Down Draft and Inattentive Buddy

[designbysue]

This past weekend I went on a trip to The Bahamas with our dive shop and did 10 dives with Stuart Cove’s. (Including their shark dives – which I strongly recommend!!!) Over that past month I have been reading this board and learning so very much. One of the things that had stuck in my mind was about down drafts, and currents pulling a diver over a cliff. It was one of those things that just stuck with me of all the items that I had read. Here’s my experience (sorry its so long).
It was the 9th dive of the trip. I am relatively new to diving (this was my 23rd dive) and have not conquered my breathing yet. If the dive is deep, I’m one of the first ones up. This dive was to have been to a wreck which at the bottom was 60 feet. Our tanks were filled light (2800 lbs.). I stepped off the boat and while waiting for my buddy wasted air in my BC by over filling it. Then on decent, I somehow hit the blue button with the black and let more air out of the tank. (So far, this is no big deal). As we descended, I notice the line of wreck reel that I had borrowed had come loose (was doing skills for my Advanced Diver Cert.) and started fiddling with it. This is where things started going wrong. As I got to the bottom, still fiddling, I noticed a rope on the ground right where I was to land. Still fiddling. Then I noticed that the rope was now a foot in front of me, then two, then three…stopped fiddling! I realized that I was in a strong current and tried to swim against it. Still moving backwards in spite of swimming, I saw blue beneath me. I realized that what I had feared was coming true, I was caught in a current that was becoming a down draft. Panic!! I kicked with all my might and was able to swim against the current to get over the ground. Now, where is my buddy, more panic. Still kicking hard, searching, found her slightly behind me, and totally ignorant of the circumstances. I signaled up to her and instead of following me she waives good bye! More panic. Now, conscious of my lower amount of air (which is by no means in danger of running out, but still on my mind) I am panicking more and breathing so rapidly that I’m sure there was a constant stream of bubble. Again I signal to my buddy to go up (hoping to get above the current). Again she waives goodbye! I give up on her as she is making headway against the current and I rise up to about 25 feet. Then I calmed enough to remember what we were taught. I focused on calming my breathing, then on swimming toward the wreck to which we were supposed to be going and then on the wreck, fixed the wreck reel. The rest of the dive was around the wreck, but I stayed at about 30 feet just observing others. I finally did my safety stop and got on the boat.
It wasn’t until I was telling this story to my brother and his pointing it out I realized just how bad my diving buddy was. She was oblivious to my panic and did nothing to assist me, instead waived goodbye and let me fend for myself, while also leaving her to fend for herself.
Lessons learned:
1. Be sure to choose a buddy that has more experience and one that is responsive (she has only about 16 dives now)
2. Watch out for those currents.
3. Work on one problem at a time (like they teach you)
And 4. Don’t fiddle on descent.
Funny how when you are done, the difficult dives really stick in your mind and the rest seem to swirl together.

 

[dlndavid]

Sounds like you handled the situation well, too bad your buddy was not a buddy. Maybe next time give the low on air signal for added attention of the circumstance or concern. Glad it worked out ok. Did you try talking to your buddy about it back on the boat and turn it into a lesson learned? I think I will try and come up with some emergency type signals for my next dives like down current and strong currents.

 

[ShakaZulu]

I like how she waved goodbye.......so funny. Go with the current, and swim 90 degrees to it.

 

[dlndavid]

I wonder if she did the princess wave, never higher than the crown.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Glad you did some post-dive analysis with your brother, and things worked out for you.

Now it sounds like you need to do some talking with your buddy...(if she's someone you went on the trip with and would dive again with...)

Avoid swimming against currents. You're almost always better off to drop down to the bottom and 'pull & glide' against currents. You can hold your position if needed, and whether moving up a wall against a down current or across level seafloor, you'll find you use less effort by pulling and gliding than you will trying to swim against the current.

If nothing ever went wonky, you wouldn't learn things as effectively!

Now you know...

Doc

 

[jeckyll]

First, I'm glad you are ok.

Second, didn't you discuss the dive with your buddy up front? Whenever I dive with someone new (and even when I dive with someone whom I've gone with before) we run down a quick checklist.
What do to in case of OOA (I dive a long hose, not all people I dive with do).
What to do in case of separation (search for 1 minute then ascent).
Review signals for the dive (especially if there is something specific to be added. Can be as simple as a sign for Octopus)
Check if any gear is new (new mask, new hose routing, different way that light attaches).
One of the things that I _always_ discuss is "the thumb up is not a question". Any diver can call the dive at any time and the buddy will follow. No reason needs to be given.
This is aside from the 'buddy check'.

I haven't done any resort diving, but I would think that it would be even more important to review with a brand new buddy.

Just my $0.02

Bjorn

 

[daniel f aleman]

Did the DMs tell you about that cliff?

 

[designbysue]

Wow so may responses already! The dive was the 9th of 10 on the trip sponsored by my LDS. My buddy was one of 3 of us novices, all trained by the same instructor (so I know she was taught to end the dive when the thumbs up is given as Jeckyll mentioned). I had dived the other 8 with her without incident, though I often surfaced earlier than her, but she was with other when I ended my dive. This was the first time I gave the thumbs up in the beginning of the dive. Once I got back on the boat, I was still upset and actually ended up in tears. When she got back on she was surprised to see that I was so upset. (She must have also forgot the lesson we had on the look of panic.) I told her of my concern about the current and the wall and she had no idea of the threat we were under. She did say she was exhausted by the time she got to the wreck from swimming against the current. I didn't say anything about not coming up with me as I didn't realize that she had been wrong til my brother's conversation. I plan on discussing it with our instructor and suggesting that he pair up buddys a bit differently in the future and that perhaps he can talk to my buddy and stress the thumbs up means go up. (After additional thought I realized that if I did have to surface complete for any reason at the time, I would have been alone and not near the boat - up a creek without a buddy! The more time passes the clear the situation becomes.)

Regarding the DM's instructions, I believe he said there was a wall but it was too far for us to go to so we were to stay around the wreck. He didn't mention a "cliff". There was no mention of current or the situation we got into.

Because of reading about these situations on the forum I was better prepared for the situation and I really thank all that take the time to post here.

 

[tjmills]

I understand the panic thing but you taking off for the surface would lead me to believe that its quite possible that you were dangerously surfacing. Now I would have tried to calm you noticing your panic but I would guess she probably didn't or that she wasn't capable to assisting you or didn't notice the signs. You did state she was pretty new. You pop up to the surface unsafely you will likely be on your own unless someone can stop you in time. I refer to the fact that all of us are responsible for our own safety and shouldn't depend on another. Buddies are a safety margin but not the responsible party.

Panic is the single biggest thing you have to overcome in adverse conditions and it isn't easy to fight the #1 urge in your life force but you must regain control and think clearly. If you sprung up from 100 feet to 25 in record time I am pretty sure unless someone were to catch you in the first 10 feet you will find yourself alone. A much more experienced diver might have caught this but you weren't diving with one.

I wasn't there and can only go on what you are saying but don't blame your buddy for what happened. You are ultimately the responsible party for your own actions both on the way down and one the way up. I don't mean this as a derogatory comment to you and nor am I trying to be mean to you but you have to take responsibility here and in the future. Panic is a funny thing and I am glad you overcame it before you hit the surface as it might have even been worse.

Hope I don't offend anyone here but take a look at this from the other side.

 

[Darnold9999]

Two things come to mind. First I think you are putting too much of this on your buddy. You are responsible for your own safety at all times. Your buddy provides a reserve in an emergency OOA situation, but as a beginner that is all I would expect from a buddy. You are both still learning, and one of the things you are learning is how to be a buddy, how to respond to another diver, what a diver in distress looks like etc. I'm know I'm still learning all this stuff and I have a few more dives than your buddy.

However.

My second point - An absolute rule in my diving is if someone thumbs the dive, the dive is over. Period, no question, no recriminations, no guilt trips, its over. (Unless it is some idiot who gives the thumbs up sign when they mean OK. I've only been guilty of this about 10 times -- this year ) The only time I have made an exception to this was a dive with three divers and on the swim out one of us lost their mask so could not dive. The two with masks waited until the maskless diver was safely on shore before starting the dive. (I would even question this decision depending on the situation.) Not one of us was carrying a spare, of course.

I do want to know why, what went wrong etc. but this is an absolute, thumb the dive its over. (for me - others may differ)