Diving today (1/21) and lessons learned

[all4scuba05]

Save the AOW for some other time. Pay an instructor for one on one dives with you to really learn the basics. The things that haven't become second nature to you yet are taught in basic OW. Too many divers leave OW not learning it or not proficient in these basic things. Then instead of going out there and diving to make it second nature, they pay for an advanced class to teach it to them again or to have an instructor hold their hand while they practice these things. An advanced class is not to "relearn" the basics. You learn them in basic OW. Then go out and dive within your limits until these skills become second nature. Only then should you bother with taking advanced OW.
Point is. You don't need to pay for an advanced OW class when you can simply pay an instructor to take you diving. He'll be there to help you sharpen your skills and see in what areas you need help.

 

[ClayJar]

With a few exceptions, it seems to me as if good buddies tend to result from burning all the chaff out of not so perfect buddies. I've had occasion to have to tell a good friend exactly how he was being a very poor buddy (to his wife, actually... and they're my significant buddy's parents, too). It takes work, but you can forge some really good buddy teams through moderately-applied constructive confrontation. (If it's a good friend, it may be that the things you're concerned about never occurred to them.)

Anyway, and as for the manually inflating the BC thing, I actually make it a point to not use the power inflator on the surface after a dive. I hit the surface, and if I want more air in the BC, I can manually inflate. It keeps me in good form, just in case I ever actually *need* to manually inflate my BC.

Of course, everything in moderation -- when I broke the surface in full hurl (and with the waves picking up significantly from when we dropped), I was hardly going to manually inflate my BC if I didn't need to. (It's hard to blow air and chunks at the same time, and cleaning that out of the BC and inflator is not fun.) Of course, if my BC didn't blow up like a big, burnt marshmallow when I mashed the button, I could've handled it, and barring that, well, I'd just hope my weights didn't hit anyone on their way down.

(You know, I think I might buy a spare weight belt and appropriate amounts of lead next time I'm at my LDS. Knowing myself as I do, having a spare would likely make me less likely to try to hang on to my weight belt in case I ever do have an incident. I carry spares for almost everything else in my save-a-dive(r) kit, so maybe it's time to add yet more goodies.)

 

[dcdev]

dk2943 said:
> ...being 56... I was carrying 16lbs ... no air went into my bc ... I started
> swimming to the boat. It was against the current...

Mad props! That's quite the swiming ability for that much weight, even with a 2mm and (I'm assuming) a pos. buoyant empty AL80.

My guess you and your buddy should switch roles as you kept your head clear in a pretty stressful situation . Make that really stressful.
I'll agree with prev. posts: educate your buddy and make him a better dive partner (your buddy is part of your safety equiment).

My guess is you'll also want to work on dropping that weight - it's a factor in why you used your air so fast (and that's pot vs. kettle - I'm an air hog).

Also, get a hood to go with your 2mm (or get a thicker suit). After each dive you're dropping your core temp a bit, so it natural that during later dives you felt colder. Hypothermia is a factor in DCS, and being cold is no fun. I wear a thick suit myself 'cause I hate being cold.

 

[trigfunctions]

If you are exhausted and having trouble staying on the surface, you should not swim as hard as you can against the current to try to get to the boat. That's how people drown or have heart attacks. You should signal the boat, make sure they see you are in trouble, drop your weights, and float until they come get you.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

After the initial experience why was the second dive even attempted? Exhausted, cold, OOA, and just having found out that buddy is less than reliable is a recipe for disaster. If this is the kind of judgement on-line classes creates it's going to be an interesting period of time as these things catch on and people start dying. If you don't have the time to get proper instruction maybe another hobby/sport is in order. Maybe on line surgery courses to save money on doctor bills. I can see it now:

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[TSandM]

You know, I think the thing that distresses me the most about stories like this is how casual people are about being dive buddies. To me, my dive buddy isn't just a friend I go diving with. My dive buddy is a RESOURCE -- He's my redundant gas, my redundant light, my redundant navigation, my disentangler if needed, and most importantly, he's my second brain. And I represent those things to him. I take that very seriously. As part of that relationship, we do our descents and our ascents TOGETHER. If my buddy has a problem that cuts a dive short, we go in TOGETHER. We did that on the trip to Canada, twice (two different buddies, two different issues). It didn't matter that these were charter dives and I had spent considerable money on them.

Even in OW, we were taught to dive as pairs and to stay together, and have buddy separation protocols. (We weren't taught HOW to stay together, but that's another matter.) To this day, the biggest thing that will put you on my s*** list is to violate the rule that buddies stay together.

Had you guys stayed together, so many things might have been different. You might have used less air by being less stressed in trying to find your buddy. You might have checked your gas sooner (or your buddy might have reminded you to do it). When you realized you needed to go up, you would have gone with someone who HAD gas to share with you when you ran out. You would have surfaced together, and your buddy could have helped you with your surface buoyancy issues, whether that was dropping your weights or helping you inflate your BC. Yes, your buddy got to you, but he was exhausted by swimming hard, which wouldn't have been necessary if you had stayed together on ascent.

You're brand new, and you can be forgiven a certain amount of this, but if your buddy is an experienced diver, I think his behavior through the whole dive can be criticized (although, when you realized your problem, you may have swum away from him faster than he could follow -- I've lost a buddy underwater that way).

"Constructive confrontation" -- LOL. I've done that. Sometimes it even works

 

[BrianO]

Most everything is pretty well covered in previous posts.

A cool head is probably the only thing that went well on that dive. That and a lot of luck.

Sounds like the combination of added stress of looking for your buddy and the depth on the wreck are what happened to your air.

Wreck Diving in the Gulf Stream is synonymous with fair to screaming currents. If you check your air supply more often from now on, you'll lprobably always make it to the ascent line. Beware that it can get even more crowded than a boat deck at 15/20 feet while the group is diong their safety stops.

To avoid buddy separation, be the first pair or last pair in and take your time. As was pointed out earlier, everty time I read an incident report, there seems to be a few small things that go wrong that culminate in some kind of spooky situation.

Find a pool where you can practice oral/manual inflation of that BC. That is a skill you should be able to do in your sleep.

Keep diving and watch folks. You'll see really good examples of what to do and unfortunately, quite a few of what not to.

 

[DiveMaven]

I have to agree with TS&M on the dive buddy thing. While diving in Hawaii, they use a "loose buddy" system where divers go back to the boat when their air or NDL tells them it's time. My buddy (husband) and I do not follow a "loose" system, we are buddies, period. Thus, whenever either my buddy or I signals that we are going up, the other ALWAYS comes, regardless of air or NDL status.

I also have to agree with JimLap about why a second dive was done. As I read the OP's story, I was stunned that he did the second dive after an OOA, being cold and exhausted. I also thought that the smartest thing his friend did was call the second dive and rest on the boat.

Additional training definitely seems to be the smart thing here. Basic dive planning, not checking the SPG regularly, doing a safety stop at 30' instead of 15', not knowing how to orally inflate the BC, not dropping weights, having an OOA ascent, and doing a second dive even after being cold and exhausted from the first.....these are all huge red flags that scream DIVE ACCIDENT waiting to happen.

 

[CheddarChick]

I wonder how much air you started out with? How long was your actual dive? I think you did great, you survived in good shape, and tell about it, and you lived to dive again.

 

[dk2943]

You will all be pleased to know that, today, I went into the local LDS that I like, Underwater Unlimited. I told them the story and got an earful for my lack of knowledge followed by an offer to have a private lesson (nc) on the proper way to manually inflate the bc. This is the reason that I try and buy from the LDS.

I have carefully read all of your posts and intend to take them to heart, and I will let you know if my friend becomes a good buddy.