critiqueing myself for being stupid

[mech]

I learned a couple of lessons yesturday and am critiqueing myself.
My buddy is a dirt poor 20 year old DM that is a decent diver and has very good rescue skills.I've actually seen him rescue a large adult female who was completely out of air at 80' and was freaking out to the point of violence.
Karl is 6'4" and about 325lbs.
Ok on to my story.
N. Montastary and deep.
Karl had a POS BC and I knew it was a POS but continued to go ahead with our deep dive plan...God how stupid does that sound?
We were both diving wet and using single steel LP 95's.
On our assent at 120' his corrigated LP inflator hose broke in half.No more BC for him. He was able to kick up easy enough but I assisted him on our stops.Both of us were totally calm and freaking out never entered our minds.
We surfaced a pretty far kick out so after we surfaced I had him hold on to my wings (turns out that he was pretty well over weighted)and we sat there for a bit debriefing and thinking of our new plan.
We agreed that a weight belt dump at this point could be avoided and that I would swim him in. After about 2 minutes I
relized that I really didn't want to do that if I didn't have to so We discussed either dumping weights or letting him use my gear as a float.We decided for me to give him my gear because we were not stressed at all and I knew I was just slightly bouyant with out my rig.
At the shore He waited out of the surf line while I came in and dumped my belt and remaining gear I then helped him on his exit.
As I look back on this I feel I need to take full responsiblity for the whole situation.
Reguarless of him being a DM I am more mature and more experianced.
Plain *** simple I failed my buddy in the buddy check.
By doing that I also put myself (and family) at risk.
I also dove into depths where I needed different gear and training.
To make matters more humiliating (but yet well deserved) I bumped into my favorite instructor on shore and was properly read the riot act in a very calm manner.
I believe I understand this situation well enough to correct it from happening again but I'm not sure that I did the wrong thing by giving him my BC.
Thoughts?
Andy

 

[ShakaZulu]

Why do you say it was the wrong thing to give him your BC? If you don't have to dump weights, don't do it. Situation was under control, so you did well. Besides, doing safety stops with a 325lbs over weighted dewd and no BC, dang.......... How much lift does your BC have???

 

[Seabear70]

Ok, get you dirt poor friend to triple-l and order the orion. You will thank me. I love mine, and it was only $150

 

[Gary D.]

Sounds like you both made it in and were uninjured. That kind of sounds like doing the right thing. Was it by the book? maybe yes, maybe not, but the book is a guideline with "some" leeway.

Everytime a plane returns to earth it's a crash. Most are just better controlled than others. It all ends up on how they announce the arrival in the terminal. It's either Flight whatever is arriving at gate??, OR AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Flight whatever is delayed for good. Same things fits for diving.

Sounds like you did what fit at the time.

Gary D.

 

[FreeFloat]

A very good diver friend of mine once said, "any dive you can walk away from is a good dive."

 

[Ontario Diver]

Don't know if I agree with your read of the situation:

Plain *** simple I failed my buddy in the buddy check. - Nope, Gear breaks. period. Was if broken during your buddy check? Do you normally do non-destructive testing on an inflator hose as a part of your buddy check? No you didn't fail the buddy check.

"and we sat there for a bit debriefing and thinking of our new plan." Herein lies the proof. There was no panic. You discussed and planned and later amended your plan.

Your fav instructor read you the riot act.... GOOD!... Every time something like this happens we can learn.

You did OK.


Heck - I'd dive with you.

 

[Diver0001]

I....snip.... I believe I understand this situation well enough to correct it from happening again but I'm not sure that I did the wrong thing by giving him my BC.
Thoughts?
Andy

I might very well have done that too.

I think you did fine. If you need any ideas what to get your DM friend for Christmas I might have a suggestion.

R..

 

[murphdivers286]

I agree with the above. The BC might not have been the best in the world, but if your DM friend has dove with it before than there should not have been an issue of his BC at precheck. My wife has a brand new Seaquest Pro QD+. Her hose broke on a dive. It was working before then. Why would either of us blame ourselves because it broke during a dive.

I think you did great. You and your buddy had a problem. Instead of freaking out and dying, you remained calm and handled the problem. NO PROBLEM!!!!!!

 

[mech]

I felt I let him down because his BC looked like it had been through a war reguarless of that it passed numerous buddy checks it still lookedlike something I wouldn't dive with and I did.
Karl and I have over 80 dives together 25 plus with that BC.
ShakaZulu,
I meant that I didn't think it was wrong, but had my doubts 'cause it was a bit unorthadox. I've never been trained to do that but I figured what ever you want to call it it's a floation device and he needed it more than me.
My BC is a pioneer 36 with a 6lb plate.
I use 8lbs on my belt.

 

[MyDiveLog]

At the end of the day you both completed the dive without panicing and endandering either of you....that's the best measure. I'm not sure I'd give up my BC rather than have the buddy dump weight but, as I said, everything worked out fine and that's what matters.

Did you fail your buddy by allowing him to dive with less than 'good condition' gear? I don't think so ...otherwise you run the risk of becoming a 'dive nazi,' which is a drag for you and won't make you many friends. In similar situations I've made a mental note of the buddy's equipment, thinking through in advance what is most likely to go wrong and plan my response, watched them a bit more closely than normal, and then did 'gentle nudging' after the dive.

Good job!