Incidents compounded ... you ever have one of these dives?

[mstroeck]

Your utopia of idealism is wasted on those of us who dive in the real world.

Come on! Doing a weight check is by no means a "utopia". If conditions are bad enough a new diver can't make a weight check, I really think he shouldn't go on. If he can't even pull of a basic safety precaution, he sure as hell shouldn't be diving under those conditions.

Of course, some people adhere to the Trial-And-Error School of SCUBA Diving...
I tend to believe that living in the "real world" doesn't mean encouraging people who don't know what they are doing to go on and do it anyway.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Come on! Doing a weight check is by no means a "utopia". If conditions are bad enough a new diver can't make a weight check, I really think he shouldn't go on. If he can't even pull of a basic safety precaution, he sure as hell shouldn't be diving under those conditions.

Ummmm...that's kind of what I was thinkin.

Of course, some people adhere to the Trial-And-Error School of SCUBA Diving...
I tend to believe that living in the "real world" doesn't mean encouraging people who don't know what they are doing to go on and do it anyway.

Trial and error scholl of scuba diving. I like that.

But come on...half of em never even get to do a real weighting check in class and aren't taught anything about what to if they were neutral so what's the difference? Slap some weight on em and have em walk the plank.

Expecting that divers can both survive and enjoy a dive is nothing but utopic idealistic drivel. Just thow em in especially if they're just divin fishin holes! This is the real world.

 

[GDI]

I go through my diving life thinking that my worst dive was the one I just made and that my best dive will be the next one coming.

We have all had these days when murphy was part of the dive team. It is truely part of the learning process

 

[Charlie99]

I dive using a 3 rule situation. After three things go wrong reguardless of what they are, starting from when I get up the morning of the dive until I ascend from the actual dive itself....I abort and dive another day. You're supposed to enjoy it not be frusterated with yourself or others.

I kind of use a rule like this --- and usually regret it when I ignore it. Often, whether in diving or other things in life, I have the nagging doubts (or even sometimes big alarm bells going off) before I get deep, deep into trouble.

The hard part is having the self discipline to act appropriately in response to that nagging feeling that this just isn't the day for that particular activity.

 

[Rick Inman]

Last Sat...

I forgot to don my weight belt and had to return to the truck for it.

My buddies re breather computer cables were reversed and I had to tear it apart on his back and re-rout.

My left glove flooded (liner stuck in seal) and we surfaced. My buddies primary wouldn't strike.

The little flashing light thingy of his HUD kept falling out of the clip.

We went down... we came back up... we went down... we came back up. The air temp was about 19 degrees and the water temp was about 42.

"Maybe this is one of those dives we shouldn't make, " he suggested.

"Wanna bag it?"

"Let's give it one more shot."

As we were dropping down the wall which goes from 12' to 130', his backup light dimmed out. I gave him mine.

The rest of the dive was wonderful, except my wet hand started hurting 40 mins into the dive, so I called it then.

As to weight, my betters are already discussing this, but I'll give my 2 cents.

When I dive in S. CA later this month, I'll be diving a gear a different configuration - AL80 with my BP/W, drysuit and less undies (AL 80?? Ugh...). Before I jump off the boat into Catalina waters, I'll make my "best guess" as to weighting. My weight check will be to let a little air out of my BC before we actually descend. From experience, I should be able to tell how close I am without totally descending. I might hand a couple of pounds up to the boat, or ask for a couple. Then at the end of the dive (during the SS), I'll test things a bit and I'll know for sure. No biggie - no one else might even notice while I'm doing a weight check.

Where I dive, it seems like I'm adjusting insulation under my drysuit every couple of months, and from fresh to salt. Weight adjustment is just part of the dive. Unless a diver dives the same exposure protection in the same waters all the time, I would think that everyone would be quickly used to weight checks "on the fly".

 

[TSandM]

Well, I had a compounded non-dive today. Diving my new Al80's, estimated adding four pounds, wasn't enough, took 3 more from my buddy, wasn't enough . . . unfortunately, we had swum out to the descent point before I did this (dumb!) so we had to swim a long way back to shore to get more weight. That required, of course, getting out of all the gear and the drysuit in order to get to the car keys . . . added weight, went out into chest-deep water to check . . . STILL couldn't descend; at that point, recognized that one of the 5lb weights from one of my pockets was gone, so I was five pounds lighter than I thought I was. Back to shore to fix that. My husband shows up at that point, so we wait for him to get dressed and gear up, and I (complete with now THIRTY FOUR POUNDS of weight) head back into the water and get about thirty feet from shore when the O-ring on my brand new 7 foot hose blows. End of non-dive. The other two went out and had a nice time while I took my hose apart and replaced the O-ring.

Still haven't figured out where I'm going to put THIRTY FOUR POUNDS of weight on a regular basis. I want my husband's LP 95's back.

 

[MikeFerrara]

When those orings blow, it's usually because the hose is lose and the oring extrudes. IF you turn off the air and purge or let it bleed down prior to tightening it back up, the oring is usually fine. The mistake many people make is trying to tighten the hose while the oring is sticking out and they cut the oring. Being a "brand new" hose, it might have just been lose.

 

[TSandM]

It was loose, Mike -- that's clearly what the problem was. Although I did purge the system before tightening the hose (in fact, I had taken the whole thing apart in preparation for going home, when I decided I had the tools to take the fitting apart and at least SEE if it was something I could fix), I clearly must have cut the o-ring when I tightened it. Oh well, I learned something . . . how to take hoses apart and replace o-rings! I also learned to take a good hard look at all my connections before using my gear.

 

[Rick Inman]

Still haven't figured out where I'm going to put THIRTY FOUR POUNDS of weight on a regular basis.

I donno. Thirty four pounds?? Even with your BP and STA? I mean, I know you did a weight check with the GUE instructor and all (I saw it), but you're such a tiny little person D), it's just hard to believe.

Right now in the cold water I'm wearing all the undies (4 layers) and still only use 18 pounds, and I'm bigger and carrying a lot more fat displacing a lot more water than you.

:huh:

 

[String]

34lbs is a lot although everyone is different i guess.

Currently with weezle, 2 tops underneath it, 4 pairs of socks, membrane drysuit, ABS backplate and steel 12l or 15l tanks im using 24lbs.

Admittedly due to body makeup women often need slightly more weight than a man but thats still a lot.