Freeflow at 140'

[dumpsterDiver]

I wouldn't be doing a single tank "no-deco" dive to 150 to begin with, so that's where the logic starts going wrong.

If your equipment is functioning exactly as well as can be expected on any dive, and you have adequate gas after the thaw, then there's no real reason to call the dive, other than nerves (which is a perfectly acceptable reason). .

Ok so I read that you are "too scared" to do a 150 ft dive on a big single amd a pony. You agree that it is approprate to bail after the incident for no reason other than nerves. So, I guess that means that you agree that if the guy had a problem at 150 ft, and got nervous, it was probably smart to bail, ASAP. I think that was the question brought up in the post, not to determine if the guy had enough training, the proper gear configuartion or the correct mix.

Also your logic still escapes me. With regard to gas supply: you indicate that a single is inadequate and then seem to argue that the guy should have stayed down and screwed with the gear on the bottom. The only real reason for delaying the ascent would be to extend his dive time. In other words, if a single ain't good enough to even start the dive, how in the world is it appropriate to continue the dive after the uncontrolled air loss?

 

[BIGSAGE136]

Got to agree with the doubles comment. If you were wearing doubles (or at least an H/Y) valve then this would have been a minor inconvenience rather than a "near miss"

Another option would have been to go on the pony and turn off your own valve.After a few minutes it would probably thaw and be OK to breathe again. Of course you need to be able to reach your valve to do that.

I agree. This is THE reason I put an H valve on my 130.

 

[TSandM]

DD, a single is inadequate because of precisely the kind of problem the OP ran into. Lamont is not afraid to do the dive with that gear; he chooses NOT to do it, because he thinks other ways of configuring yourself for such a dive are much wiser.

And I also believe that he thinks that solving the problem underwater with the help of a reliable and properly configured buddy is safer than heading for the surface, breathing off a free-flowing regulator when you don't know when it will run out and you are facing a deco obligation. I think he's right.

There are a lot of branch points in the decision making on this dive that could be brought into question, beginning with the decision to make the dive as it was made in the first place, and going on from there. When you post an incident, you are never exempt from having people examine how the incident came to happen, as well as how it was eventually handled.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

DD,.....And I also believe that he thinks that solving the problem underwater with the help of a reliable and properly configured buddy is safer than heading for the surface, breathing off a free-flowing regulator when you don't know when it will run out and you are facing a deco obligation. I think he's right.

I don't agree. I fail to see the safety advantage provided by shuting down the tank at 140-150 feet (while narced on air) Besides the dive was non-deco anyway..I just have a much different (solo diver) attitude.

I agree with the original poster that he did the correct thing in this situation. I would do the same thing, I think.

The logic continues to escape me, maybe this will help:

Q:Why shut down the "working" tank?
A: To extend the dive

Q: Why extend the dive after a significant problem at 140-150 with a single?
A: I don't know.

Q: Why is it dangerous or really undesirable to ascend and breath of a free-flowing main tank (and save the pony for a REAL problem)?
A: I don't know.

Q: Isn't it better to stop. think and act and fix problems on the bottom?
A: I would rather get the ascent started and worry about the reason for the freeflow later (in this situation). Non deco, non penetration, ascent line close and hang tanks waiting only 100 feet away. It seems safer to bail!

Q: Why not use your buddy to shut off the air?
A: Because he wants to breath it on the way up, and it might not be so easy to get it turned back on if other problems develop that slow the ascent.

Q: Why breath off a freeflowing regulator on the ascent when you are not really sure when it is going to run out?
A: It doesn't really matter when it runs out, because he has a pony that will get him up and through the optional safety stop (without the hang tanks). He can watch the pressure on the ascent and shouldn't be too surprised if/when it runs out. Plus it may fix itself when the tank pressure drops; as it did in this particular situation.

 

[lamont]

Q:Why shut down the "working" tank?

A: To stop the gas loss.

You've got perfectly good, breathable gas spilling out around you. Your options are becoming less limited by the second. Stop the gas loss, thaw the reg, and you've got access to all the gas again. If your time is so limited that you can't do a shutdown and thaw, then you have not taken adequate gas reserves with you.

Q: Why extend the dive after a significant problem at 140-150 with a single?

A: Diving a single at 100+ in an evironment where you need to watch how much you are pulling through the reg in order to prevent a freeze up is not the best idea.

Q: Why extend the dive after a freeze up on a reg due to a known cause, which is fixed u/w, when adequate gas reserves exist to continue the dive?

A: Because if a free-flow that is handled at 150 scares you so much that you need to abort, even though your regs are as fine as they were when you jumped in the water, and you have adequate gas, then you probably shouldn't be down there in the first place. Your regs are now fine, your gas is now fine. If your regs are *not* fine and the free-flow is indicative of a problem with them, then definitely abort.

And as far as this goes:

I just have a much different (solo diver) attitude.

I doubt any smart solo divers would think it a good idea to be doing 160 fsw dives in a single in an environment where a freeze-up would happen. I don't understand how you do the math and get the idea that the ability to shut down a reg, unthaw it and regain access to the gas is somehow not something a solo diver would want to do...

 

[lamont]

DD, a single is inadequate because of precisely the kind of problem the OP ran into. Lamont is not afraid to do the dive with that gear

hehehehe... speak for yourself... =) ... 160 on air in ice cold water on a single with only an Al20... then I get a face-full of bubbles from a free-flow?... yup, I'm a big fat chicken... not gonna do that...

 

[wreckchick]

Has anyone asked if the OP is deco trained?

R

 

[Soggy]

Has anyone asked if the OP is deco trained?

R

We didn't have to. He hasn't even taken a nitrox class, thus one can assume he has never taken an advanced nitrox/deco procedures class.

 

[TheRedHead]

He also said he wasn't very experienced in the 120-160 range, but then he said he hung deco tanks. I wonder what was in them?

 

[TSandM]

hehehehe... speak for yourself... =) ... 160 on air in ice cold water on a single with only an Al20... then I get a face-full of bubbles from a free-flow?... yup, I'm a big fat chicken... not gonna do that...

I just thought you'd rather be known as wise than as chicken . . .