Got quite a scare today...

[El Orans]

We had planned a DIR-F training dive in De Groene Heuvels. Visibility was good, temperature approx. 4C/40F but not too cold. I had lent my bottomtimer to another buddy who had forgotten his and used my Mosquito as a bottomtimer.

We descended to 12m/38ft and started to do the OOG-drill. First my buddy was the donor, then it would be me. His exercise went well. When it was my turn he signaled that he was out of gas and dropped his regulator. I handed him my primary and started breathing from my backup. After swimming a short distance he signaled that he was OK and I went back to my primary.

A few seconds later my backup started to freeflow. I pushed my backup to my right so the bubbles would not be in my face and gave the signal to ascend. Due to my not being familiar enough with my Eclipse wing (just 2nd dive with it) it took me too much time to dump enough air. On the surface my Mosquito indicated that I had missed a stop (I probably did not see the "slow"-warning which was then upgraded to a mandatory stop).

When we got to the shore I noticed a slight tingling feeling in the fingertips of my left hand. Feeling a bit nervous about this we went back into the water, descended to 7m/23ft where, breathing from his primary, we did our safetystop before returning to the surface very slowly. Once at depth, the feeling in my left hand was back to normal.

Still feeling a bit anxious I wanted to be sure.
It appeared that my cellphone didn't have the right number for DAN. Looked up the right number and called them. I was called back by a DAN doctor 5 minutes later. I explained that it probably wasn’t DCI, just anxiety (didn’t have any symptoms, 5 minute neuro exam was OK). He called back several hours later (still no symptoms) and will call again tomorrow morning. He doesn’t expect that there’s anything but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

What I should have done:
* Take more time to assess the situation. I didn't panick but a few more seconds wouldn't have made a negative difference. My tank still had more than 70% of air.
* I should have accepted my buddy's primary. He then would have closed my valve before starting to ascend.

Laurens

 

[triggertravel]

Sounds like you are lucky. Glad to here you are OK Laurens.

 

[Sideband]

To start, I'm glad everything is ok.
I have several questions though. The first is how you got a mandatory stop after a few minutes at 38'.
The next is what did you do to stop the freeflow?
This is something that really should have been handled at depth IMO. That early in the dive you both surely had a ton of gas left. You could have breathed off the flowing reg. in the mean time. A freeflow not caused by freezing isn't a major event and in your particular situation should not have been a big deal at all.
What do you mean when you say, " it took me too much time to dump enough air"? How different is your inflator hose that it would make a difference how many dives are on that wing?
Why weren't you looking at your computer as you ascended, especially if you were in a position to possibly have a mandatory stop?
What did DAN say about going back into the water? I've been taught in all 3 classes I've taken that we shouldn't go back down for a missed stop or fast ascent. Instead get on O2 ASAP.
Don't take any of this as criticism. I'm just compairing your events to what I think I would do in the same situation and wondering why you made the decisions you did.

Joe

 

[divenut2001]

To start, I'm glad everything is ok.
I have several questions though. The first is how you got a mandatory stop after a few minutes at 38'.

Suunto Computers are RGBM (Reduced Gradient Bubble Model), are very conservative and also very accurate. Exceeding the 30 fpm ascent rate for more than a few seconds triggers a mandatory stop @ 20-10 ft.

Anyone that I heard of that ignored or just didn't pay attention to the warnings of their Suunto usually paid the price by taking a hit...

 

[H2Andy]

hey El-Orans, glad it's all good. make sure you pick up the phone and call DAN
right away if you feel out of the ordinary, ok? don't let denial keep you from
getting treatment.

as to the free-flow, i'm curious if you tried to stop it at depth or if the thing just
kept putting out air anyway.

i'm also curious about going down again to do deco. did DAN say anything
about that?

(no, Sideband, i'm not ripping off your post )

 

[Sideband]

(no, Sideband, i'm not ripping off your post )

Great minds...?

 

[Sideband]

Suunto Computers are RGBM (Reduced Gradient Bubble Model), are very conservative and also very accurate. Exceeding the 30 fpm ascent rate for more than a few seconds triggers a mandatory stop @ 20-10 ft.

Anyone that I heard of that ignored or just didn't pay attention to the warnings of their Suunto usually paid the price by taking a hit...

The first paragraph explains the mandatory stop. Thanks. I'm puzzled by the second one though. (I'm not wording this next bit as well as I would like) If they are very concervative wouldn't that mean that if it said a stop was mandatory that you could more than likely skip it and still be ok? I'm not saying anyone should ignore their computer, no matter what brand or model used. Pretty much a waste of money if you did that and just a generally bad idea. Get one you trust and use it. I'm just wondering why 'everyone' that ignored it took a hit if it is conservative. The two ideas seem to be in opposition to each other.

Joe

 

[ShakaZulu]

Maybe you DIR guys should redo the PADI OW, they teach you there to breath from a free-flowing regulator........... :1poke:

 

[H2Andy]

Maybe you guys should redo the PADI OW, they teach you there to breath from a free-flowing regulator...........

he had a perfectly good regulator to breathe from.

i must say, breathing from a free-flowing reg is something i don't like doing.
it was the only skill in OW class that gave me trouble.

 

[lamont]

Yeah, you really shouldn't try in-water recompression if you are NDL diving. If you take a hit it is likely to be mild, and likely to clear up with 100% O2 on the surface. If you take a hit though and go down to IWR, you might have to deal with a symptom like paralysis while under 20+ feet of water, you're also not likely to offgass as efficiently with EAN trying IWR as you are with 100% O2 on the surface.

Also, I'll bet what happened is that you've got a suunto and that you ascended too rapidly and it gave you a manditory stop? Its not a good thing to do, but it doesn't indicate that you're gonna get bent. Take into consideration that you were only in 30 feet of water, and that you're not much deeper than the CESA drills that you did in your BOW. It'd be interesting to know what suunto computers think of those drills, I'll bet they get pretty pissed.

I've been sort of mentally cataloging all the normal aches and pains and weirdnesses that I experience on a daily basis and its really surprising how many twinges I'll get. Most of the time a little twinge or numbness is due to anxiety or a pinched nerve or overexcertion, or just your body deciding to mess with your head. Unless you've got a symptom like your arm is paralyzed, you should really stay calm about it. Of course there's a dangerous line here between staying calm and silently suffering in denial and doing yourself permanent damage. Taking it seriously and calling DAN was definitely a good step.