Incident with a new diver

[emoreira]

Hi, just to relate an incident and the lessons learned. Forgive my poor english; I'm not an english speaking person.
I'm a new diver, just only 41 dives under my belt since being certified in October 2007. Countless dives in the practice pool.
Last March I did a dive trip to a sea wreck off the coast of Argentina. The wreck is an artificial wreck. A small 25 mts long fishing cutter lying at 19 mts depth in a sandy bottom.
The wreck is at something like 5 km off the coast.
The day was nice, sunny, some 25°C temperature, water temp drop to 16°C at the bottom. Sea level was like a mirror with no waves nor current. Visibility was around 15 mts.
There were 9 divers in the dive boat. We were 3 divers in my dive group, my dive buddy with some 15 dives, a new diver with only 10 dives and this would be his second dive at sea (the 1st one was the day before only to 8 mts depth), all previous dives were in a quarry during Check-out, and me.
The new diver had all rented gear (except basic). My dive buddy only rented tank and I rented only BCD, reg setup and tank.
We went down, took some UW photos, went over the wreck, saw the fishes living in the ship. I was controlling my air, my dive buddy's air and the new diver's air. I've seen that his air was running out rapidly, which was expected to be.
All of a sudden, my dive buddy disappeared. I had to decide if I go to search for him or stand by the new diver.
I signaled him to remain at the same spot (some 18 mts depth) while I tried to find my dive buddy. I've found him and went back 2 minutes afterwards to meet the new diver. When I reached him, he was entering panic as he was having trouble with the reg as he was very low with his air. He could not see me and hurried to reach another diver that was there (with his dive buddy) to ask for his octopus. They started to go up, sharing tank.
I've could see the new diver's spg and it showed that he had only 35 atms left.
I've surfaced with my dive buddy after safety stop.

We all surfaced safelly.

Several reflections after all this.
1) The new diver accepted to do a dive deeper to what his level of experience would allow.
2) The operator accepted him to dive deeper to what his level of experience would allow.
3) I accepted both previous things. I should have called the dive as non my dive buddy, nor the new diver were experienced enough to do that deep dive. As I was the diver with a greater experience I should have had a closer look to the new diver to start ascend before going so far with the air.
4) Rented gear not proper for the dive. When the new diver could not breath, the spg showed 35 atm. Several things could have happened :
4.1) The spg was showing more pressure of what really was in the tank, I mean the tank had less air.
4.2) The 1st stage reg should have been a non-balanced model, not proper for a deep dive. I do not know the brand and model.
4.3) The operator has regs not proper for the dives they are making.
4.4) The combination of the previous points.

Fortunatelly nothing wrong happened. This was the first time that i'm involved in a dive incident.
The operator is a well stablished dive operator and the only one in that town. They sunk the fishing vessel as a dive wreck several year ago and they are in the market since a long time.
There has been no log of accidents, but I'm pretty sure that this type of incidents happen regularly.

 

[deepstops]

I'll take a wild guess and say there was probably nothing wrong with the gear, the new diver probably just began to panic after you left and he (or she) thought they couldn't breathe.

 

[ameneon]

So the fact that you left your buddy (new diver as you call him) alone at 18m even though this was only his second dive at sea does not deserve a spot on your list?

 

[Angry Turtle]

I'll take a wild guess and say there was probably nothing wrong with the gear, the new diver probably just began to panic after you left and he (or she) thought they couldn't breathe.

+1 very common thing for an anxious new diver to over-breathe a regulator and feel like they are not getting enough air. It happened to me early on.

 

[Jax]

Wow - that's a pretty bad spot to be in . . . I'm glad I haven't been forced to be in that position.

I have, however, encountered a freaking moron that was lying about his air usage. Kept having a 100lbs more than me, only for me to discover that when he reported a 1000 on his safety stop, he really had 500.

Good for the new diver above, though, that he had a clear head to go ask for air. No so much panic.

 

[aquaregia]

I'm pretty wary about diving in a threesome for this reason. Every time I've done it we've made sure to be very clear about things like lost-buddy procedure, and who each person should be following if the other two divers go in opposite directions.

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

Hi, just to relate an incident and the lessons learned. Forgive my poor english; I'm not an english speaking person.
I'm a new diver, just only 41 dives under my belt since being certified in October 2007. Countless dives in the practice pool.
Last March I did a dive trip to a sea wreck off the coast of Argentina. The wreck is an artificial wreck. A small 25 mts long fishing cutter lying at 19 mts depth in a sandy bottom.
The wreck is at something like 5 km off the coast.
The day was nice, sunny, some 25°C temperature, water temp drop to 16°C at the bottom. Sea level was like a mirror with no waves nor current. Visibility was around 15 mts.
There were 9 divers in the dive boat. We were 3 divers in my dive group, my dive buddy with some 15 dives, a new diver with only 10 dives and this would be his second dive at sea (the 1st one was the day before only to 8 mts depth), all previous dives were in a quarry during Check-out, and me.
The new diver had all rented gear (except basic). My dive buddy only rented tank and I rented only BCD, reg setup and tank.
We went down, took some UW photos, went over the wreck, saw the fishes living in the ship. I was controlling my air, my dive buddy's air and the new diver's air. I've seen that his air was running out rapidly, which was expected to be.
All of a sudden, my dive buddy disappeared. I had to decide if I go to search for him or stand by the new diver.
I signaled him to remain at the same spot (some 18 mts depth) while I tried to find my dive buddy. I've found him and went back 2 minutes afterwards to meet the new diver. When I reached him, he was entering panic as he was having trouble with the reg as he was very low with his air. He could not see me and hurried to reach another diver that was there (with his dive buddy) to ask for his octopus. They started to go up, sharing tank.
I've could see the new diver's spg and it showed that he had only 35 atms left.
I've surfaced with my dive buddy after safety stop.

We all surfaced safelly.

Several reflections after all this.
1) The new diver accepted to do a dive deeper to what his level of experience would allow.
2) The operator accepted him to dive deeper to what his level of experience would allow.
3) I accepted both previous things. I should have called the dive as non my dive buddy, nor the new diver were experienced enough to do that deep dive. As I was the diver with a greater experience I should have had a closer look to the new diver to start ascend before going so far with the air.
4) Rented gear not proper for the dive. When the new diver could not breath, the spg showed 35 atm. Several things could have happened :
4.1) The spg was showing more pressure of what really was in the tank, I mean the tank had less air.
4.2) The 1st stage reg should have been a non-balanced model, not proper for a deep dive. I do not know the brand and model.
4.3) The operator has regs not proper for the dives they are making.
4.4) The combination of the previous points.

Fortunatelly nothing wrong happened. This was the first time that i'm involved in a dive incident.
The operator is a well stablished dive operator and the only one in that town. They sunk the fishing vessel as a dive wreck several year ago and they are in the market since a long time.
There has been no log of accidents, but I'm pretty sure that this type of incidents happen regularly.

Hello Emoreira:

First, your english is good enough to see what situation you're were in. I can do the calc's from metric to our typical SAE depths and air pressures. So, in my humble opionion, I understand what you were involved in.

1). The new diver accepted to do a dive deeper than what they are comfortable in. That is a condition that they/you were willing to accept, knowing well in advance that you will be in control of the dive group. It is not a complete hinderance, but you must keep this diver in the forefront of your mind as you give them the opportunity to advance their skills. Your buddy should have known this as your predive plan. I believe your buddy should have stuck to you both like glue, since you took on the responsibility to take the novice diver on a wreck tour.

2). Your comments in # 2 & # 3 clearly define this. You have some good experience with your 50 +/- dives under your belt. I'm sure you remember your first entries to salt water, clearly OPEN water, and the need for an experienced diver to lead the dive.

3). I believe (for the most part) that rented gear is OK, but it is also a challenge. I've been in my gear for many years, so it gives me a comfort level, not expected with rentals. New divers, with unfamilar gear, is a flag, that they may need orientation to what they are diving in. Salt water is not the pool or a quarry. Consider the currents, mask clears, weights, and related items right off the bat.

4). It seems from your explanation that the new diver over breathed his regulator. Panic will set in with EVERYONE. I have personally witnessed it with experienced and non-experienced divers. It's a human emotion. Controlling it is a hard thing to do. I use balanced piston regulators for my diving, up to 160 fsw. They work great. That is not to say a diaphram style first stage is not a problem. Different conditions call for different regs. You need to investigate the proper conditions.

5). Everyone made it to the surface with no problems. That's great, and it shows you how, even under duress, you controlled the dive plan with intelligence. Put a knotch on your belt, you deserve it. I have mentioned in my posts that I have seen the ugly side of diving, where OOA, or panic had led to tragic results. Don't go there, or close to it. Also, do not ASSUME that the dive operator has had no problems in the past. Just dive safe, have a great time, and if you are willing to take some new guys out, be prepared for the things that we all experienced as we honed our sport. Enjoy all your safe diving. We were all new students once, so I commend you for taking a new person out to enjoy our safe hobby.

Last note: Strongly consider a redundant alternate air source. I never dive without a 30 cu. ft. stage bottle in a sling. I dive this with a set of double 80's EVERY time I dive, ocean or quarry.
Take care.

 

[emoreira]

So the fact that you left your buddy (new diver as you call him) alone at 18m even though this was only his second dive at sea does not deserve a spot on your list?

Now I think that you are right perhaps. I had to take a decision on what to do. The new diver was in a specific spot by the wreck, by the buoy line. My buddy was no where, I had to find him. I could meet the new diver easily on my return. I didn't realized that he would consume so much air in such a short time.

 

[emoreira]

I'm pretty wary about diving in a threesome for this reason. Every time I've done it we've made sure to be very clear about things like lost-buddy procedure, and who each person should be following if the other two divers go in opposite directions.

With experience I'm realizing that threesome diving is not a good combination. I had dived several times in a threesome fashion and every time I had to guide the team, as it happend that always I'm the diver with more dives. The stress that produces to keep at sight the two fellow divers makes me consume more air than what I normally do. Keeping the team together IS responsability of all the members of the team, however divers less experienced wander the bottom without considering being lost from the rest.

 

[Splash-X]

Diving with a three person buddy team should not be considered "not a good combination". Having a three person buddy team is not unsafe nor is it risky. I would say that there are some additional considerations that must be made when diving in a trio instead of a pair. Having a two person buddy team may make things easier for you to manage but there are cases where two divers just simply shouldn't dive together because they don't get along (go separate ways, don't pay attention to each other, etc)

Maybe I overlooked it, but you didn't tell us what your pre-dive planning involved. Did you guys discuss how long you would be down for and at what depth? Were either of these buddies people you knew? If not, you certainly should have talked about emergency procedures including gear issues, lost buddy procedures and the other basics.

Most of the considerations involved with trio diving can easily be addressed and worked out on the surface prior to a dive. Small changes to lost buddy procedures, who leads, who follows, etc call all be addressed prior to the dive.



Most divers discount the importance of the pre-dive checklist. Even if this is your normal buddy you should cover the procedures to keep them fresh in your mind.


Looking back, wouldn't it have made more sense to keep the new diver with you? In my opinion having the new diver with you would have been a better choice both for him and you. You basically created three solo divers out of a team of three.


Our vision is ALWAYS better when we look back at the things we could have done better, after all that is how we often learn. I'm glad the end result was ok for you and I hope that you might find a way to make trio diving safer for both you and your buddies.