

Sending the smb over your head is good insurance that the boat won't accidentally run over you. Plus, the entire theme of that ascent was "no big deal" so why forgo sending up an smb?

 

[Diver below 83]

I will say in my sdi OW course during the pool time we were taught to remove the bcd. Hold in front of us and surface. The exact reason we were told to do this is the ability to check your gear if something is going wrong that can be rectified the only way to do so would be to see it in front of you. In the ocean portion we did not do this. We simply had to remove the bcd. Check it out, put it back on then do a buddy surface.