Hi ya'll!

[TGRDVR]

I just completed my open water class with two friends and my dad. Had a great time even though it was really rush rush rush. So we were all excited about being certified and decided to go on a dive on our own at a local "dive park". There is a sunken boat some gravestones, and other neat little sites to see around 35 to 60 feet. There were more things deeper but we planned our dive for 60 feet. We reached bottom fine and made contact with the boat and a few fake skeletons and my dive buddy's gauges started going from 0 to 1500 as we were on our way to the next site around 58 feet. So at 58 feet he got my attention and used the safe buddy accent. We started to slowly ascend and before we knew it we were at the top because the air in our bc's expanded. We were unable to locate our valves fast enough to let the air out. I dont think we were going faster than our bubbles, but our computers were going crazy. And the accent was anywhere from 45 seconds to 1.5 mins. When we rapidly hit the surface we decided to go back down to 20 feet to do a safety stop just in case. We stayed there for 5 mins and then a 3 min safty stop at ten feet. How close were we to serious injury? I'm glad to be a member of a form like this with dedicated, experienced, and informative divers who can help us become more skilled divers. Thanks!

 

[Lee Taylor]

The item that gets my attention in your posting is that you have the right mentality about ascents.

The ascent needs to be slow and controlled. This means you will constantly be discharging air from your BC as you ascend.

The "rush, rush, rush" mentality of the training centers dates way back. I think it is somehow related to sales. I personally do not like it but I there are those that thrive in it. I find it interesting that it is passed on (or passed down) as time and personnel changes.

Decompression sickness is subjective. Some will get it when others do not. My guess is that if you were twice as deep and came up twice as fast you would have gotten bent.

 

[TGRDVR]

I'm definitely aware that it should be controlled and slow, but we were totally lacking the controlled part. So from what iv read now is to not even use the BCD and remain neutrally buoyant and make a swimming accent leaving your hands on the deflater. Now if your left hand is occupied with the deflator where how do you watch your gauges?