Error Losing Your Group - Lessons to be Learned

[johndiver999]

Does the reduandnt gas supply encourage the diver to extend exposure beyond what they would do without the redundancy? If so that violates the condition of the gas/equipment being a true contingency. It becomes "wag the dog." That is "I'll do something I'm otherwise not comfortable/confident doing/trained for because if I f*** up/get in over my head I have my redudant gas to bail me out."

A redundant air system is used primarily by divers who are often solo and who are not confident that they can reach the surface safely following a failure of the scuba system. A properly selected redundant system provides the diver a means to make a safe ascent should a primary failure occur.

It is quite obvious to me that there is some threshold of depth and dive time, where a CESA becomes impractical or unsafe. That threshold varies for different people and different conditions, but it exists for everyone.

My personal threshold is a no deco dive around a depth of 50-60 feet. Deeper than that, I am generally using a redundant system when solo diving. I generally won't go deeper than that without one.

Why would my decision to take a pony bottle on a 100 ft dive and not on a 40-ft one, "violate the condition of the equipment being a true contingency"? Perhaps you can clarify your reasoning on this concept?

 

[living4experiences]

Hi Ken,
Thanks for sharing your experience. It's invaluable to me to hear about these incidents. We're all teachers and we're all students at varying points through life. It's sad that so many people feel the need to pick it apart and play the would have, should have, could have game.

 

[Blackcrusader]

I love reading these types of posts OP. I an a newbie diver and every time I read something like this I learn valuable information.

After reading your last sentence after you realized your group was gone I stopped reading. I tried to think what I would do in that situation knowing that surfacing into potential open water with boat traffic should only be done if your are in dire need.

I couldnt really formulate an answer other that “well, what was the dive plan? Where were we supposed to go after after being where I am now?”

Maybe none of that was known I dont know. What I am getting at is your situation OP, would be an extremely scary situation for me. As I read these stories and see the lessons learned and the posts by other members it helps me form and idea of what to do if/when I encounter this.

Thanks!!!

I did a similar thing with a regular dive buddy and guide. My fault.

Maltese court convicts dive buddy

Give it a break I'm just back from Croatia there's none of islands I couldn't dive from, You were diving illegally!! You are BUSTED! I am reporting you!!!

scubaboard.com

 

[Blackcrusader]

Important lesson here. Don’t dive with photographers.

lolz... I just arrived in Bohol for 10 days of diving and I like to take video and photos. Where I am diving my friend who owns the dive shop is away, so I will dive with guides and other divers who I have not met yet. I've actually found if you have two photographers together we can look for the favourite things of both divers. We tend to just let each other do our own thing without much separation.

At wreck sites like Liberty Wreck it's easy to get separated.

 

[Blackcrusader]

It drives me nuts when you (and others - especially in the divetalk incident posts) make responses like this. While you may have some good points, your whole attitude and tone is confrontational, and comes across as you attacking the OP. Repeatedly calling him reckless and ridiculous.

When divers have incidents, coming forward and admitting to them and sharing the details creates great learning opportunities for other divers.ive culture otherwise people will hide problems and not talk about them.

I see incidents when there is some sort of injury. The OP's post is of a gentle dive not some rip roaring 50m deep dive to a cleaning station for hammerheads where you do some slight back gas deco on a single tank in South Lombok crazy currents where if you get separated you do end up on the surface with your very wide and 6ft tall DSMB. Also a tracking device incase the boat captain can't find you in the 12 foot swells lol

 

[johndiver999]

Hi Ken,
Thanks for sharing your experience. It's invaluable to me to hear about these incidents. We're all teachers and we're all students at varying points through life. It's sad that so many people feel the need to pick it apart and play the would have, should have, could have game.

Sad? Why? Isn't that how you learn?

Discuss the situation in a critical manner. Explore the logic and consequences of decisions that were or could be made? Ask additional questions about the occurrence to clarify what happened? Provide suggestions about how the situation could have been handled better or even avoided in the first place? I thought the whole premise of the post was to provide an opportunity to learn. Raising these questions or issues is not necessarily a personal attack, not even a tiny bit.