Bill, all surface current is going to do to an ascent is make you move away from the boat. That's why anybody diving off a boat should have SOME kind of device for signaling the boat from the surface, if you end up there in a place you aren't supposed to be. Even very experienced divers can wind up in a situation where they can't get back to the upline -- we had half a boatful end up in that place off Southern California a couple of years ago, when the current turned out to be much worse than it was billed.
The worst thing that will happen to you, if you attempt a blue water ascent and don't control it well, is that you'll end up with too fast an ascent rate. If you don't hold your breath, the likelihood that anything bad will come of that is gratifyingly low, especially if you have been staying within prudent limits for very inexperienced divers. On the other hand, staying underwater when you are low or almost out of gas, on the theory that you will be able to successfully share gas with the DM and make an ascent with him or her is making a LOT more assumptions. Bob has pointed out some situations that could lead to the DM being unable to help you -- you should NEVER make a PLAN that involves depending on someone else's gas -- and that includes plans that are made on the spur of the moment, when a low on gas situation is discovered. When you are low on gas, the FIRST PRIORITY, BEST option is the surface. That's what you were taught in OW -- remember the question where you have to number the options according to what's best and what's last-ditch? Sharing gas with someone else is below making a normal ascent BEFORE you are out of gas. That's a better answer.
I have posted a number of my own screwups here on SB, and it can be very hard to sit on your hands and take the criticism that people are happy to dish out when a diver has made a mistake. But the bottom line is that debriefing incidents like this is a powerful learning experience, or it can be. When someone retreats into being defensive and trying to justify decisions or actions that a near-total consensus feels were in error, that person has thrown away the biggest value of participating in a forum like this.
We are essentially ALL telling you that you made a mistake by staying underwater to remain near the DM. You've gotten several well-written and cogent explanations as to why. The best learning here is to look at WHY you made this decision, and figure out where the flaws in the reasoning were, or whether you were working off reason or emotion. The thing to fix is the issue that led to a bad choice, whether that's fixed by more education, more training, or just an opportunity to think things through away from the emotion and stress of having to deal with it underwater.
We ALL make mistakes. Smart people learn from them; not so smart people justify and repeat them. I work hard not to fall in the latter class, even when the learning experience is painful.
The worst thing that will happen to you, if you attempt a blue water ascent and don't control it well, is that you'll end up with too fast an ascent rate. If you don't hold your breath, the likelihood that anything bad will come of that is gratifyingly low, especially if you have been staying within prudent limits for very inexperienced divers. On the other hand, staying underwater when you are low or almost out of gas, on the theory that you will be able to successfully share gas with the DM and make an ascent with him or her is making a LOT more assumptions. Bob has pointed out some situations that could lead to the DM being unable to help you -- you should NEVER make a PLAN that involves depending on someone else's gas -- and that includes plans that are made on the spur of the moment, when a low on gas situation is discovered. When you are low on gas, the FIRST PRIORITY, BEST option is the surface. That's what you were taught in OW -- remember the question where you have to number the options according to what's best and what's last-ditch? Sharing gas with someone else is below making a normal ascent BEFORE you are out of gas. That's a better answer.
I have posted a number of my own screwups here on SB, and it can be very hard to sit on your hands and take the criticism that people are happy to dish out when a diver has made a mistake. But the bottom line is that debriefing incidents like this is a powerful learning experience, or it can be. When someone retreats into being defensive and trying to justify decisions or actions that a near-total consensus feels were in error, that person has thrown away the biggest value of participating in a forum like this.
We are essentially ALL telling you that you made a mistake by staying underwater to remain near the DM. You've gotten several well-written and cogent explanations as to why. The best learning here is to look at WHY you made this decision, and figure out where the flaws in the reasoning were, or whether you were working off reason or emotion. The thing to fix is the issue that led to a bad choice, whether that's fixed by more education, more training, or just an opportunity to think things through away from the emotion and stress of having to deal with it underwater.
We ALL make mistakes. Smart people learn from them; not so smart people justify and repeat them. I work hard not to fall in the latter class, even when the learning experience is painful.
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