Instructor bent after running out of air at 40m

[MaxBottomtime]

John Chatterton penetrating the Andrea Doria on air. Scary, but he shows that it can be done.

 

[Diving Dubai]

I made a dive once when I noticed my air consumption was incredibly high. I looked at my spg more than usual, which is a lot and was amazed at how fast the needle was moving south. I aborted the dive after checking for any leaks. During my safety stop I reached back and realized that my isolator had been closed by the tank monkey at the shop. As soon as I opened it my needle went to about 1500 psi. I was diving double 95s so I still had about 119 cubic feet left.

But what you should have wrote is that you made a dive without carrying out a basic pre dive check on your gear?

You assumed your gear would be in the same configuration as the last time you used it, despite it being out of your hands.

I'll bet you never make that mistake again.

This is a great example of an almost incident caused by diver error and not adhering to the basic steps taught at OW?

A good learning lession for all

 

[vovanx]

I was taught some ways to gauge my narcosis, however it does not change the fact I'm narked, it just lets me know when I should head up.

could you share them?

 

[Edward3c]

To answer this, YES. My dives do go as planned. I DO plan them all, or a guide does. NO I hardly ever get narced, even on deep dives, because I dive my limits, and even when I do, I still check the gauge. YES I have run into currents and things, but I still check the air and come up when I need to, sooner if needed. YES, I might get distracted, but I am still smart enough to keep air and nodeco time the first thing in mind and the priority. And before you ask, no I am not doing the same easy dives each day. In fact I've probably dove more locations, and more conditions than most on here. I am a scuba blogger and on a mission to dive the top 100 dive locations, and it has brought me all over the world, over 1000 dives, and to many many types of dives. Stop giving these idiots excuses. The Best Scuba Diving in the World: Top 100 Locations - Art of Scuba Diving

I’ve told guides before now their plan isn’t safe and given them an alternate plan. With the proviso that they will by on their own, as I won’t get in the water with them. Therefore, relying on the guide to plan your dives is diving without a personal plan.

As for not having narcosis, everyone diving on air does to a lesser or greater extent. It doesn’t mean your incapable of logical thought, just a time lag to doing the same activity on the surface.

 

[Kay Dee]

John Chatterton penetrating the Andrea Doria on air. Scary, but he shows that it can be done.

Exactly! While not on the Doria per se, been there, done that. Many times as a matter of fact.

Now while I do not want / mean to hijack this thread, nor start a flame war re said practice - and I certainly would much prefer to dive gas (helium) - for much of the nineties I (and my wife at times) spent an inordinate amount of time diving open circuit air off Guadalcanal and surrounds. We did import helium occasionally, for the deeper dives (Atlanta, and the deeper sections of a few Jap transports), but the expense was exorbitant, so many many deep dives - USS Arron Ward for example (max seabed 70-72m, inside wreck about 65m or so) - were done by myself (and others) on plain old air. And yes while I am not saying there was no narcosis present at times, I have many (hundreds) of very good still photos taken while diving on air at around 60 - 70m to prove it is totally possible to be able to think 'clearly', as believe me, taking photos and adjusting camera / strobe settings does take thought. Safe, well that's your call, but I and some others had no choice. Either we dived on air or didn't dive at all. Period! And we were diving!

But that is not to say I have not seen some supposedly experienced divers wanting to give their air to the fishes at 40m either!

Of course once I switched to CCR, I dove almost exclusively on gas, but by then, circa 99 IIRC, ethnic strife had basically made it too dangerous to be in the Solomon's, so I moved on to Java Sea (where at times I and others had to dive OC air to similar depths as above also, but that's another story).

Oh, and yes, once upon a time back in the dim dark ages Hal Watts (if you remember him it shows your age) and Co. even ran regular deep air 'training' courses at Forty Fathom Grotto near Ocala, Florida - where both my wife and I did our deep air course (to 72m) in 92/93 - prior to our OC mixed gas certification courses (with the dreaded - but beloved - Mr Tom Mount. Re 'dreaded'; if you have ever been 'Mounted' you will know what I mean).

Anyway, I am NOT advocating deep air by any means, but it certainly can be done by some / many people, who I wont name here, and done well if need be. But I'd much MUCH rather be on gas anytime if possible!!

 

[AfterDark]

I’ve told guides before now their plan isn’t safe and given them an alternate plan. With the proviso that they will by on their own, as I won’t get in the water with them. Therefore, relying on the guide to plan your dives is diving without a personal plan.

As for not having narcosis, everyone diving on air does to a lesser or greater extent. It doesn’t mean your incapable of logical thought, just a time lag to doing the same activity on the surface.

Narcosis usually means a diver has trouble doing simple things like adding a few numbers together or simple subtraction; it can also mean a diver or divers lose track time, forgets to check SPG, get so overly focused on something simple that it becomes THE most important thing you've ever tried to do to the exclusion of everything else. Narcosis is sneaky and it creeps up on a diver in such a way that detection is difficult during the early stages, by the time it's noticeable it's often too late. You can plan your dive and dive your plan, if you can remember what it was. Dive plan notes on my slate when diving deep is one of the ways I use to help me self-diagnose my narcosis condition. If I'm not diving my plan then something is wrong.

 

[acidrush]

In the early 90s many divers regularly went down to 50-60m+ on air and a single tank. Most other divers would not even bat an eyelid. Times sure have changed.

 

[acidrush]

I did not look, but how many are "unexpected", "not serious" hits?

On a LOB trip a lob few years ago a "conservative" diver got type II skin bends after the third day. On our recent trip a few weeks ago several divers revealed that they had also had skin bend episodes. Not chamber rides, just O2 and then hammock rides for the rest of the week. All claimed they were within the NDL limits of recreational diving.

I've seen many experienced divers finish a safety stop at 5m and are up at the surface within 10 seconds. Don't people realise the last 5m have to be done slowly? Just because a safety stop was done doesn't mean you can go straight up quickly after that.

 

[doctormike]

In the early 90s many divers regularly went down to 50-60m+ on air and a single tank. Most other divers would not even bat an eyelid. Times sure have changed.

They sure have! I’m so happy about that...

 

[acidrush]

They sure have! I’m so happy about that...

Considering the number of people who can barely swim scuba diving nowadays, i have to agree.