Diver Panic @ 135 ft. Rapid Ascent

[SCarolinaDiver]

I was taking my advanced open water class this past weekend. We did 4 dives over 2 days. This was the 1st dive of the second day, it was a deep dive. While 130 is the rec limits, Our instructor told us of a graveyard at 135 ft in a local lake and we all agreed that it would be awesome to see.

This lake is colder than others in the area by just a few degrees. (Lake Jocassee, for any of you from the Carolinas) The air temp was approaching 100 that day and it was sunny, so we were all glad to jump in the water. We all wore 3 mm wetsuits and hoods. Some had gloves. (We knew it would be cold but were only going to be down there a few minutes, plus I dont think any of us had thicker suits.)
We began our descent and it got colder and darker fast, as lakes do. (We all had glow sticks attached to our yokes and lights that stayed on)

Neither me or my dive buddy had gloves, and I can honestly say that I have never been HALF that cold in all my life. I just hurt, plain and simple, it just hurt to be that cold. So I got to the bottom of the line and looked around at the eerie surroundings with my hands under my armpits and waited for our time to ascend as a group. A couple minutes in I heard that tell tale sound of someone trying to yell underwater. *Red Flag* I had just taken Diver Stress and Rescue about a week before, so my senses to this kind of thing were heightened. I looked up and about 20 feet up, which was still about 115 feet I see 2 divers going up, one I could only assume was the Instructor or DiveCon. My dive buddy and I shortly found we were the only ones left and calmly ascended to 70 feet to perform a task we were planned to do and then to 20 ft for safety stop. I was anxious to get to the surface and see what went wrong.

Come to find out, a young diver of 16 and the minimum dives for the class (Not to speak ill of him, I am 22 and only had the minimum number of dives for the class) Had reached depth and began breathing rapidly and could not catch his breath or slow his breathing and shot to the surface. The instructor went up with him, ignoring ascent rate procedures, and no safety stop. The kid had a panic attack because of the cold and not being able to catch his breath and freaked out. His quick ascent didnt present a cause of concern to the instructor as his computer did not say anything about it. He threw up once he reached the surface and calmed down. The instructor went back down to avoid any ailments. The guy was fine when all was said and done.

Just another lesson about being mentally prepared for a dive, and also having the right exposure protection!

 

[wrybosome]

What was the water temp at the bottom?

 

[ScubaSteve]

What agency was this through? I was of the impression that most had a shallower limit for the training dives (even for the deep one) - I thought I had read 100' but I could obviously be mistaken. I am not an instructor, nor do I play one on TV. I am however glad it worked out for everyone.

If I was you, I would never do another dive with that instructor. Any instructor that will take an uncertified diver to the cold depths of a lake without proper thermal protection is just asking for deaths to happen. An experienced diver does not think straight when they are cold, let alone a new diver. That IMO, was just stupid. Find another instructor and leave that one in the dust.

Also, a piece of solid advice......learn to call a dive. You have the right to call any dive for any reason. If you are that uncomfortably cold then poke the instructor and thumb it to him.

 

[TSandM]

I have a lot of issues with this story.

First, I don't know what agency you are with, but for PADI, there is no prerequisite for the AOW class other than OW dives 1 through 4, and I believe other agencies are similar or the same. So we are most likely dealing with brand new divers here.

Second, the PADI depth limit for the deep dive of the AOW class is 100 fsw. Even that can be too deep for novices. Narcosis is real, work of breathing is significantly higher, and new divers often don't have efficient breathing patterns even when they AREN'T freezing cold. This means that folks easily get very anxious and blow through their gas quickly, and often aren't alert enough to notice that. We have had several deaths in the Seattle area during or immediately after the deep AOW dive, due to running out of air.

I don't know what the temperature in the lake was, but it was pretty clearly too low for the exposure protection everyone was using. Getting cold makes you clumsy and impairs clear thinking, as well as increasing respiratory rate (again, back to blowing through your gas).

In short, I see a lot of bad decisions in the dive planning here, and although I hate to point fingers, the instructor should have known this was a bad idea. To take brand new divers to 135 feet in a lake (where I would assume it's very dark at that depth, and the viz may have been poor) when they are inadequately clothed for the temperatures is setting things up for a bad outcome. Luckily, this kid survived unscathed, but it could well have been otherwise, if he had held his breath during his panicked ascent.

 

[SCarolinaDiver]

SSI was the agency. The requirements are 24 dives to start AOW class. So every diver was not brand new. (Of course 24 isnt a lot relatively, but it is better than 5.) The limits is 100' unless the diver is certified in deep diving. This was our cert. dive for deep diving.

The viz was actually pretty good comaparitively. Would have been able to see without lights, but lights obviously made it better.

The lake temp on the surface was good. And as far as exposure protection, the instructor wore gloves, hood, 3mm suit and also a 1mm skin underneath and recommended we do the same. He said he was fine with that equipment at depth. I decided to tough it out sans gloves and skin. I actually think it would have been much better had I had gloves. Im kind of a wuss for the cold to begin with. (Raised in SC)

As far as calling the dive, the instructor was us all feel plenty comfortable doing so and said it would be no problem to do so and they could schedule for another day. My Dive buddy actually called it a few minutes early, I was prepared to within the next 1 or 2 min. No one stayed the whole planned time.

The kid dis continue to breathe on ascent, and the instructor did a textbook job on aiding is ascent, from what I saw for the first 30-40 ft.

The instructor is a friend of mine, so I have to defend him a little. He gave everyone ample opportunity to bow out and did not pressure anyone the least bit. He was very reassuring. Also, as I said, recommended certain exposure protection. It was a lesson learned on exposure protection for me.

Not sure of exact water temp. I think it was in the 50s. To be honest, I think it was a little colder than anyone expected. I plan on diving this site again with a minimum of gloves added to my gear, and maybe a skin underneath my 3mm.

On top of my lesson and the kids, I think it was a lesson to everyone that things aren't always as planned and water conditions wont always be the same they were last time.

 

[a22shady]

I just completed my AOW class this weekend (PADI) and the deep dive Limit was 100' our planned deoth was a Truck at 90'. We took our class in Dutch Springs quarry in bethlehem PA. If your quarry is anything like ours I think going to depth was crazy with a 3mm suit. Most here will wear 7mm at minum if above 30' below usually add hood/gloves. Surface Temp was 70-75F below 30-60 average 55-62F below 60-90 was 48-55F. 2 of had drysuits for all the 5 dives one with 7mm wetsuit.

As for PADI there is no dive limit only that you have completed OW. I think had the student that Panicked had proper equipment that it would have been less likely but still not guarenteed. As the OP said he had limited dives and just very well may not have been ready and decided to take the class to soon. There alot of people who do right after the other most are fine and people like this as it 5 more dives with a trained instructor to help gain more confidence.

As for my G/F and I since we purchased all our own gear we decided to hold off till next year and just get comforatable with our equipment and diving and practicing new skills we learned and take the AOW class next year which we did. We logged about 35 dives before the class and both felt very good even before so many dives. But never hurts to be patient we completed the class with no issues and I feel got even more from the class then we would have had we just jumped right in.

 

[ScubaSteve]

The limits is 100' unless the diver is certified in deep diving. This was our cert. dive for deep diving.

If it was your cert dive then you were not certified....agreed?? Do you see where you friend broke the rules and jeopardized you and your buddy?

As far as calling the dive, the instructor was us all feel plenty comfortable doing so and said it would be no problem to do so and they could schedule for another day. My Dive buddy actually called it a few minutes early, I was prepared to within the next 1 or 2 min. No one stayed the whole planned time.

Well technically your dive buddy shot for the surface.....I suppose that is thumbing the dive in a rapid way. Calling the dive is VERY different IMO than freaking out and shooting for the surface.

The instructor is a friend of mine, so I have to defend him a little.

Defend him all you want but he clearly broke the rules (as long as I am not misreading something) and therefore jeopardized not only your well being but also his status as an instructor. I am sure SSI would be none too please if they knew he was doing this.

He gave everyone ample opportunity to bow out and did not pressure anyone the least bit. He was very reassuring.

Being reassuring in and of itself is pressure because he is leading you to believe there is nothing wrong with it (IMO anyways). Had he shown good judgement everywhere else this would not be an issue with me.

 

[kathydee]

I have a lot of issues with this story.
In short, I see a lot of bad decisions in the dive planning here, and although I hate to point fingers, the instructor should have known this was a bad idea. To take brand new divers to 135 feet in a lake (where I would assume it's very dark at that depth, and the viz may have been poor) when they are inadequately clothed for the temperatures is setting things up for a bad outcome. Luckily, this kid survived unscathed, but it could well have been otherwise, if he had held his breath during his panicked ascent.

Ditto

I'm really glad nobody was injured or even worse...

 

[Jax]

If the kid's dive computer didn't complain, and the instructor went with him, is it not logical to assume they kept it under a 60fpm ascent? Hard to fool a computer, y'know.

Also - PADI has a 100' limit . . . what does SSI have for their AOW deep dive requirement?

 

[*dave*]

If it was your cert dive then you were not certified....agreed?? Do you see where you friend broke the rules and jeopardized you and your buddy?

SSI standards hold a max depth of 130' for specialty training, so yeah.... there was a violation of 5'.

For the OP: Exactly how many people were checking out on this dive? How many instructors or assistants were on the dive? What was the visibility like(Could the entire group see each other at all times)? Do you know what the exact temperature on the bottom was? Did you plan these dives? What was the planned depth, contingency depth and bottom times?

At the very least, your instructor should have known the site and what to expect at the bottom. It sounds like temps were well below 60 and at depth a 3mil suit isn't going to do squat to keep you warm. Having something "awesome to see" is just not part of the program. It's supposed to be a training dive. As a training dive, the conditions you were subjected to were not safe and safety is your instructor's primary responsibility.

oh, there are no requisite dives to start AOW with SSI, you just need to be certified. To receive the AOW card, you need 24 dives logged.