First dive at 40 meters - Newbies recreational

[David Novo]

I am concerned about OOA not because I don't trust my training (watching the SPG, gas planning or equipment maintenance). I am worried about the X factor. The unknown that I haven't faced yet and that no one trained me against. Of course, it comes with experience. But not only. My objective is not to be the most competitive diver. I just want to be safe in my underwater activities.

That is what your buddy is there for. You are not diving alone. If you and your buddy plan gas according to the required for an emergency in the worst possible point of the dive, even if you have a catastrophic loss of gas, your buddy will have enough for both to reach the surface.

You can train donating gas from time to time (not kneeling as that is not realistic). That way it will become second nature for you and your wife, reducing your reaction time in the event that such an emergency arises.

You will be more comfortable knowing that you and your buddy are able to deal with an emergency if it comes to that.

 

[boulderjohn]

However, he told me one thing that is even more important for me who fears my first OOA experience ( I've read that over 50% of experienced divers have had one and not only because of poor gas management):

Over about a quarter of a century of diving in countries all over the world, with divers from absolute first-dive beginners to technical instructors, I have been in the vicinity of exactly one OOA situation, a case in which the diver put her gear on a used tank, didn't notice, and was OOA within a few minutes of starting the dive. In response to a thread on ScuabBoard about 10 years ago, I surveyed the instructors at the shop where I worked (about a dozen of them) to see what their experiences were with OOA situations, and not a single one had ever seen one anywhere.

I have no idea where you read that 50% of experienced divers have had an OOA experience, but I don't for a second believe it is true. Not even close.

 

[boulderjohn]

Today, I think about things like: can you do a CESA from 30 meters? Scientifically, it is possible if you are OOA. But what is your first stage does not work? In this case, to reach the surface, you can only rely on gas expansion in your lungs and not on the air that will be available as the gradient cylinder pressure/ water pressure will rise (DCS is another issue afterwards but better being bent that dead).

If regulators fail, they should should not just stop delivering air; that feature is part of the design.

The expanding air in your lungs is plenty. When the navy trains for submarine escapes (no regulator), they have trainees exhale before beginning the ascent. The remaining air in the lungs is plenty, and they must continue to exhale all the way to the surface.

In a recreational dive, you should be able to go directly to the surface without DCS; a rapid ascent from 30 meters could possibly give you a minor case, but any case is better than drowning.

 

[Storker]

balanced rig

Yet another can of worms opened.

 

[Storker]

I guess I'm in the less than 50% that has not,

That makes two of us. Provided, of course, that a few dives south of 200 in independent buddy pairs makes an "experienced diver". I'm not too sure about that. And if I ever run out of gas, feel free to whip me with a wet noodle, because then I've messed up majorly and deserve to hear that.

 

[Sifossifoco]

I have no idea where you read that 50% of experienced divers have had an OOA experience, but I don't for a second believe it is true. Not even close.

I would agree. Funnily enough yesterday I was just asking a friend on mine that works as instructor at a very busy dive shop if he ever witnessed an OOA emergency, and he said he didn't. Personally, I have been in the water by chance with a girl that declared an OOA emergency, which wasn't. She had only opened the valve a quarter of a turn, and by the time she was down to 15 m she couldn't breathe anymore. Apparently she had a vague recollection of the old rule 'open the tank, then back a quarter of a turn' but what she remembered was to only open a quarter of a turn...

 

[Edward3c]

I have no idea where you read that 50% of experienced divers have had an OOA experience, but I don't for a second believe it is true. Not even close.

I must be in the 50%.

1. Near the end of a 16m dive the contents gauge unscrewed from the high-pressure hose. I ended up with my buddy’s AIR2 and his buoyancy controls.

2. Freshwater, winter dive to 21m. As soon as we hit the bottom my buddy’s reg went into full freeflow. My buddy switched to my octo and we ascended, total in water time 5 minutes.

3. Not quite OOG, but it could have been. I was doing a conch survey in the 20-25m range. Both myself and buddy got totally immersed in the catching, measuring and tagging the conch (we weren’t narked, much). The penny finally dropped when I saw I had 55bar, still at 24m and with 4 minutes of deco to deal with. We ascended to 6m, deployed the DSMB and sat out our deco, getting into the boat with around 15bar.

To the OP, it much better to learn from other people's mistakes than your own. Wisdom over Experience.

 

[Blackcrusader]

To be 100 % honest, I have never felt uncomfortable underwater

I knew it was too easy before. You need to deserve it. No panic ( Good Lord, bless the dive briefing), my wife and I decide not to fight the current and slowly ascend while being dragged ( we have a boat at the surface and the "skipper" is very good). At some point my wife joins hands and then the macho surfaces . You wife count on you, man. Don't f... up! Show confidence and control. As we ascend, I monitor my depth and realize that we are not progressing. It must have been 30 seconds that we are flipping upwards and we only moved from 40 to 37. What's wrong? Usually, it is the other way around. We must slow down not to ascend too fast. Is there a physical barrier that no one on SB told me about? Is the situation serious? Then my brain takes over. What if? What if we can't ascend as planned? What should I do? Is there a down current (not uncommon)? Think, think, think fast? Your wife's life depends on you. Don't panic, don't get exhausted, think then act accordingly. I decided to increase the amplitude of my flips but not the frequency so that I could keep my breathing steady. I fought the urge to inflate our BCDs (we are still breathing and we have air so there is no immediate emergency) and I made a very quick calculation (worst case scenario, we consume 5 times our SAC. 5x11 l/min round to 12, it is 60 l/min. with 150 bar that is 1800 liters, we have 30 min so no need to panic). So we continued to fin. Then, the computer again. Stop at 20 meters: 2 minutes. At this point, I would have been happy to be at 20 meters but I realized that I was at 28. Relief

Let's assume that at 40m depth you have some narcosis. You could not ascend easily. You had to think the situation and manage it then at the end, relief. Does this not suggest some minor discomfort? I've been uncomfortable on dives and yes no panic, no out of air situation. Do we not feel relief when when even a slightly uncomfortable situation is resolved? We can have distress and be able to deal with it. You problem solved an issue at depth.

 

[Dody]

Not understanding a situation at once does not mean discomfort for me. It happens all the time in real life. Discomfort is feeling unwell, feeling at odd. Not just facing a minor issue. Panic is another level up and the way I try never to panic is to remember beforehand not to allow myself to. Kind of a mental exercise. I was not serene at first, sure. I was not as comfortable as lying down on my couch but it was nothing more than a minor disagreement that I had to deal with so that it did not develop into something bigger. Relief that it was not something bigger. I don’t honestly know if narcosis affected me but I don’t think I would have acted otherwise under any circumstances. If I made some mistakes, it was due to my knowledge and training at the time. Today, there is a couple of things that I would do differently. And my prose might be a bit dramatic

 

[Blackcrusader]

And my prose might be a bit dramatic

Enjoy the dives. As I wrote when I was new to BSAC Deco diving I too was a bit too excited and needed to slow down a bit.
Good thing in the BSAC club was that I got to dive with lots of different people on dives not just my instructor. On non training dives it was good to team with other people doing dive plans and calculations. Maybe put your NDL alarm to 5 minutes so you can then look at your depth and decide should I one deeper given the time constraints. As a photographer I always allow 5 minutes to get some photos cause as they say time flies when you are having fun. Hope to see some of your photos and videos in the future.