Is this solo diving?

[reeldive]

This might belong under accidents / lessons learned but I think that it might be beter understood in the solo-diver forum.

My dive partner and I dove the "Black Bart" off Panama City yesterday.(a very familar site to both of us) My dive partner was trying out his new Video set up, and of coarse, egar. He went down the anchor line first. I followed with my new pony rig (tested in sallow water twice) I,m usually the one to check the anchor and make sure it'll be easy to free up at the end of the dive. As I did so, my pony 2nd stage reg hung on the anchor chain and I was instantly aware that something was wrong as I wasn't going anywhere . almost at the same instant I noticed that my pony reg wasn't cliped to my chest where I'd put it. I did a quick spin hopeing to put it in front of me and ripped my mask off and tore my primary out of my mouth on the anchor chain. OK now I'm down 70' -- no mask- - no reg in mouth-- grabed the anchor chain for reference -- made a sweep to find a reg -- got air -- OK now where is my mask-- I saw a blob floating in front of me and thakfully it was my mask, and not a jellyfish -- got it on and cleared and continued the dive ( with a couple of great pics by the way). back on the boat -- dive partner say's " What ere you doing back there?" Ok, dive partner, not dive buddy.

Dive report: viz = 40'+; seas = 1; water temp = 62.
:11doh:

 

[TSandM]

I just spent three days getting hammered on organized descents and keeping the team together. This is why. Good on you for keeping your head with no air supply and solving the problem. I'm very glad I don't have to dive like that.

 

[do it easy]

Technically, you had a buddy, so it's not really solo diving. But you had to self rescue, which is a skill that some solo divers develop.

The quick spin idea doesn't sound like it worked out too well for you. I'm guessing that your pony is tank mounted, as opposed to slung?

 

[Nemrod]

No, actually not solo but I am glad that your OK, from the way your buddy left you then you might as well have been solo. Are you working towards solo? Is that why yiu have a pony?

One thing, I am not sure how your pony bottle is hung there--it looks like it is cross chest rather than hung as a stage would be? I am not sure that is a good way to do that. For one thing it would create drag and increase your profile and HANG up--which it did. Slung bottles tend to ride up under the arm, aluminum 19, 30 and 40s do anyways reducing drag, reducing profile and reducing hang ups.

Well, sounds like you did an excellent job of keeping your wits. Was that you in the pics on the the Destin Jetty?

N

 

[captain]

A case where more was not necessarly better. This could have had a tragic result. The pony you carried in case of an emergency created one. Not looking to get into a pony/no pony discussion, just noting that there are positives and negatives to everything.

 

[reeldive]

No, actually not solo but I am glad that your OK, from the way your buddy left you then you might as well have been solo. Are you working towards solo? Is that why yiu have a pony?

One thing, I am not sure how your pony bottle is hung there--it looks like it is cross chest rather than hung as a stage would be? I am not sure that is a good way to do that. For one thing it would create drag and increase your profile and HANG up--which it did. Slung bottles tend to ride up under the arm, aluminum 19, 30 and 40s do anyways reducing drag, reducing profile and reducing hang ups.

Well, sounds like you did an excellent job of keeping your wits. Was that you in the pics on the the Destin Jetty?

N

I had it mounted in a sling on the left side of my main tank with a 36 in hose comming under my left arm with the second stage cliped to a chest D-ring, The second stage was a Sherwood primary which has the large flang on the exhale port. That's what hung on the chain. Ive replaced it with an octo second stage with the short flange. Worked well in the bay during practice. There wasn't any thing around to get hung up on there . The anchor was on the starboard bow of the wreck about 20' or so off the botom which is why I was checking on it. my camer strap was looped over my right arm. Things could have got a little more exciting had it hung up as well. Step one get air! If you've got air you've got time to think things out.

Not me on the Destin jetties. I usually launch out of Tyndall AFB, east of Panama City, where I keep my boat. The Black bart is only a 20min run for me and we dive it a lot. there is also a hovercraft and two Bridge spans in the area. I can usually find something that doesn't have a fishing boat on it.

 

[Mike Edmonston]

This might belong under accidents / lessons learned but I think that it might be beter understood in the solo-diver forum.

My dive partner and I dove the "Black Bart" off Panama City yesterday.(a very familar site to both of us) My dive partner was trying out his new Video set up, and of coarse, egar. He went down the anchor line first. I followed with my new pony rig (tested in sallow water twice) I,m usually the one to check the anchor and make sure it'll be easy to free up at the end of the dive. As I did so, my pony 2nd stage reg hung on the anchor chain and I was instantly aware that something was wrong as I wasn't going anywhere . almost at the same instant I noticed that my pony reg wasn't cliped to my chest where I'd put it. I did a quick spin hopeing to put it in front of me and ripped my mask off and tore my primary out of my mouth on the anchor chain. OK now I'm down 70' -- no mask- - no reg in mouth-- grabed the anchor chain for reference -- made a sweep to find a reg -- got air -- OK now where is my mask-- I saw a blob floating in front of me and thakfully it was my mask, and not a jellyfish -- got it on and cleared and continued the dive ( with a couple of great pics by the way). back on the boat -- dive partner say's " What ere you doing back there?" Ok, dive partner, not dive buddy.

Dive report: viz = 40'+; seas = 1; water temp = 62.
:11doh:

Sounds like your dive partner was an S.O.B.
Same - Ocean - Buddy -

Cheers

Mike

 

[Jim Lapenta]

You may also want to rethink clipping that pony reg off to your chest. a better solution when slung is to bungee it to the bottle tech style. The clip is used only after you deploy it and go around the neck with it. Then you clip it until it can be stowed properly

 

[Stonecrab]

Most of my diving in the Gulf is like this...
I might descend with someone [or several 'someones'!] but from there, it's off alone. I usually come up way last because the guys are spearfishing, hence using their gas a lot faster.

I never really considered it solo-diving, since there were other divers in the vicinity for at least the first part of my dives. But I'm never close enough to help if something were to go wrong with them, and vice-versa. So, maybe in a way, it is? I guess it must be, because it's very different than diving a spring or sink with an actually buddy...

This isn't answering your question, but I had a similar situation once (which is a long story involving a scooter and a free-flowing octopus). When I realized i was totally OOA at 75' the old training kicked in and it wasn't a problem. I've been a lot more careful with my gear setup since then.

 

[reeldive]

Thanks1 I've seen of this and will come up with somthing. some of the reg clips out there JUST DON"T WORK