Does anyone practice getting out of trouble?

[cadiver67]

Hello All,

My wife and I are still new divers.

We have been diving locally at Catalina Island, working on buoyancy, sightseeing, Etc. Just enjoying the sport - we really love it.

My question is does anyone practice getting out of sticky situations?

I was thinking of bringin along some netting or fishing line and we could take turns snagging the other around our tank valves or fins so we could practice getting loose.

Does anyone practice taking off their BC underwater and putting it back on?
We did this in the pool for our cert but we never did it in the ocean - is it safe?

Maybe we could pretend one was out of air and we could share air all the way back to safety.

Maybe we could pretend one was unconscious and tow them back to safety.

Does anyone do this - or is it dangerous?

I am also afraid of scaring other divers who of course wouldn't know we were only practicing.

I really would hate for my first experience being tangled around the tank valve with fishing line to be the real thing.

Thanks for your help

Cadiver67

 

[Misplaced Priority]

I am no expert, but I can see where a practice session can quickly become real life. I think I would work on these in a more controled environment like a pool or pond and if possible, an instructor. They may have pointers and techniques that you would never think of on your own.

 

[PerroneFord]

I would most CERTAINLY not do this in the ocean unless I could do it with my eyes closed in the pool. I agree with the other poster, this can get REAL far too fast.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

As new divers, I think you should be concentrating on bouyancy, trim, mask clearing and 2nd stage recovery. As far as bringing fishing line and/or nets, I could see how this practice may lead to a problem that you are not ready to deal with. Practice don and doff in a controlled environment (pool). Dive more and take the Rescue class.

For what it's worth.

Dave (aka "Squirt)

 

[RICoder]

Agreed on all counts above, doing that in open water is begging for trouble.

Spend your time working on bouyancy and basic skills in OW, and perhaps equipment malfunction and recovery in a pool environment (preferably with an instructor present). When you feel comfortable in the water, take the Rescue Diver class...IMO it is the single best class you can take.

 

[scubapolly]

Practicing is a great idea. Just make sure to do things safely, and if you are doing anything that looks like an "emergency" let everyone on your boat know you have such a plan. I was teaching a rescue class last summer at a somewhat crowded site in the keys. The whole boat was my class, and all students had been instructed not to yell help, or use the radio, etc, but when a nearby boat saw one of my studetns grab the backboard- the made a distress call "on our behalf" luckily my DM was near the radio to let all know it was a false alarm.

I wouldn't recomend doing the entaglement situation you mentioned. You take fishing line down with you, you will likely either make it into a real situation, or accidently drop some of the line, leaving it for someone else to get entangled. It is best to avoid entanglement situations so a better skill would be to watch for such hazards and point it out to your buddy.

One of my buddies and I regularly practice sharing air on our safety stops. This is a good idea, but again make sure others diving with you know this is your plan.

Same thing goes with tired diver tows.

The best way to practice and improve on your skills is to continue your diving education. An advanced class and a Rescue class are always good ideas. (Just make sure that the classes are thoroughly taught- you are wasting your money if it is a class where you are simply buying the card.)

 

[lamont]

We did a lights-out (eyes closed) drill of following a line back in "open ocean" but at a site which was 20-25 feet and we were all using doubles with about 3 hours of gas on our backs and there was little current, surge, etc. We also had a much more experienced diver watching over us and everyone had knifes and shears capable of cutting through the line. I managed to get myself entangled around my fin two or three times, caught the line on my light once or twice and once managed to get a gnarly entanglement around my manifold. I worked out of all of them with my eyes closed. But at the same time if it had gotten too weird there were a bunch of safety mechanisms in place to ensure that it wouldn't get out of control. At any time I could have just opened my eyes, ended the drill, gotten out my knife and cut myself out of it all.

I'd suggest working up to this kind of thing more slowly. The biggest thing you can do is practice using the "hold" signal (closed fist) and getting your buddy to stop and help them with gear issues. You can do this anytime your buddy has an issue that you spot and can fix faster and easier than they can fix themselves.

 

[TSandM]

Since the entanglement drill is something entirely new to you, you might want to try it first in a pool. I've never done anything like it, but I generally believe in rehearsing things that you might encounter under stress.

As far as other drills, my husband and I fairly regularly practice air-sharing, and our companions on our BVI trip got into doing it, too. Having watched them, I will say one thing, though -- if you are going to practice such things, make your first dives to do so very shallow and simple, until you are sure that you have excellent buoyancy control throughout the drill. Most people doing air-sharing drills for the first time NOT sitting on the bottom will lose buoyancy and end up on the surface. You want to make sure you don't decide to do this for the first time on the ascent from a 90 foot dive!

Practicing surface tows and other Rescue skills sounds fine to me, as long as surface conditions are safe to do so.

Practice is great -- just always make sure that you have enough facility with what you are practicing that you are not going to create a real emergency by working through a feigned one.

 

[cadiver67]

Thanks for the info.

Sometimes I get these ideas that sound really great to me, but in reality might not be all that great. That's why I always ask first.

Has anyone been entangled really good - where it took some effort to get loose?

So far I have only had to pull off some kelp - nothing major.

Some of the stories I have been reading lately have been giving me the willies - they even say there is some stuff you can't even cut thought with a knife.

 

[Blackwood]

Hello All,

My wife and I are still new divers.

We have been diving locally at Catalina Island, working on buoyancy, sightseeing, Etc. Just enjoying the sport - we really love it.

My question is does anyone practice getting out of sticky situations?

I was thinking of bringin along some netting or fishing line and we could take turns snagging the other around our tank valves or fins so we could practice getting loose.

Does anyone practice taking off their BC underwater and putting it back on?
We did this in the pool for our cert but we never did it in the ocean - is it safe?

Maybe we could pretend one was out of air and we could share air all the way back to safety.

Maybe we could pretend one was unconscious and tow them back to safety.

Does anyone do this - or is it dangerous?

I am also afraid of scaring other divers who of course wouldn't know we were only practicing.

I really would hate for my first experience being tangled around the tank valve with fishing line to be the real thing.

Thanks for your help

Cadiver67

I've no problems with most of those but, as has been said: don't intentionally entangle yourself.