Waterwulf
Contributor
Back about 1975, we were heading out in my boat to go diving in the Gulf. My dive partner had gotten a new wet suit but I don't remember what thickenss. As we were suiting up for the dive, I noticed his weight belt. It was jam packed full from end to end with heavy looking lead! I asked him about it and was told that he had "calculated the exact amount and this is right"!!! Well ok then!
I was sitting on the side of my boat getting my stuff on when I felt the boat rock and heard a splash. Then his girlfriend told me that he had fallen over the side of the boat. She pointed to his fins and mask laying on the bottom of the boat. I looked over the side of the boat and he was gone like an anchor! I took the rest of his gear with me when I went to look for him.
I went down the anchor line looking for bubbles but saw none. I was swimming increasing size circles around the line when I spotted a trail of bubbles off in the distance. He was about a hundred and ten feet down. At least the idiot had gotten his air turned on! When I swam up to him, it looked pretty bad. He had his BC inflated all of the way, would jump up and paddle and kick and claw like crazy only to slowly sink back down. I gave him the rest of his gear so he could finish getting dressed!
Even with his fins on, he still weighed to much to get more than ten feet off the bottom. He had a single AL80 and was burning air fast. I wrote him a note on my slate to dump all of the air from his vest, then dump his weights and I would control him on the way up. Nope! "This lead cost me to much". Yeah, I though about just leaving him there until he wised up and dumped his weights but figured he'd die if I did.
I got a firm hold on his harness and we both started paddling like crazy. His BC was still full and I added enough to mine so we started ascending. I kept dumping air from mine as we rose and his kept releasing little overpressure fart bubbles.
We were both flat out whupped when we got to the surface. My BC was a manual inflate only and I was to exhausted to blow it up so I popped my CO2 trigger. He kept trying to sink even with his BC inflated to the max so I had to keep a hold on him. I had no idea where the friggin' boat was so I popped a finger flare. (Official military issue! Scarfed by me and put to good use!!)
Our girlfriends showed up with the boat after a few more minutes of trying not to drop him and between all of us, we managed to drag him in the boat. He was out of air even his from J valve reserve and had been on his snorkel for the past while. It was close! They pulled his arms while I pushed from below and we got him over the side. I think he was crying but the water covered it up. He was in bad shape and it was pretty messy because he threw up all over the deck but we were all alive.
The aftermath: The dive was ruined. I never dove with him again and I don't know if he ever dove again. (I didn't ask) His girlfriend broke up with him. She said he was stupid! I agreed. I learned a lesson that day. If you see something about your buddy's gear that bothers you, speak up forcefully. Even that doesn't always work though. I never did find out how much lead he had on that day but when I lifted his belt out of the boat at the dock, it weighed significantly more than my thirty pound mud anchor. He was about 5'8 and weighed in at about 120 pounds.
I was sitting on the side of my boat getting my stuff on when I felt the boat rock and heard a splash. Then his girlfriend told me that he had fallen over the side of the boat. She pointed to his fins and mask laying on the bottom of the boat. I looked over the side of the boat and he was gone like an anchor! I took the rest of his gear with me when I went to look for him.
I went down the anchor line looking for bubbles but saw none. I was swimming increasing size circles around the line when I spotted a trail of bubbles off in the distance. He was about a hundred and ten feet down. At least the idiot had gotten his air turned on! When I swam up to him, it looked pretty bad. He had his BC inflated all of the way, would jump up and paddle and kick and claw like crazy only to slowly sink back down. I gave him the rest of his gear so he could finish getting dressed!
Even with his fins on, he still weighed to much to get more than ten feet off the bottom. He had a single AL80 and was burning air fast. I wrote him a note on my slate to dump all of the air from his vest, then dump his weights and I would control him on the way up. Nope! "This lead cost me to much". Yeah, I though about just leaving him there until he wised up and dumped his weights but figured he'd die if I did.
I got a firm hold on his harness and we both started paddling like crazy. His BC was still full and I added enough to mine so we started ascending. I kept dumping air from mine as we rose and his kept releasing little overpressure fart bubbles.
We were both flat out whupped when we got to the surface. My BC was a manual inflate only and I was to exhausted to blow it up so I popped my CO2 trigger. He kept trying to sink even with his BC inflated to the max so I had to keep a hold on him. I had no idea where the friggin' boat was so I popped a finger flare. (Official military issue! Scarfed by me and put to good use!!)
Our girlfriends showed up with the boat after a few more minutes of trying not to drop him and between all of us, we managed to drag him in the boat. He was out of air even his from J valve reserve and had been on his snorkel for the past while. It was close! They pulled his arms while I pushed from below and we got him over the side. I think he was crying but the water covered it up. He was in bad shape and it was pretty messy because he threw up all over the deck but we were all alive.
The aftermath: The dive was ruined. I never dove with him again and I don't know if he ever dove again. (I didn't ask) His girlfriend broke up with him. She said he was stupid! I agreed. I learned a lesson that day. If you see something about your buddy's gear that bothers you, speak up forcefully. Even that doesn't always work though. I never did find out how much lead he had on that day but when I lifted his belt out of the boat at the dock, it weighed significantly more than my thirty pound mud anchor. He was about 5'8 and weighed in at about 120 pounds.
