Hit in WA

[DiveMaven]

A friend of ours was telling my husband yesterday about the hit that his wife took recently while diving in WA. Apparently something happened to her weight belt and it came off when they were at 65'. She did an uncontrolled ascent and within 10 minutes had extreme anxiety. Within 15 minutes she had shoulder and knee pain, and 5 minutes later felt numbness in her feet. She was taken by ambulance to Seattle where they put her into a chamber immediately. She spent 8 hours in the chamber and came out feeling more normal. Within a couple of days she had no effects at all.

They are now looking to buy their own gear (they were renting), and intend to keep diving.

 

[marpacifica]

Glad to hear that she's OK, and that she sought help immediately. Even better to hear that she is willing and able to dive again.

Your own, well-maintained equipment is a great start to reduce this type of risk, especially the more remote the location you're diving. I've been diving in Bali a few times and I will never trust the equipment there. My friends rented and they had problems with equipment on every dive. One time a depth gauge was reading 15' off, so my buddy insisted on doing a safety stop at 30' instead of 15'. I tried showing her that my computer was showing the right depth, too deep for the stop, but we got our signals crossed. When we got up to the boat, I told her and she started freaking out that she was going to get hit. Luckily, she didn't, but her anxiety could have been a factor in a real hit. Other times the regs don't have octupuses, and they looked really thrashed in general.

 

[scubapolly]

A friend of ours was telling my husband yesterday about the hit that his wife took recently while diving in WA. Apparently something happened to her weight belt and it came off when they were at 65'. She did an uncontrolled ascent and within 10 minutes had extreme anxiety. Within 15 minutes she had shoulder and knee pain, and 5 minutes later felt numbness in her feet. She was taken by ambulance to Seattle where they put her into a chamber immediately. She spent 8 hours in the chamber and came out feeling more normal. Within a couple of days she had no effects at all.

They are now looking to buy their own gear (they were renting), and intend to keep diving.

This happens sooooo often! There are numerous threads on this A&I forum of accidents being caused by accidental weight ditching. The problem is in the colder climates where thick wet suits/ dry suits are necessary, we must wear 20+ pounds to offset the bouyancy our thermal protection creates. In the event of an accidental ditch or even if it is done in an emergency, the shift in buoyancy is so great that you are essentially turned into a missle.
Integreated weights, while they do have some faults, at least split up the weight so that you do not lose it all at once. Many of the intergrated systems have "balance" pockets on the back which allow you to add non-ditchable weight. Add to this system a separate weight belt and you now have a situation where losing some weight won't cause a sudden shot to the surface.
Another good weighting solution when wearing large amounts of weight are the weight harnesses such as those produced by DUI and other manufacturers.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Another solution is two weight belt buckles in tandem. I started
doing this after loosing a belt when the buckle snagged on kelp and
popped open. Fortunately it was at only about 35 feet and at the
beginning of the dive. I sorta rappeled up the kelp, borrowed a belt
and lift bag, and went and recovered my belt.

You do have to make sure your buddies are very aware of the
two buckles.

 

[DI_Guy]

I am glad that she is OK and the effects of the DCS were not permanent.

I agree with Polly and for that reason I have split up my weights... I use 28 lbs to stay down ( full wet suit ) so I use 10 lbs in my BC with integrated weights and the other 18 lbs on my waist. If I accidentally lose a weight, I don't sky rocket to the surface. My weight belt has a two releases ( the second is a back-up ). In an emergency I can still ditch it quickly.

One way to slow down an uncontrolled ascent is to "fin hard" in a downward direction.

Cheers ....

DI_Guy

 

[mrobinson]

The intergrated weight system and the ""fin hard" in a downward direction are really good bit of advice.

I'm really glad she's ok.

 

[Tollie]

I’ve begun to think that the problem is not so much with the weight belt as with the amount of weight you must carry to offset the buoyancy of a 7-mil suite. Perhaps a better approach is to dive dry. Dry suites are more stable in their buoyancy characteristics that are 7 mil suites, they keep you warmer are a ton more comfortable and are more flexible in terms of water temperature. If a weight system fails and you are dry you will have a bit longer to react than if you are in a 7 mil.

In short I think 7-mils are inherently less desirable pieces of equipment for cold water diving than are dry suits.

 

[Flamebug818]

i dive a 7mil and would love to get a dry suit, but like everything in diving have their flaws. IF it rips you lose bouyancy and depending on undergarmet exposure protection, also it adds the extra failure points of the valves. Plus i don't have 2000$ lying around to be able to afford it. Maybe someday, also if you have some of your weight integrated or split it is less of a risk for example i have six pounds in my backplate and might put five more to balance the tank in the back

 

[Flamebug818]

also i am glad the lady is okay and will keep diving
cheers flamebug

 

[shaxs]

I’ve begun to think that the problem is not so much with the weight belt as with the amount of weight you must carry to offset the buoyancy of a 7-mil suite. Perhaps a better approach is to dive dry. Dry suites are more stable in their buoyancy characteristics that are 7 mil suites, they keep you warmer are a ton more comfortable and are more flexible in terms of water temperature. If a weight system fails and you are dry you will have a bit longer to react than if you are in a 7 mil.

In short I think 7-mils are inherently less desirable pieces of equipment for cold water diving than are dry suits.

I agree with you, but tell that to the poor college student (me) learning and diving in Cold San Diego water... Trust me, if I could afford a dry suit, I would get one!