First real encounter with panic at depth.

[mkutyna]

I had my first real encounter with what could be considered a panic situation underwater this weekend. It was very eye opening to say the least. These situations definitely don't play out exactly the way you practice them.

Here's what happened:

Second dive of the day for an AOW class. We were doing a dive in a sink to a max depth of 60'. We would be following a permanent line in the sink to look at some features. Divers were arranged in the following manner: Instructor was leading, one buddy pair behind the instructor, another buddy pair behind them, myself and a diver behind them, a final buddy pair behind me and another DMC taking up the rear. Visibility was crap. About 15' at the most.

Dive started out fine. We descended to a 20' platform and verified buddies. Followed a line to an intersection and spent some time there looking at some objects. Started following a second line. This is when things started to get a little hairy for me. The last buddy pair was going very slow and I was having trouble keeping the buddy pair in front of me and behind me in sight. I didn't want to lose the buddy pair behind me so I was swimming on my back looking backwards the majority of the time. By this time we were at our max depth for the dive.

I knew this line was heading towards the wall of the sink but since I hadn't been to this particular location before, I didn't know how far it was. Even if I had, the low visibility was throwing my distance references out the window. Ambient light did decrease rather suddenly so I figured we were close to the wall. When I turned around I saw the buddy pair in front of me vertical in the water. Upon closer inspection, one buddy had deployed his octo and the other diver was frantically signalling to go up. I swam up to them and grabbed on to the shoulder strap of the panicking diver. The diver's buddy had a hold of the diver's other shoulder strap. I returned her up signal and signaled my buddy to go up too. Unfortunately, we had already started going up by this point (I'm guessing the panicking diver had already started kicking up at this point) so I was unable to see the divers behind me. I didn't want to let go of the panicking diver so I stuck my free arm down in the direction of the last buddy pair giving the up signal in the hopes that they could see it.

Turning my attention back to the panicking diver, I started letting air out of their BC and my BC to slow our ascent. We were still going a bit too fast but we were very close to the wall so both me and the diver's buddy were trying to keep the panicking diver from hitting their head on any outcroppings on the wall. We surfaced from about 55' in about a minute. Upon surfacing, I told the diver to inflate their BC and relax. They said that they felt that their reg was blocked and they weren't getting any air but that they were fine now. Swimming back to the dock was uneventful.

Inspection of the regulator afterwards showed no obvious problems with it. I gave the post-dive debriefing and while I addressed the problem I forgot to talk about how we could have avoided the rapid ascent in the future. I also forgot to mention that those of us that did the rapid ascent should watch for signs of DCS.

I know at least some of the things that I should have done in that situation that could have helped control it a bit better but I'd like to hear some opinions from all of you as to how you would have handled it. Also, feel free to ask any quesitons if you're unclear about something. I know I left out some details.

 

[birdwrasse]

...this, too, shall pass... keep diving!



--c

 

[Paco]

What did the instructor have to say about it all?

 

[mkutyna]

Well, I relayed the story to the instructor that was leading the dive, my DM instructor and the course director for our organization and I didn't really get any concrete advice but then again, I didn't really ask what I could/should have done differently. I plan on asking my DM instructor this evening at class though.

 

[captndale]

It sounds like you handled the situation well. The important thing to do with a panicked diver is to keep control of them and make sure that they continue to breath.

When a diver complains that they cannot get air from a regulator on a tank with gas that later proves to be working it is almost always due to one of two things - Either the tank valve is not fully open or the diver is simply overbreathing the regulator.

Divers should not be taught to turn their valves back 1/4 turn after opening them. It is not uncommon for people to forget which way a valve turns to open it. A partly open valve can supply sufficient air at the surface but severely restrict airflow at depth because of the higher density of the more compressed air.

In experienced divers who are under stress can breath at trully monumental rates. If they are using typical low-end rental regulators, it is quite easy for them to demand air volume in excess of what the regulator can supply. The only solution for this situation is to relax and slow down the breathing rate (something the diver may not be able to manage), switch to a regulator that is capable of supplying a higher volume of air or surface before panic causes the diver to reject his regulator and try to breathe water.

 

[battles2a5]

Sounds like you handled it as well as you could have. Once a diver has made up their mind that they are going up, they are going up! The best you can do is try to control the ascent and keep them from full-blown panic. There was another DMC behind you so they should have tended to the last buddy pair, but it was good that you had the presence of mind to try to communicate while handling the surface-bound diver. I'd be a little concerned about running a class where students can't make a direct ascent in bad vis (e.g. the outcroppings in the sink) but that is something to take up w/ your instructor.