Gear breaks.
You felt comfortable enough to give him something to rest on.
Everything worked out fine. Good call.
You felt comfortable enough to give him something to rest on.
Everything worked out fine. Good call.
critiqueing myself for being stupid
- Thread starter mech
- Start date
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Any decision made that resulted in two people going home safe was the right decision.
Nothin wrong with that!
Nothin wrong with that!
Wristshot
Contributor
Mech,
Just a other few opinions (and comments and questions):
1) I don't think you failed your buddy during the buddy check unless you failed to note the sad state of his gear. It sounds like you would never dive with gear like that on your own back, but was it bad enough for you to thumb the dive? No, based on what you said. I think the fact that you knew the guy and you knew the gear may have allowed you to go along, but sometimes "stuff happens". Granted older gear might suggest a more thorough check, but even brand new stuff can fail. Would a more careful inspection have revealed any defects? Don't know. Just food for thought.
2) Should he have been going that deep with raggedy gear? Sounds like the answer should be no, but who knew? Now you both learned a lesson (and you shred it with us!)
3) Did you have enough air in your tank to have shared air for a safe ascent if the failure had been on his regulator? If yes, then you weren't really at risk per se.
4) Once you were safely at the surface, the major concerns should be over. Now you just have to get in safely. Granted, at Monastery, that is a taller order than at the average dive site. Should you have given him your BC? Why not? Here's my thinking: If the situation had gotten bad, he could have always dropped his weight belt at any time. The fact that he never dropped his weight belt, and you never suggested that he should tells me that you had everything under control. You gave him a sort of a "flotation device" to help him out. So where's the problem? I might be concerned about you with 8lbs and no BC, but chances are you floated just fine without the big steel cylinder on your back. Again if you had gotten into trouble you could have dropped your weight belt. You said that you were positive. Great, no problem. You went in, dropped excess gear and then returned to help your buddy in. Sounds to me like everything was done just fine.
--------------------
They always say that the most important thing is to not panic. Sounds like you and Karl had that covered completely. Maybe I am missing something, so I am curious about exactly what your Instructor chewed you out about.
Question 1: When the low pressure inflator hose broke off did the air in the BC leak out, or were you just not able to add any more air? I am guessing that the broken hose allowed for air to escape.
Question 2: Would you do anything different knowing what you know now? Besides refusing to dive with such old gear? Starting from the point of failure, would you do anything different?
PS: if you had refused to dive with Karl because of his gear, would he have bought new gear, or would he have done anyway, either solo or with some other buddy. Just wondering.
Wristshot
(not that you asked) I would not hesitate to dive with you.
Just a other few opinions (and comments and questions):
1) I don't think you failed your buddy during the buddy check unless you failed to note the sad state of his gear. It sounds like you would never dive with gear like that on your own back, but was it bad enough for you to thumb the dive? No, based on what you said. I think the fact that you knew the guy and you knew the gear may have allowed you to go along, but sometimes "stuff happens". Granted older gear might suggest a more thorough check, but even brand new stuff can fail. Would a more careful inspection have revealed any defects? Don't know. Just food for thought.
2) Should he have been going that deep with raggedy gear? Sounds like the answer should be no, but who knew? Now you both learned a lesson (and you shred it with us!)
3) Did you have enough air in your tank to have shared air for a safe ascent if the failure had been on his regulator? If yes, then you weren't really at risk per se.
4) Once you were safely at the surface, the major concerns should be over. Now you just have to get in safely. Granted, at Monastery, that is a taller order than at the average dive site. Should you have given him your BC? Why not? Here's my thinking: If the situation had gotten bad, he could have always dropped his weight belt at any time. The fact that he never dropped his weight belt, and you never suggested that he should tells me that you had everything under control. You gave him a sort of a "flotation device" to help him out. So where's the problem? I might be concerned about you with 8lbs and no BC, but chances are you floated just fine without the big steel cylinder on your back. Again if you had gotten into trouble you could have dropped your weight belt. You said that you were positive. Great, no problem. You went in, dropped excess gear and then returned to help your buddy in. Sounds to me like everything was done just fine.
--------------------
They always say that the most important thing is to not panic. Sounds like you and Karl had that covered completely. Maybe I am missing something, so I am curious about exactly what your Instructor chewed you out about.
Question 1: When the low pressure inflator hose broke off did the air in the BC leak out, or were you just not able to add any more air? I am guessing that the broken hose allowed for air to escape.
Question 2: Would you do anything different knowing what you know now? Besides refusing to dive with such old gear? Starting from the point of failure, would you do anything different?
PS: if you had refused to dive with Karl because of his gear, would he have bought new gear, or would he have done anyway, either solo or with some other buddy. Just wondering.
Wristshot
(not that you asked) I would not hesitate to dive with you.
Handing off a bc for some one to use as floatation is a viable choice.
I still would have had him drop his weights though.
I still would have had him drop his weights though.
Mech,
No need to torture yourself. You did fine. Besides, anything could have aggravated the condition of the BC while underwater. These things happen and you shouldn't feel sorry about your buddy's gear misfortune. After all, you both made out, and most of all cool, calm and collected.
Nice going!
No need to torture yourself. You did fine. Besides, anything could have aggravated the condition of the BC while underwater. These things happen and you shouldn't feel sorry about your buddy's gear misfortune. After all, you both made out, and most of all cool, calm and collected.
Nice going!
lamont
Contributor
mech:
Could you have had him take his weights off and hand them to you?
If not, I probably would have had him ditch his weights and then bought him some new ones: "f-it dude, drop the weights, i'll buy you some more, no worries..."
YMMV, *shrug*, i don't think you did anything that horrible...
When my inflator hose came unattached there were no apparent signs of my having problems with my NEW bcd (about 90 dives on it), I was close enough to my husband to write on his slate what the problem was and how we were going to solve the issue of getting back to shore (I had tons of air and we were very shallow so I decided to just swim it in on the bottom). There was no way to know this was going to happen, gear check was done and all was fine.
The fact that you controlled the situation and everyone returned safe from the dive should be enough to pat yourself on the back. I've seen divers with (alleged) years of experience freak out over little stuff. Congrats to both of you for keeping your cool, he very well could have panicked and made things really rough on you both!
Best Wishes
The fact that you controlled the situation and everyone returned safe from the dive should be enough to pat yourself on the back. I've seen divers with (alleged) years of experience freak out over little stuff. Congrats to both of you for keeping your cool, he very well could have panicked and made things really rough on you both!
Best Wishes
Had I waited a bit to post this I might not have been so hard on myself.
My instructor was more concerned about our dive plan that the equipment failure and I acept it because he was right.
In hindsight I feel that we handled this failure pretty darn well.
Gear is gear.Sometimes it breaks, but I still agreed to a plan with gear I wouldn't use.
I guess that's why I was kinda hard on myself.
I'm not sure if he'd have done that dive with out me, but he probably would if he was comftable with his buddy.
I think we did good because we knew how we dive together didn't have stress in this situation to complicate things.
It was more like "hey look at this ... darn it this dive is over. Oh well let's deal with it".
When we surfaced we discussed him dropping his belt and while I know if in any doubt drop the belt,we didn't because the stress just wasn't there and we have good swimming skills.Had it been there or if our swimming skills were in question I/we would have had another plan.
My instructor was more concerned about our dive plan that the equipment failure and I acept it because he was right.
In hindsight I feel that we handled this failure pretty darn well.
Gear is gear.Sometimes it breaks, but I still agreed to a plan with gear I wouldn't use.
I guess that's why I was kinda hard on myself.
I'm not sure if he'd have done that dive with out me, but he probably would if he was comftable with his buddy.
I think we did good because we knew how we dive together didn't have stress in this situation to complicate things.
It was more like "hey look at this ... darn it this dive is over. Oh well let's deal with it".
When we surfaced we discussed him dropping his belt and while I know if in any doubt drop the belt,we didn't because the stress just wasn't there and we have good swimming skills.Had it been there or if our swimming skills were in question I/we would have had another plan.
My opinion, you did good.
I agree with Mike and lamont though - jettison the bloody weights! If he still needs assistance, go ahead and give him your BC. You said you were pos buoyant without it, so no biggie in that department as well.
The key is not to panic. You assessed the situation, determined the best course of action and amended the plan as the situation developed/evolved. In short, good divers doing the right thing.
Bad equipment? Maybe, maybe not. Equipment breaks. If it didn't all the tekkies at dive stores around the world would be out of a job. Heck, I've had all sorts of crud break on me - from regs to mask straps. It's not the failure of equipment that bothers me, it's the failures of the divers that don't respond properly that keep me awake at night!
I'm in Florida, but if I ever get out your way, I wouldn't hesitate to dive with either of you - good, smart divers are hard to find!
Take care and keep diving!
Lee
I agree with Mike and lamont though - jettison the bloody weights! If he still needs assistance, go ahead and give him your BC. You said you were pos buoyant without it, so no biggie in that department as well.
The key is not to panic. You assessed the situation, determined the best course of action and amended the plan as the situation developed/evolved. In short, good divers doing the right thing.
Bad equipment? Maybe, maybe not. Equipment breaks. If it didn't all the tekkies at dive stores around the world would be out of a job. Heck, I've had all sorts of crud break on me - from regs to mask straps. It's not the failure of equipment that bothers me, it's the failures of the divers that don't respond properly that keep me awake at night!
I'm in Florida, but if I ever get out your way, I wouldn't hesitate to dive with either of you - good, smart divers are hard to find!
Take care and keep diving!
Lee
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