Don't know what happened

[stiebs]

As for #2, I could see where problems would arise if you were not weighted properly. Get in the water and get your buoyancy as PERFECT as possible. It will not happen tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year. But one day it will be "perfect". Also with buoyancy, you need to make sure your trim is good. Be sleek.

Trim is of utmost importance here, and @Dody, a lot of what you are saying points to less than ideal trim. If you are trimmed with your head up, feet down, whenever you kick, you are actually kicking yourself upwards. Therefore you will also feel like you are underweight, because you will have a tendency to propel yourself upwards.

And before you respond saying that your buoyancy and trim are perfect, first objectively evaluate yourself on video. Many, many times I have new divers (and yes, you are still a new diver) tell me they felt like their feet were floating for the whole dive, when I have just observed them for the past 45 minutes swimming along at a 30-45º angle, head up, feet down.

 

[David Novo]

Exactly. This is one of the things I do not understand. With 6kg (I used to dive smoothly with 5 with the old gear), when exhaling and a BCD without air, my head was totally submerged. However, I could not descend, even fully exhaling without someone pulling me down or being given 2 more kg. This within 2 minutes so no tank breathing issue.

A proper weight check is done in the end of the dive, with the tank almost empty. Did you do that again in the end?

 

[clownfishsydney]

A person with 69 dives, even one who is a DM, is a novice diver. Not experienced at all. Consider how many dives are involved in getting the various certifications needed to get to DM, he has virtually no dives as a normal diver, let alone as a DM.

Personally, I have done 55 dives this year (4,397 total), none of which are as a DM since I am not one.

I would expect that most divers with only 69 dives do not swim efficiently. More experience needed.

 

[David Novo]

Exactly. This is one of the things I do not understand. With 6kg (I used to dive smoothly with 5 with the old gear), when exhaling and a BCD without air, my head was totally submerged. However, I could not descend, even fully exhaling without someone pulling me down or being given 2 more kg. This within 2 minutes so no tank breathing issue.

With 6kg you were neutral at that depth (head covered), with tank full and lungs empty. That is not appropriately weighted as in the end of the dive, your tank weights less and your lungs are not empty.

You should be negative in the beginning of the dive (due to gas weight), to be neutral (or close) in the end.

 

[ginti]

Yeah! I checked their abilities, feelings and knowledge of the proper procedures before the dive.
I also checked their air consumption. The father and son were using about 20% than me. The girl was on par with me and I was amazed.
My physical condition was good but I had new gear, using it for the second time and it was a f… mistake.
Things happened very fast. I was very comfortable staying 2 meters max behind them but then the vis degraded and the next I know, they are 10 meters away and I can’t catch up. No way to tell them.
I know that it was not a successful dive. I don’t know what’s wrong with you guys. All I am trying to do is to understand beyond the usual uneducated comments. Not talking about yours which are useful.

Hi Dody, I haven't read the last three pages, so maybe someone else already pointed what I am going to say... Anyway, here's another possible guess. Your finning techniques, your buoyancy and trim were good. However, once that visibility dropped, you could not follow exactly the same path as them. you may well have followed a path where the current was stronger.

People with experience in low visibility environments (quarries, lakes) instinctively get closer together when visibility starts dropping before it is too late; in cave training, there is an exercise, the low visibility exit, during which you actually do not see your buddies and you communicate with them only with touch. Outside of caves, such a bad situation happened to me only once, but it was a very muddy lake (I doubt this can happen in the ocean, but who knows). At the end of the day, it's just a bit of experience in a different environment that could teach you that.

Best luck

 

[rjack321]

Exactly. This is one of the things I do not understand. With 6kg (I used to dive smoothly with 5 with the old gear), when exhaling and a BCD without air, my head was totally submerged. However, I could not descend, even fully exhaling without someone pulling me down or being given 2 more kg. This within 2 minutes so no tank breathing issue.

You retained gas in your lungs from the anxiety of your first DM assignment.

If I were you, I would not DM again for quite some time, perhaps next year and another 100 dives of experience you might be truly prepared to help someone underwater. Right now you are a liability not an asset.

 

[Celt]

When the young ones get in the water they’re all excited and buzzing, they can’t be left dictate the pace of the dive because there to fast, you have to rein them in and slow them down. Not chase after them. They got ahead of you.

 

[ginti]

Hi @Dody, I managed to read the last three pages. So you had some minor issues with weighting and you felt you were ascending (post #116). Add a bit of stress on top of that, add the bad visibility and, maybe, the problem I mentioned above - and the game is over.

There are many reasons why expert divers here suggest having perfect basic skills before moving to advanced training (being that technical or professional). One among these reasons is that you can unconsciously maintain good control of the situation when bad things happen.

In your case, possibly, a lot of very small issues summed up together (weighting, current, bad visibility; as a consequence of unperfect weighting: buoyancy control and, maybe, trim and, therefore, propulsion). Because they were so small, it was hard for you to identify them, still, the sum was sufficient to slow you down a lot. If you had perfect control of your basic skills, probably that wouldn't have happened. Now, nobody has really a perfect control; however, there is a way to be good enough for almost any situation, and that's experience

Lastly, I am not sure whether you are ready or not to be a DM (you know that better than me); just be aware that, even if you are a DM, you can always refuse to lead a dive in an environment you do not know well.

Again, best luck

 

[Angelo Farina]

That’s the navy right? Because I don’t see myself removing my tank when I am fighting current.

No, not the Navy, the Russians were mostly interested in COMPETITIONS.
Here in Europe we have many competitions about underwater orienteering, underwater speed, underwater technics, etc..
Both with air tanks or in apnoea.
And the Russians athletes were absolutely the best. They are among the best also nowadays...
The popularity of these competitions cannot be perceived properly outside Central Europe, and in USA these sports are substantially unknown.
Here instead they are very popular... Or they were, in the seventies and eighties, in the period when I did take part to these competitions.
To the point that in 1985 the East-Germany (DDR) post office issued a post stamp celebrating underwater orienteering. The stamp clearly shows the proper way of keeping the air tank for swimming fast against current:

 

[Jafo19D]

This guy always posts stuff asking for advice or a question and then argues with people who are much more experienced.