Improved safety?

[Oxy]

A recent cave dive question post has left me wondering about early scuba.
Who did it?
Statistically, what are the fatality rates compared to now?
I know for a fact everyone who has tried to breath water has failed.
If you exhale and then suck water. . .
what are your chances at 20ft. . .30ft. . .60ft?
Can you choke it out in a regulator?
I did it as a kid in 2ft of water. . I don't know what made me do it, I just opened my mouth and tried to breath (no schnerkel doodel).
I stood up, leaned on the side of the pool and proceeded to try and choke out my toes.
By the time I could take air I was so weak I almost slid back in. SO my biggest question is
I hook my airline or my reg gets kicked out or for what ever reason at depth I suck water.
What are my chances?

 

[Web Monkey]

There is never any reason to run out of air.

Your profile says "not certified". Many of the skills that will be taught in your certification class involved dealing with a lost regulator and/or running out of air.

There are several methods to get back a lost regulator, and you will also have a spare (alternate) that you can use while looking for your lost primary. Also, your buddy has an alternate regulator in case you've done several things horribly wrong and managed to actually run out of air.

As for the first part of your question, valid statistics are very difficult to come by, since the cause of death is frequently mis-reported and there is no centralized reporting requirement or valid statistics for the total number of active divers or dives/year.

Terry

Can you choke it out in a regulator?
I did it as a kid in 2ft of water. . I don't know what made me do it, I just opened my mouth and tried to breath (no schnerkel doodel).
I stood up, leaned on the side of the pool and proceeded to try and choke out my toes.
By the time I could take air I was so weak I almost slid back in. SO my biggest question is
I hook my airline or my reg gets kicked out or for what ever reason at depth I suck water.
What are my chances?

 

[Oxy]

There is never any reason to run out of air.

Your profile says "not certified". Many of the skills that will be taught in your certification class involved dealing with a lost regulator and/or running out of air.

There are several methods to get back a lost regulator, and you will also have a spare (alternate) that you can use while looking for your lost primary. Also, your buddy has an alternate regulator in case you've done several things horribly wrong and managed to actually run out of air.

As for the first part of your question, valid statistics are very difficult to come by, since the cause of death is frequently mis-reported and there is no centralized reporting requirement or valid statistics for the total number of active divers or dives/year.

Terry

Thanks for the attempt but you did not address my question
If I cannot find my reg at the end of the hose that is another problem.
If I run out of air, I have failed to recognize other problems.

My question was. . .If I suck water (with no side to grab, or bottom to stand on with my head clear of the water) If I suck water instead of air, (and 40 divers offer alternates) what are my chances? Can I choke out through a reg?

you know cough cough gag choke cough gag gag choke cough (am i ever gonna get air) choke choke cough gag gag gag gag gag(no air left to cough)long pause, slight inhale cough cough cough cough(no air again)very weak, cant see now, heart pounding, finally half a breath and a swallow cough cough another breath(eyesight coming back, heart not pounding so much COUGH OUT WATER & BREATH AIR THROUGH A REG?

 

[Gary D.]

There is no way to accurately compare fatality rates over years past. In the early years, I don’t know how early you’re talking, there were fewer people getting certified. Very few passed the classes unlike today when very few fail a class.

People didn’t take a class for a once a year diving vacation as they do now. So basically you had divers getting certified, or teaching themselves that continued to dive. Today that isn’t always the case.

So let’s just make a hypothetical thingy here. In the early years 1000 divers hit the water in a 12 month period. Those 1000 divers’ average 100 dives a year and 2 end up kicking the bucket.

Today 10,000 divers get certified and hit the water. They average 3 or 4 dives a year to some exotic remote tourist trap and 2 don’t make it.

There is no factual basis for this it’s just how things have changed over the years. In the early years getting certified wasn’t something you did over a weekend. It was a longer more demanding process that wasn’t gear dependent as it is today.

Gary D.

 

[Thalassamania]

1. Not sucking in water is a skill that is learned.
2. Yes, you can cough (even puke) through a regulator and still breathe.

 

[Gary D.]

Thanks for the attempt but you did not address my question
If I cannot find my reg at the end of the hose that is another problem.
If I run out of air, I have failed to recognize other problems.

My question was. . .If I suck water (with no side to grab, or bottom to stand on with my head clear of the water) If I suck water instead of air, (and 40 divers offer alternates) what are my chances? Can I choke out through a reg?

you know cough cough gag choke cough gag gag choke cough (am i ever gonna get air) choke choke cough gag gag gag gag gag(no air left to cough)long pause, slight inhale cough cough cough cough(no air again)very weak, cant see now, heart pounding, finally half a breath and a swallow cough cough another breath(eyesight coming back, heart not pounding so much COUGH OUT WATER & BREATH AIR THROUGH A REG?

You can do about anything you want through a reg at any depth except maybe smoke a cigar. Go ahead a choak, cough, gag, puke or what ever else you feel you need to do.

Your condition will depend on the amount of water you inhale. Besides inhailing water is not always the problem. Plain old suffication is and the can happen with or without inhaling any water.

Gary D.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Hopefully you'll never find yourself in a situation where you are actually choking underwater, but if so what Thal and Gary D. said is 100% correct. If you do have it happen:

1. Hold the regulator firmly in place with your hand (so you do not cough it out of your mouth!).

2. One tip I've heard about to suppress the urge to cough is to press your tongue against the roof of your mouth. So far, I've never remembered to try it when I'm coughing, so I cannot confirm that it actually works

In any event, it is should not be a cause for real concern for you. I've had my regulator ripped out of my mouth a few times, didn't ever choke (the 1st was in a "hazing" portion of my OW class back in the '70's, so I was forewarned that this and other "emergencies" might occur during the dive).

I have gotten a "wet" breath from time to time that caused some coughing, and it was no big deal. Just cough through the reg.

Good luck!

 

[Thalassamania]

Yet another reason for snorkel training, practice and use ... you learn to breathe carefully and detect water before it makes you choke, and if you do choke you're right at the surface.

 

[digital_steve]

i had my reg yanked out mid-breath by kelp on a dive last year that resulted in me getting half a lungful of water
i immediatly panicked and shot up a meter or so but then levelled out and coughed out water, carefully breathed in slighty, coughed out more until i felt i was ok. Hideous experience but doable if you don't panic and you haven't ingested the whole sea.

 

[ucfdiver]

A recent cave dive question post has left me wondering about early scuba.
Who did it?
Statistically, what are the fatality rates compared to now?
I know for a fact everyone who has tried to breath water has failed.
If you exhale and then suck water. . .
what are your chances at 20ft. . .30ft. . .60ft?
Can you choke it out in a regulator?
I did it as a kid in 2ft of water. . I don't know what made me do it, I just opened my mouth and tried to breath (no schnerkel doodel).
I stood up, leaned on the side of the pool and proceeded to try and choke out my toes.
By the time I could take air I was so weak I almost slid back in. SO my biggest question is
I hook my airline or my reg gets kicked out or for what ever reason at depth I suck water.
What are my chances?

Are you comparing cave diving accidents or accidents in general? I doubt any of us have been diving for very long without getting at least a little water in our lungs accidentally when breathing.