Rick, I appreciate that, and other than the written 5-step approach, it appears we agree...save yourself. Not sure why you need to read your own bottle "from a distance" unless yo are using a really long hose. It is your gas, it is your life.
Fatality at WKP
- Thread starter Belmont
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It's not too surprising, since usually deco bottles are so different in marking and positioning that it would be highly unlikely that you'd leave a deep bottle behind as a deco bottle AND confuse a deco bottle for a deep one later. Usually (in my group) we use 40's for deco bottles, and when we do use 80's they're marked all over with great big Deco labels... and, they're slung outside of stage bottles so they're the first to come off just naturally. Still, we've never had a formal requirement for buddy verification of a correct drop, and that is a deficiency we will now eliminate.
Rick
Ouch!
That hurts!
If that's so then it backs the main link in the fatal error chain up to a pre-dive one.
Words fail....
Rick
That hurts!
If that's so then it backs the main link in the fatal error chain up to a pre-dive one.
Words fail....
Rick
Okay, going back and rereading it, it looks like Jim dropped his deep bottle instead of his 70' bottle. It was a combination of the following post by "traveler" on CDF -
and this post by the same person -
that initially made me think a support diver brought the bottles in.
The posts still indicate there were 5 divers in the water and all of them missed the fact that the deep bottle was dropped and the 70' bottle was kept.
One of the things I've done for a long time is have very distinguishing attributes about my decompression cylinders. My 100% regs have green hoses and fixed angles on them. None of my other reg sets are set up that way. All I have to do to verify what I'm breathing is reach up and feel the fixed angle on the 2nd stage to know I'm breathing 100%. My 50% regs have yellow hoses on them and different face plates than any of my other regs. All I have to do is feel the faceplate to know I'm breathing 50%. This may not be commonly accepted protocol, but it works for me and keeps my mind at ease. If you're ever in the water with me and see me feeling those 2 areas, you now know what I'm doing.
and this post by the same person -
that initially made me think a support diver brought the bottles in.
The posts still indicate there were 5 divers in the water and all of them missed the fact that the deep bottle was dropped and the 70' bottle was kept.
One of the things I've done for a long time is have very distinguishing attributes about my decompression cylinders. My 100% regs have green hoses and fixed angles on them. None of my other reg sets are set up that way. All I have to do to verify what I'm breathing is reach up and feel the fixed angle on the 2nd stage to know I'm breathing 100%. My 50% regs have yellow hoses on them and different face plates than any of my other regs. All I have to do is feel the faceplate to know I'm breathing 50%. This may not be commonly accepted protocol, but it works for me and keeps my mind at ease. If you're ever in the water with me and see me feeling those 2 areas, you now know what I'm doing.
I do something similar. My 100% bottle has a green knob on the valve in addition to the big white Deco stickers I have on all my deco bottles. All my bottom gas and travel bottles have much smaller "Hodag Gas" or "Voodoo Gas" or "Geezer Gas" stickers. I use a Conshelf and a Calypso as deco regs, both of which breathe harder than my bottom regs, so I have visual, tactile and breathing effort signals that I'm breathing a deco bottle. May not be commonly accepted protocol... but it's mine
Rick
ajduplessis
Contributor
I agree that you are responsible for your own safety. But individuals do make mistakes, that’s why your team/buddy need to confirm the correct switch. It’s less likely that both divers will make the same mistake.
In team diving you as a member is responsible to each other!!!
Potapko
Contributor
After reading the thread I don't see that anyone else has asked.
What size stage could he have possibly been breathing at 200 feet for 60 minutes?
Even if you calculate it at an average between 200 and 70 ft you have an average of around 130 or only 16 ft3 of gas at 5 ata.
If my understanding is close to correct.
What size stage could he have possibly been breathing at 200 feet for 60 minutes?
Even if you calculate it at an average between 200 and 70 ft you have an average of around 130 or only 16 ft3 of gas at 5 ata.
If my understanding is close to correct.
It looks like he was using an RB80 and the stage would have fed that unit.
Link to RB80 - RB80 Rebreather | Halcyon Dive Systems
Yes via an LP hose to a switchblock too, so there was the loop in his mouth probably not a 2d stage off the reg itself.
Still the fact that he had a 70ft bottle that deep is a problem. Also continues to point to the lack of an O2 sensor on the RB80 as a serious problem (for either hyper or hypoxia, both have happened several times in the recent past)
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