NJ to FLA
Contributor
I would feel VERY lucky/safe diving with you. I hope to someday be able to handle a situation like that. (although I hope I never have to 
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Close call with a newbie
- Thread starter Eric Sedletzky
- Start date
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elan
Contributor
While the experience is no that good may be from the first sight you must admit that you have learned something for yourself, have not you ?
ScubaSteve
Wow.....what a DB
. Sounds like quite the adventure. Hopefully you both learned something from it though....although it sounds like this guy might have missed the entire lesson 
Peter_C
Contributor
So another question if you had 2000 psi and he was down to only a few hundred...what size tank was he using?
What ZKY did also not mention is the road home is very winding and twisting with shear cliffs. Not somewhere I would want to be in a vehicle with someone who has a buzz going.
What ZKY did also not mention is the road home is very winding and twisting with shear cliffs. Not somewhere I would want to be in a vehicle with someone who has a buzz going.
Something I have learned from experience is not to make assumptions about a divers ability based on what he tells you before you have dived with him. I have found myself buddied with a guy who claimed to be a PADI DM who could not use a compass, and guys who claimed to be experienced wreck divers whose idea of a controlled descent to 30m involved crashing into the bottom at 42m in a cloud of silt and finning back up to join the team (such is holiday diving!).
When I dive with a new buddy I always make sure we have agreed a dive plan and that we do a proper buddy check. If he doesn't like it I know he's not my kind of buddy.
When I dive with a new buddy I always make sure we have agreed a dive plan and that we do a proper buddy check. If he doesn't like it I know he's not my kind of buddy.
OP
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Yes, actually there was a dive plan.
We were supposed to surface swim out to the outer edge of the cove, drop down and follow heading of 150. That would have put us on the path to a pinnacle that I know of. He was supposed to let me know when he reached 1000 PSI so we could turn around.
He was using a steel 72 and I was using a steel 100. He's 160 pounds soaking wet and I'm 6'4" 225 bone dry. He claimed he used almost no air because he was good. I figured therefore we might be about equal. I let him take the speargun in case something crossed our path, but I told him from the beginning we stick together. As soon as he hit the water he got speargun fever and the entire plan went out the window. He was kicking like a striped ape and I was frog kicking and gliding. At the end of the dive when he got all excited his exhaust air looked like a choo choo train.
That's why he had no air left and I had 1800 when we reached the surface (2000 when the "S" hit the fan).
Did I learn anything? Yes, to never dive with the jerk again, and to study and be weary people who constantly bellow about how good they are.
We were supposed to surface swim out to the outer edge of the cove, drop down and follow heading of 150. That would have put us on the path to a pinnacle that I know of. He was supposed to let me know when he reached 1000 PSI so we could turn around.
He was using a steel 72 and I was using a steel 100. He's 160 pounds soaking wet and I'm 6'4" 225 bone dry. He claimed he used almost no air because he was good. I figured therefore we might be about equal. I let him take the speargun in case something crossed our path, but I told him from the beginning we stick together. As soon as he hit the water he got speargun fever and the entire plan went out the window. He was kicking like a striped ape and I was frog kicking and gliding. At the end of the dive when he got all excited his exhaust air looked like a choo choo train.
That's why he had no air left and I had 1800 when we reached the surface (2000 when the "S" hit the fan).
Did I learn anything? Yes, to never dive with the jerk again, and to study and be weary people who constantly bellow about how good they are.
princessaprilia
Contributor
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OP
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
I'll bellow to anyone who'll listen about how crappy I am. Will you dive with me?
It's the ones that bellow about how crappy they are generally the ones that turn out to be pretty good.
If you run into someone that bellows constantly how good they are (and really believes it), run the other way as fast as you can!
Thanks for posting the story...great character builder...
I would not hold this situation against others... but you should know, there are worse divers out there than your guy...sadly, much worse. And I have had an instabuddy that pointed his loaded gun at me several times before I took it away from him..that one upsets me a lot.
But I would, after I got over the anger management issue I have, actually feel sorry for the guy...you can go back and dive with friends... if he dives.. he is a danger to himself and anyone he is with...
I would not hold this situation against others... but you should know, there are worse divers out there than your guy...sadly, much worse. And I have had an instabuddy that pointed his loaded gun at me several times before I took it away from him..that one upsets me a lot.
But I would, after I got over the anger management issue I have, actually feel sorry for the guy...you can go back and dive with friends... if he dives.. he is a danger to himself and anyone he is with...
Sorry about your experience, that really stinks. Sadly if you would have done a pre-dive briefing and gear check you probably could have seen much of this happening before you hit the water. Anytime I go out with a new person (recommended or just met) I do an extensive brief and go over both our gear setups. I want them to know all about mine and me all about theirs. I am sure he would have been slow on much of that. If I am diving with somebody I know and/or have dove with a lot we still do a brief which will be more or less detailed depending upon whether we are doing a tech dive or rec dive. We usually skip all the gear details, except function checks and air on (because we always wear the same rig and know each others setup). We of course go over any new gear or gear configuration changes. By doing this I have caught a couple of people in lies about their diving experience. They would fumble during showing me how their gear worked and was setup.
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