DM has a "Barney Fife" Moment

[DA Aquamaster]

Mike Nelson always had problems with hose cutting divers in Sea Hunt episodes. So it's pretty obvious one of the "customers" was really an enemy agent who snuck up and cut his hose while he was busy tending to the real customers. And it's worth noting that Mike often went for the surface when this happend.

But in all seriousness, I agree with the DM's actrions in the other story. I think an ascent from 50 ft to the surface on the octo makes sense in that situation, especially without a buddy you trust. It's a sure thing as even with a ruptured hose your gas will last long enough for a normal ascent. And it does not sound like he was exactly swarmed with willing donors even though he had an obvious problem, which is another indicator that as a DM you are basically solo.

 

[WetDawg]

Anyone ever tried to cut a cheap garden hose with a dive knife? I have and it was a struggle. After a couple thousand dives with my knife on my BC hose I can't imagine that would ever "accidentally" slice the hose. In fact, the hose mount is one of the safest and most convenient place for a knife...always there, always ready and you can look down and actually see it go in and out of the sheath. Never worry about snagging it on anything and you never have to spend any extra time strapping it on.

I wonder how many people have accidentally sliced their legs with their knife? Probably not many ... and I would guess that flesh is easier to slice than an LP inflator hose.

In 20 years of diving I have seen a few fingers cut with dive knives, but that was almost always from playing with them on the surface.

 

[Diver0001]

But in all seriousness, I agree with the DM's actrions in the other story. I think an ascent from 50 ft to the surface on the octo makes sense in that situation, especially without a buddy you trust. It's a sure thing as even with a ruptured hose your gas will last long enough for a normal ascent. And it does not sound like he was exactly swarmed with willing donors even though he had an obvious problem, which is another indicator that as a DM you are basically solo.

Yeah,

That's when the coin really fell for me and I realized that your clients can be more shocked by these things than you are.

R..

 

[Seuss]

Anyone ever tried to cut a cheap garden hose with a dive knife? I have and it was a struggle. After a couple thousand dives with my knife on my BC hose I can't imagine that would ever "accidentally" slice the hose.

It is much easier to cut a pressurized line than an unpressurized line. It can be tough to cut a deflated balloon, but touch an inflated balloon with the edge of a knife and it blows apart. I wouldn't want to make a claim one way or another without doing some experimentation first.

 

[gangrel441]

It is much easier to cut a pressurized line than an unpressurized line. It can be tough to cut a deflated balloon, but touch an inflated balloon with the edge of a knife and it blows apart. I wouldn't want to make a claim one way or another without doing some experimentation first.

...and yet you did....

 

[scubadobadoo]

It is much easier to cut a pressurized line than an unpressurized line. It can be tough to cut a deflated balloon, but touch an inflated balloon with the edge of a knife and it blows apart. I wouldn't want to make a claim one way or another without doing some experimentation first.

I wouldn't want to try this experiment but I will watch you do it! I like to watch, lol! wink wink

 

[WetDawg]

If your LP inflator hose regularly expanded to 5 or 10 times it's original size, then I would be very careful waving a knife around it. Otherwise, you can rest assured that in our modern lawyer infested over litigious society that all hoses used in life support equipment are built to handle the job and then some.

 

[Web Monkey]

It could have been anything.

As a DM, I probably would have done an ascent also, unless I knew the divers I was with. Some of the guys I dive with have enough air to swim 2 people from Florida to the UK, while others hardly have enough to get back to the boat.

An emergency ascent from 50' when you know you can do it, is much better than hoping that a random diver can help you without freaking out.

FWIW, I suspect he didn't cut his own hose. Rubber fails in interesting ways, and a clean break more likely indicates a hose that's lost it flexibility and then had a short-radius bend.

Unkess it was somehow a single intentional cut, rubbing against the knife would make it look like it had been gnawed by rats.

Terry

As I got off the boat at the end of the excursion, I noticed his reg hanging there, so I took a look at the "burst" hose. The edges were very clean - in fact, they looked more "cut" than "burst." As it happened, there was a videographer on the dive, and when we watched the video later, we noticed that our DM had been wearing his dive knife on his BC on his upper left chest RIGHT NEXT to his inflator hose. My buddy said she noticed that he had his knife out a lot during our dives throughout the day...
big ego...dumb mistake...happy ending...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Did several boat dives last week in Grand Cayman. On the last dive, my buddy and I swam past the DM at about 50', who was showing some other divers some critters he had found. We weren't interested, so we swam on by. Back on the boat later, he asked us, "Didn't you guys hear the loud noise right after you swam past me?" We hadn't, and he told us that his inflater hose had "burst" suddenly, venting all the air from his tank. He and his buddy did a shared-air ascent, and all was well.

As I got off the boat at the end of the excursion, I noticed his reg hanging there, so I took a look at the "burst" hose. The edges were very clean - in fact, they looked more "cut" than "burst." As it happened, there was a videographer on the dive, and when we watched the video later, we noticed that our DM had been wearing his dive knife on his BC on his upper left chest RIGHT NEXT to his inflator hose. My buddy said she noticed that he had his knife out a lot during our dives throughout the day...

A clean break is plausible if the hose was old and somehow got bent too sharply ... it'd "snap" like a bull kelp stem (which often looks cut rather than broken).

big ego...dumb mistake...happy ending...

It's fairly common, actually, for new divers to misjudge those who dive for a living ... but with a sum total of less than 15 lifetime dives, perhaps you should open yourself to the possibility that he knows something you haven't yet had time to learn.

So where do you carry your knife ... and why did you choose that location?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Happy2BMe]

DA: Actually, he had 2 divers with him and he WAS offered immediate assistance.
NW: I have no problem admitting that he knows A WHOLE LOT about diving that I haven't yet had time to learn.

It was surprising to me how many people took offense at this post. It's obvious to me {now} that many other things could have caused the air hose to fail. I shouldn't have made assumptions...

I guess if I had left off the "big ego...dumb mistake" part, I wouldn't be catching so much flak. My sincere apologies to anyone who was offended by the remark. Oh, well - live and learn...

Just a thought...what if he was using one of those "Amazing Ginsu Knives" that they used to advertise on late-night TV? The guy on the commercial cut through auto tires, steel cable and aluminum cans with his - and was still able to slice a tomato! Do you think they sell those in dive shops now... (I'M JUST KIDDING! Come on -- lighten up a little!)