How Often Do You Abort Dives?

[xyrandomyx]

Some good points but I'd also add if you are aborting dives frequently then have a think about underlying problems. If it is gear, get good gear and check it before the dive. I normally check air pressures, regulator operation and BCD operation the night before a dive. If it is weather, why not check the forecast on the net. In our area you can get a pretty good idea a week in advance. My rule of thumb for comfortable diving is no more than 15 knot winds and 1.5 m swell. If you are frequently aborting dives because of health issues is this really the sport for you.

That said, if you need to abort a dive then you should do it and not feel pressured to continue. Your buddy should respect your decision without question and not pressure you to continue. On a recent dive my buddy was anxious and not feeling well. I guided her back to the boat. It was a charter and her over riding concern was that if she bailed I wouldn't have a buddy. She'd had a bit of trouble on the previous dive with her ears. She needed to be more assertive about not diving. A simple 'Sorry but I'm really not feeling up to this', is all that is needed and then head straight back to the boat. Save the detailed explanation for later.

I make a note of aborted dives in my log book for this reason: to see if there's something I can learn and whether I can avoid it in future. It's not always going to be possible, though, of course. The shops here don't make weekend launch plans before Thursday evening because the longer-term forecasts are seldom accurate enough. Unless the weather's absolutely perfect, it's generally best to actually go out to shore dive sites here before making a call -- some are more sheltered than others and the precise direction of the wind and swell make a difference. It's also hard to tell what visibility's going to be like. The last dive I aborted was due to poor visibility: 1--2 metres at best, but reports from the same site the day before were 3--5 metres. The next weekend I went for a dive expecting 1--2 metres (at a simpler site I was more familiar with and with a more experienced buddy; we planned accordingly), but we got 3--5 metres.

 

[Foxfish]

I make a note of aborted dives in my log book for this reason: to see if there's something I can learn and whether I can avoid it in future. It's not always going to be possible, though, of course. The shops here don't make weekend launch plans before Thursday evening because the longer-term forecasts are seldom accurate enough. Unless the weather's absolutely perfect, it's generally best to actually go out to shore dive sites here before making a call -- some are more sheltered than others and the precise direction of the wind and swell make a difference. It's also hard to tell what visibility's going to be like. The last dive I aborted was due to poor visibility: 1--2 metres at best, but reports from the same site the day before were 3--5 metres. The next weekend I went for a dive expecting 1--2 metres (at a simpler site I was more familiar with and with a more experienced buddy; we planned accordingly), but we got 3--5 metres.

As so often happens circumstances vary around the world. 3-5 m visibility would be a bad day around here. That usually follows a storm. It will then take about a week of calm weather to settle down. I've become increasingly aware that visibility is also dependent on currents which bring in clean water - or dirty water. At the moment it is around 10-20 m here.

 

[Diving Dubai]

In 96 Dives...

Once for a ear not equalising at 10m so came up (buddy went down with another pair and they thumbed the dive at 35mins as it was too cold)

Once because of mask leak at 5m, surfaced twice to sort issue then realised the seal had split. Got another off the boat and headed down again. Unfortunately by this time we'd lost the dive group (maldives) and couldn't see the channel we were supposed to be heading for (we and the boat had drifted on the surface) so thumbed the dive at 30m and headed up again - the nice dive crew didn't charge us for that dive either - instead in the afternoon they gave us an extra dive - which turned out accruing to the DM a better dive as we saw Manta's which we're expected at that site - so a result!

 

[Rich Keller]

I can not remember the last time I aborted a dive when I was in the water while sport diving. Had to abort many while commercial diving, usually due to construction equipment failure not dive equipment failure. I have aborted a few sport dives before I went in due to poor conditions.

 

[clownfishsydney]

As others have mentioned, it depends on what is meant by aborted. I take it to mean started a dive but finished it a considerable time before the planned time. For example, a dive planned to 20 m for about 40 minutes stopped at 15 minutes. A dive to 20 m planned for 40 but stopped at 25 minutes would not qualify.

Based on this, I would say that of the just over 3,500 dives I have completed, I have only aborted about 3 or 4 dives. Of these, all were related to conditions underwater that were adverse to safe/enjoyable diving (mostly viz).

 

[drbill]

I rarely abort dives, but that is not an indication of much. I dive under pretty good conditions... either in our dive park with stairs leading right into the water or off a boat on the protected leeward side of the island. I generally know the conditions prior to arriving at the park, so I can decide not to dive even before I go down there. For those who live at distance from a dive site and don't know what prevailing conditions are prior to arrival, I assume aborting a dive may be more frequent. I only rarely have any gear issues and my cast iron stomach pretty much eliminates any issues there.

 

[Storker]

Depends on how you define "abort".

I've ended quite a few cold-water dives (maybe some 30-40% of them) earlier than planned because either I or my buddy was a bit too cold for comfort. That has usually meant a 30-35 minute dive instead of a 45-60 minute dive. No big deal, we just turned a bit earlier and used less time on the return leg than originally planned. One time my instabuddy told me - after the dive - that he'd gotten so cold he started having coordination problems about three-quarters into the dive; I spent some time explaining to him that the next time, I'd prefer that he was more concerned about safety than about my bottom time.

I've passed on a couple of dives before even splashing because I didn't like the conditions.

As for what I'd call aborting a dive, I've done that once. My buddy's regulator freeflowed moderately. Not a full-blown (pun not intended) freeflow, but a steady slow trickle. He gave me the thumb up just after we'd descended to about 5m and gotten horizontal, and the dive was over.

Then there was that time I'd done three short dives in quick succession, and I was feeling a bit exhausted. When I was changing my tank for a full one, my tank band buckle broke. I was lent a BP/W, but only after we'd entered the water again, I found out that I was overweighted due to the steel BP and the lead insert in the STA. We descended, but I thumbed the dive after about five minutes, and we followed the bottom back to the shore. My buoyancy control sucked donkey b*lls, and it all feel wrong. In retrospect, I should have realized how overweighted I was before we descended, and my exhaustion should've stopped me from even entering the water.

 

[divin'dog]

Called a dive on my SI, after having lunch, pressured up the regs and blew an HP hose. I told my buddy that I would jump in the car and go down the street to get a replacement... He said "No, then we'll just be rushing it to get in the water and maybe other things will go wrong..." It was actually pretty wise advice. So we just packed up and took a leisurely ride home.

Only other dive was this summer when vis absolutely sucked! Pretty much 2'-4'. Normally it wouldn't bother me if I was expecting that kind of vis. It was a nice day on top but the bottom was really stirred up. We went in not knowing how bad it was and after about 30 mins we both called it. Both of us had about 1200-1500 psi left. We told other divers following us not to bother.

 

[Wookie]

6,000 or so dives, only once after getting in the water. Too much wetsuit and too much natural body insulation. I've walked out on the deck too many times to count, looked at conditions and said "I'm paid to be here, not the other way around. I think I'll sit this one out".

 

[AfterDark]

I don't keep track but diving in NE is pretty weather dependent. When a shore dive is planned and the breakers are rolling in on the rocks 5' high I'd say not diving is a good idea not an aborted dive since it never happened. I did abort a dive once due to regulator failure and did a blow and go to the surface. Been on more than a few dives where half way thru I'm asking myself why this was a good idea?

I'm pretty selective these days. Diving is harder for me than it was 40 years ago so I want quality. If the conditions don't sound good I'll stay home. Darn knees don't like diving as much as I do!