Can someone explain to me what the h*ll this is about??

[TCDiver1]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...

They also seem to be strongly represented in the DAN report. Last years report said over 40% of the dives that resulted in injuries also had buoyancy control problems reported and rapid ascents in over 25%.

This years report doesn't give those numbers for injuries but the figure for fatalities is over 60% had buoyancy control problems reported.

Mike,
I don't have any Dan reports but can you automatically attribute "buoyancy control problems", to underwater issues. I don't think so. They could just as easily be, forgetting to establish positive buoyancy at the surface or a diver freaking out at depth and shooting to the surface or both.

How specific is Dan on what the buoyancy control problems are?

Ps: I hear my lights are in and sweet. I can hardly wait to rig them to my housing and blind some fish.

 

[Knavey]

Gedunk,

Speaking of blinding fish...

Was on a liveaboard last week. We had 4 dutch divers that were with us. They were very heavy into photography and were always in the water taking pictures. I really didn't pay that close of attention to them until that LAST dive of the trip. I was doing a night dive with one of the DMs on the boat (my wife is uneasy during night dives and didn't want to go). The dive was almost the best one of the trip. The rays were coming into the coral to feed. Saw one that was about 5 feet long. The reef was absolutely ALIVE with fish. More eels than we could count...all of this on the Strip off of Bimini.

Well anyway, I was on one end of the reef, and was swimming back in the direction of the boat (and the dutch divers). I could see their glowsticks ahead, and suddenly...IT LOOKED LIKE SOMEONE OPENED A WALMART STORE UP UNDERWATER. I swear those guys had an underwater generator set. They lit that end of the reef up like a parking lot. Any fish that was in the area had to have been outright stunned and blinded, if not fried from the MEGAWATTS of electrical power going to those lights.

The DM I was swimming with and I just started laughing....those fish didn't have a chance.

I suppose you had to be there... but it was pretty funny. I could only keep thinking...those poor fish...those poor fish.

 

[TCDiver1]

Knavey once bubbled...

I suppose you had to be there... but it was pretty funny. I could only keep thinking...those poor fish...those poor fish.

Well, i'm only kinda kidding about the fish part ..... not really, i love scaring the crap out of the burbot up here in the great lakes. If fish could put up wanted posters, i would be on one of them

Seriously, i spent a week in Chuuk a couple years ago, trying to video the inside of wrecks with a single 25 watt halogen. It was weak at best. Swore that would never happen again. MikeF made me a good deal on a Helios with dual 24 HID's. My wallets significantly lighter, but the same will true of my video.:tease:

 

[Whirling Girl]

sheck33 once bubbled...

BTW had a good dive tonight with GearHead at Alki, big octo at the logs near Olive's old den. Cool.

I know, that guy (or probably girl) is really quite huge. My cat could fit throught the siphon. I've named him Oscar, but the longer he/she hangs out there, the more I'm hoping it turns out to be Olive II.

diversaurus, I think that kneeling on the bottom is a problem in any diving situation because it keeps divers from practicing, and mastering, their buoyancy control, making it an instinctive part of their diving. I just think it's more of a discipline issue; it's much easier to kneel on the bottom than it is to maintain neutral buoyancy. If we let ourselves slack, we are not doing the work it takes to perfect our buoyancy control.

Buoyancy control is alot more than just practice; I wonder if the students in the picture could do it in the gear they are wearing and with the weight they are carrying. I think being able to maintain neutral buoyancy and also perform tasks requires that you dive a balanced rig, and are not overweighted. So your configuration and weighting would have to change as well to even give you the option of doing things neutral rather than kneeling on the bottom.

Teaching students neutral buoyancy from the beginning takes care of multiple issues; buoyancy control, proper weighting and diving a balanced rig. I see students pick it up pretty quickly when they are challenged to do so and aren't really given the option of kneeling on the bottom, but then again, those students are also diving a DIR configuration, and aren't overweighted.

(yes, I dive DIR too. please don't kill me. )

Just my thoughts.

Margaret

 

[MikeFerrara]

gedunk once bubbled...


Mike,
I don't have any Dan reports but can you automatically attribute "buoyancy control problems", to underwater issues. I don't think so. They could just as easily be, forgetting to establish positive buoyancy at the surface or a diver freaking out at depth and shooting to the surface or both.

How specific is Dan on what the buoyancy control problems are?

Ps: I hear my lights are in and sweet. I can hardly wait to rig them to my housing and blind some fish.

Well, DAN isn't very specific at all. However it does seem that the divers with the worst skills are the most likely to get hurt. We see it around here all the time. A diver has a free flow and ends up shooting to the surface. Sometimes they panic and sometimes they just can't control their buoyancy while breathing a fre flow. I make my students breath a free flow midwater and believe it or not it's one of the hardest skills for them to learn.

It's really simple. When you change attitude in the water your buoyancy changes. When you change your breathing your buoyancy changes. Now if you weren't neutral in the first place (and our head up divers are not) you don't have a chance.

How many instructors here make students share air mid-water. This is another one that requires practice. Doing it on the bottom is easy but doesn't mean squat. A simple air share often sends one or both divers shooting to the surface or down into the bottom.

I know an instructor who was decending the deep side of Gilboa. He ghad a free flow and was soon out of air. He switched to his sons alternate but became buoyant, failed to control it and shot up from 100 ft without any air and alone. They just didn't have the tools to deal with something that shouldn't have been more than a minor inconvenience.

It's all in the basics folks. If you have good solid basic skills there just isn't much that can happen that can hurt you unless you have a heart attack.

 

[Rick Murchison]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
How many instructors here make students share air mid-water. This is another one that requires practice. Doing it on the bottom is easy but doesn't mean squat. A simple air share often sends one or both divers shooting to the surface or down into the bottom.

This is an excellent point and I do hope all instructors who're on the board take it to heart. I for one have my students initiate an air-sharing from a hover in mid water during the check-out dives. I don't demand they remain precisely at the same depth (that's in the advanced class) but do require that they not crash or cork. It usually takes several tries before they're comfy with it.
Rick

 

[cornfed]

O-ring once bubbled...

Is it just me, or is it getting worse?

What's getting worse? SB becoming more or less tame?

Cornfed

 

[detroit diver]

Rick Murchison once bubbled...

This is an excellent point and I do hope all instructors who're on the board take it to heart. I for one have my students initiate an air-sharing from a hover in mid water during the check-out dives. I don't demand they remain precisely at the same depth (that's in the advanced class) but do require that they not crash or cork. It usually takes several tries before they're comfy with it.
Rick

Rick,

You're exposing your students to the skill, and that's the important part. Most never even get a chance to try this because instructors never challenge it.

And this is a skill that has the potential to alleviate problems when someone shoots to the surface during an OOA experience. Imagine all of the embolism and DCS cases that could have been eliminated if the people involved has some clue as to what to do and how to do it.

 

[DSJ]

Not sure I've practiced mid-water air sharing. I know I did it in the water column in my OW class many years ago, but we were facing the quarry wall so had a good idea if we were moving. I know my buddy and I were vertical however, so we could have been kicking. I'll need practice on that. I know I've never practiced breathing a free-flow. I really need some remedial work...

David

 

[jepuskar]

So tell me again..what is wrong with that picture?