Question How to not panic/tunnel vision

[Whitrzac]

I skimmed this a bit.

1st step is to take every precaution to avoid situations that cause panic or that could cause stress.

2nd step is to have a reliable buddy. They dont need to save you, just an extra set of hands because when poop hits the fan people have 3 working braincells.

This applies to OW divers and experienced technical divers alike. The time between 'something is off' and '***** me' gets longer with experience. Extremely experienced divers can spot the small issues in others that will lead to panic and help mitigate them.


I've be involved/apart of 3 legitimate bailouts >250ft. Oddly enough people forget to ascend...

 

[therookie]

There are such excellent suggestions for me in this thread!

Simple drills in shallow water with a buddy.

practice switching over and over again during a normal dive

The first thought should be what is my next step to resolve the situation.

Running scenarios through your mind (like a checklist )

As a purely warm-water vacation diver with "surface intervals" measured in months between "dive seasons" measured in weeks if not days, I know that it will take me years to cultivate the kind of automatic habits that so many of you have. But just yesterday in discussing our upcoming trip my buddy and I decided that we would devote the first dive of the trip not so much to looking at pretty fish as to practice sessions / drills in shallow water with a non-critical bottom (she specifically mentioned mask clearing - her usually well-fitted mask gets ornery with her at least once per trip!). If we need to pay a bit extra to our dive operator to make that happen, it is money well spent.

Reading these posts this afternoon has just strengthened my resolve to get the most out of that dive that we can. Thank you so much for posting them!

 

[johndiver999]

My take on the situation is a little different. If having the regulator out of your mouth scares you, then do it more, a lot more. Practice taking it out a lot, blow bubbles, learn to blow bubble rings, stop using the power inflator on the BC and only orally inflate the BC for several dives.... whatever it takes, but get acclimated to the feeling. You have identified a significant weakness, possibly one you were unaware of - now learn to master it.

Sooner or later the reg is going to be ripped from your mouth unexpectedly. If you are not unduly upset by this, you will be much better off.

I've had my reg ripped out several times: by getting caught on something on a wreck, by a bad buddy doing arm swimming, a big speared fish bashing me in the face, are all situations which come to mind right away. Each time, I have to admit, it is a shock, but you just quickly recognize the problem and go about addressing it - because you know how to deal with it.

Several weeks ago a buddy jumped in the water (while I was driving) and the regulator that had just came out of the shop, had the mouth piece fall off in his mouth. He put some air in the BC, yelled to us where the zip ties are located on the boat and we tossed him one in the water and he was delayed less than 60 seconds. Not a big deal - but this is the kind of situation which is a non-issue if someone is really comfortable (and lucky they didn't inhale a bunch of water).

 

[34109411]

So I have an embarrassing story and hopefully others here have some helpful insights. I am a fairly new diver with 70 some dives. I recently was taking my rescue class. We were in a local quarry I’ve dove many times. It was my turn to play the out of air diver. So as the other rescue student swims up to me I toss my reg and signal out of air. The other student fumbled enough getting his secondary and by the time he’s got it half way to my face, my mind is screaming I’m actually out of air(completely forgetting the nearly full tank strapped to my back). I grabbed his secondary and pushed the purge and sipped the bubbles enough to calm my brain. I’ve dove since then, but obviously don’t have out of air situations.

All that to say/ask this. When I look back, I’m frustrated with myself for fixating on the air the student was trying to hand me, forgetting the TWO sources of air I had myself. Moving forward, does anyone have suggestions to avoid the tunnel vision I seemed to have?

will first off no shame, it happen to everyone. Try to visualize before the dive what could happen in this kind of situation and how you gonna react to it.

After this practice pratice and pratice. did i mention you need to practice ?

Besides all others post also very good idea.

Be safe