Is Solo Pool Practice OK?

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If you're worrying about actually what can go wrong doing this (as opposed to breaking some "cardinal rule" about solo diving), why not just do everything you want to practise in 4-5 feet of water where you can stand up? What skills can't be practised that shallow (in fact, that's the best depth to practise buoyancy/hovering)?

I'm also jumping in late and skimmed some of the posts. Mustard Dave mentioned a good point -- the life guard may not know how to get you out of your gear assuming he can get to you in enough time. One nightmare scenario this suggests is jumping in the deep end without your air turned on. You're on the bottom so the life guard can't see you. You can't inflate your BC so you have to kick up. Most new divers are overweighted so you may not have enough energy to get to the surface. You might be able to ditch your weights and swim up. Another choice is to ditch your equipment and do a CESA. My advice to you is what TMHeimer said above.

P.S. My cavern instructor related a dive accident to an experienced cave diver. He entered 4 ft of water without his gas turned on or his BC inflated. As he stepped in he slipped, turned upside down, and was laying on his doubles facing the surface. Because of the weight he couldn't right himself and standup, and he couldn't reach behind him and get the gas turned on before drowning. He died with at least 180 ft3 of unavailable gas in perfectly good equipment, while staring imploringly at the surface barely an arms reach away. Unfortunately, he didn't have a buddy and no one witnessed his accident.
 
I'm also jumping in late and skimmed some of the posts. Mustard Dave mentioned a good point -- the life guard may not know how to get you out of your gear assuming he can get to you in enough time. One nightmare scenario this suggests is jumping in the deep end without your air turned on. You're on the bottom so the life guard can't see you. You can't inflate your BC so you have to kick up. Most new divers are overweighted so you may not have enough energy to get to the surface. If might be able to ditch your weights and swim up. Another choice is to ditch your equipment and do a CESA. My advice to you is what TMHeimer said above.

P.S. My cavern instructor related a dive accident to an experienced cave diver. He entered 4 ft of water without his gas turned on or his BC inflated. As he stepped in he slipped, turned upside down, and was laying on his doubles facing the surface. Because of the weight he couldn't right himself and he couldn't reach behind him and get the gas turned before drowning. He died with at least 180 ft3 of unavailable gas in perfectly good equipment, while staring imploringly at the surface barely an arms reach away. Unfortunately, he didn't have a buddy and no one witnessed his accident.

So... your telling us he could not unbuckle his kit to save his hide? And he was claimed to be an experienced cave diver? Just saying... :confused:
 
Land on your back and water will go up your nose. Trapped on your back underwater you would probably panic and drown very quickly. Reaching back to turn on the gas isn't something a paniced mind can do. Panic is what kills lots of people in water that wasn't even over their heads.
 
Land on your back and water will go up your nose. Trapped on your back underwater you would probably panic and drown very quickly. Reaching back to turn on the gas isn't something a paniced mind can do. Panic is what kills lots of people in water that wasn't even over their heads.

I like your hypothesis about panic but wouldn't you have your mask on in the water? I have never dove doubles but are they that heavy that you could not lift your legs and rotate to the side? Just seems inconceivable - and no I am not laughing - but it does seem like a story to wake up the students to the possibilities not necessarily a "true" story...
 
Basking Ridge Diver:
So... your telling us he could not unbuckle his kit to save his hide? And he was claimed to be an experienced cave diver?

I like your hypothesis about panic but wouldn't you have your mask on in the water? I have never dove doubles but are they that heavy that you could not lift your legs and rotate to the side? Just seems inconceivable - and no I am not laughing - but it does seem like a story to wake up the students to the possibilities not necessarily a "true" story...

This story came from a reputable experienced cave instructor who has more certs than you can shake a stick at. I don't have any reason to believe he's making the story up. I went to DAN's website but could not find this particular accident. There didn't seem to be a way to search their database.

I dive doubles occasionally and yes they are heavy (adding additional weight for a dry suit, second reg, light cannister,etc.). Rolling over wouldn't be as easy as a single tank since you have to pick up the weight of the non-pivot tank. Since he didn't have his gas on he entered the water without his reg in his mouth. He slips and tries the primary -- no gas. Most likely he switched to his backup -- no gas. The fastest recourse to gas is to turn on the left post valve serving the backup reg remembering it turns on in the opposite direction from the right post (from the diver's POV). Since 6 out of 7 people are right handed you have to do this with the weaker left hand. If he had to much trouble he would have switched to the right post and after sucessfully turning it on would need to switch back to the primary reg. If he started trying to roll over he would have wasted valuable energy and this would have been the most logical thing to do in water that shallow. All speculation though. I would like to see the full case study.

Ditching your equipment is an option but divers on doubles are trained to shutoff or isolate, i.e. you would first reach behind to turn on a valve.
 
Singles or Side Mount for me - no more thoughts of Doubles... Still seems incredible and I went to Google to see if I could find the death - too little to go on and too many deaths with cave divers to find the specific example...
 
A couple things to note regarding the shallow water accident to the doubles cave diver above, and I'll bring this topic back around for the OP and new divers in general. First, not checking his air before getting in the water is unforgivable. But, not putting air in the BC is because you're not floating and you're going to make a head down descent. Why put air in the BC if you are just going to dump it. New divers face the same scenario when wading out from a beach or quarry or standing up in the shallow end of a pool. Sure, it was a freak accident but why tempt fate? Put air in that BC before wading out in the shallows. Ask yourself if your life is worth the time to put a few pounds of air in your BC.
 
Uhh . . . I've never heard or read that story. My husband fell on his back in his doubles, but his gas was on. He just couldn't get back up. One of our former SB members had the same situation, but he also had his gas on -- he just fell without a reg in his mouth.

You'd really have to be a doofus to fail to turn on EITHER of your valves, fail to do any kind of gear check, and simultaneously manage to fall in shallow water AND not even be able to turn over and get up on your knees.

Something's fishy with this story.
 
I don't do doubles, but fishy as is sounds, it does make one think. I have forgotten 4-5 times to turn on my air shore diving over the years, but am super paranoid about it when I take a very rare charter. That's when not having it on and jumping off the boat could be a big mess, unless you quickly drop your weights, have your BC half full, etc.
 
P.S. My cavern instructor related a dive accident to an experienced cave diver. He entered 4 ft of water without his gas turned on or his BC inflated. As he stepped in he slipped, turned upside down, and was laying on his doubles facing the surface. Because of the weight he couldn't right himself and standup, and he couldn't reach behind him and get the gas turned on before drowning. He died with at least 180 ft3 of unavailable gas in perfectly good equipment, while staring imploringly at the surface barely an arms reach away. Unfortunately, he didn't have a buddy and no one witnessed his accident.

Sounds like pure BS to me! Yea the diver had to be a cave diver because an OW diver would not make the story more interesting. Also "he did not have a buddy and no one witnessed his accident" but we know exactly what happened.

---------- Post added April 21st, 2015 at 01:11 AM ----------

A couple things to note regarding the shallow water accident to the doubles cave diver above, and I'll bring this topic back around for the OP and new divers in general. First, not checking his air before getting in the water is unforgivable. But, not putting air in the BC is because you're not floating and you're going to make a head down descent. Why put air in the BC if you are just going to dump it. New divers face the same scenario when wading out from a beach or quarry or standing up in the shallow end of a pool. Sure, it was a freak accident but why tempt fate? Put air in that BC before wading out in the shallows. Ask yourself if your life is worth the time to put a few pounds of air in your BC.

Save the gas for the dive and oral inflate. Breathe off the reg to ensure that they are working well and watch the gauge to ensure that your tanks are turned on.
 
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