My close call

[beaverdivers]

Now I'm terrified of diving in a group...

Before a trip, we stongly recommend that our divers get in the pool & do a refresher ( we offer it for free to encourage participation ). The first dive of the trip is a checkout dive. These practice sessions give everyone an opportunity to get comfortable. I believe this idea is quite common & necessary so the destination diver may gain confidence.

 

[Skittl1321]

Before a trip, we stongly recommend that our divers get in the pool & do a refresher ( we offer it for free to encourage participation ).

Not to make this thread about me (sorry!), but I'm getting as much local diving in as I can. However, that is just me and my husband. This thread, has made me scared of OTHERS; a refresher isn't really going to do much at this point. I went diving last weekend and am going diving this weekend.

And I plan to do a mask flood every dive...

 

[boulderjohn]

After the checkout dives I realized how unrealistic the 'cover your regulator and expose the octo" drill was.

I am still astounded every time I hear that someone is actually teaching this method. "Unrealistic" is not the right term--"crazy stupid" is much more accurate. You have a person who is OOA and almost certainly in a state of panic reaching for your regulator, so you decide that the best course of action is to fight off that attempt and try to persuade him to choose another alternative? Nothing like a good hand fight with a panicked diver to put the exclamation mark on a great dive.

I experienced an incident in a pool session with an advanced class recently that may be instructive. The student was deploying an SMB, and she had taken her regulator out of her mouth to inflate it orally. She had trouble handling it, dropped her regulator, and went into a panic in seconds. I had seen her drop her regulator and was ready for it--my regulator was at her lips immediately. She pushed it aside as she struggled to the surface, with me holding the regulator by her lips the whole way. When we debriefed, she said she had no idea I had given her a regulator. She said she remembered dropping her regulator, and she remembered being on the surface. She did not remember anything in between. This is someone who had intentionally taken the regulator out of her mouth and had only had it out for maybe 8 seconds total before panicking. How do you think it would have gone if this had been a real OW emergency, with her going for my primary while I covered it and tried to convince her to take my octo instead?

If you are in a conventional octo setup and someone reaches for the regulator in your mouth, let him have it and take your octo--you can sort it out later. If he reaches for your octo, get out of the way and let him take it. If he signals out of air without reaching, hand him your octo. Do not try to force the OOA diver to follow your training protocol instead of what he wants to do at that moment of crisis.

I, too, provide the regulator in my mouth. It is a far faster donation than handing an octo that is hanging at your side, and if he reaches for it without warning, all I have to do is duck my head after it is pulled out of my mouth to free the rest of the hose as I get my alternate below my chin.

 

[Skittl1321]

I am still astounded every time I hear that someone is actually teaching this method. "Unrealistic" is not the right term--"crazy stupid" is much more accurate.

I can only guess they teach it because it is (or they think it is) the standard. The instructors don't use this set up in their own diving, and just use the same set up as the students for the classes. I think every one of the instructors uses a BP/W with long hose set up in their personal diving. We had one DM who did the class in his BP/W, so I did get to do some out of air drills with a primary donated. It was good to see multiple ways.

I had one moment of true panic during OW class, and it was eye opening looking back at my reaction. I was fighting with all my might to stay above the surface to breathe, and the instructor came along and pressed my power inflator. Oh right. It never even occured to me that was there. All I could think about was swimming as hard as I could against the weights to stay in air.

 

[boulderjohn]

I can only guess they teach it because it is (or they think it is) the standard.

There is not a word of that in the PADI standards--not even a syllable to suggest covering up the primary.

 

[SPARKMEL]

There is not a word of that in the PADI standards--not even a syllable to suggest covering up the primary.

Very true it is not in the PADI standards, neither is half the situations and diver actions that get mentioned on this site but it happens regardless ??? You have to seperate an OOA controlled situation with a panic diver situation. I have only experienced a controlled OOA and despite what you say it worked well for me and i felt very comfortable doing it that way as my buddy who is my 11 year old son knew exactly what to do and and his reactions counteracted mine . BUT i agree with you when you say a panic diver would not react in the way you are expecting. The problem i see is that being new to diving and trained by PADI instructors is the amount of different ways divers do things, ie octo sharing, OOA situations. Question ? If i was on a trip and was buddyied with a new diver and during the pre dive check his way of an OOA situation was totally different to mine would that not lead to confusion, speaking as a new rookie diver ? I have only dived with my son and instructors and like SKITTL321 i would be very nervous. I suppose i do not have the mindset of a 400 plus diver experience...
Just a thought !!!!!

 

[openmindOW]

Now I'm terrified of diving in a group...

Skittl1321, be not afraid.

Reading Threads here on SB can be misleading.

Just stay within your training. Do dives that you are comfortable doing. Over time, you acquire more confidence and skill.

I would encourage taking additional classes as well.

Recreational SCUBA is a fairly safe activity. Yes, it can kill you, but you can minimize your risks by diving safely.

Keep diving.

---------- Post added August 16th, 2013 at 08:53 AM ----------

... I'm getting as much local diving in as I can.

Good. Local dive, presumably a quarry in Iowa, is terrific. It will give you experience and a chance to work on your skills, especially your buoyancy skills.

This thread, has made me scared of OTHERS...

Skittl, I'm concerned that this Thread might be scaring you away from diving.

I conduct dives in Florida. If you and your husband should find yourselves in Florida and you want to do some dives with me and my Instructor-pals, you and your husband are welcome to join us. We would make sure that you and your husband had some fun, easy OW dives. Just PM me.

Of course, there would be no fee. Whatever you do, don't let these Threads scare you.

 

[Steve_C]

lost my reg out of my mouth several times due to an ill fitting mouthpiece and jaw fatigue (no big deal at all),

I switched to a seacure custom mouthpiece. I am missing a couple back teeth. To knock my mouthpiece out now you have to pull out some teeth too. It is very secure.

and had the mouthpiece come off the second stage while it was in my mouth once (that one sucked). **** happens.

Happened to me once. Saw it happen to another diver. Important to know you can still breath off the reg and think about how to handle the situation. Usually a minute of confusion when it first happens. On the list of stuff you are likely to actually see some time this is on the list. So best to think about what you should do.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Not to make this thread about me (sorry!), but I'm getting as much local diving in as I can. However, that is just me and my husband. This thread, has made me scared of OTHERS; a refresher isn't really going to do much at this point. I went diving last weekend and am going diving this weekend.

And I plan to do a mask flood every dive...

And that's just smart. There are muppets out there who should not be in the water. They are a real.danger to themselves and others. Stay out of the herd. Don't expect a guide, or DM to have your best interests at heart. Take care of yourself and your buddy. Have a bailout plan separate from the group's to fall back on. Do that and practice rescue skills along with basic skills with your buddy and you'll be light years ahead of many out there. And safer.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[beaverdivers]

Not to make this thread about me (sorry!), but I'm getting as much local diving in as I can. However, that is just me and my husband. This thread, has made me scared of OTHERS; a refresher isn't really going to do much at this point. I went diving last weekend and am going diving this weekend.

And I plan to do a mask flood every dive...

Great! The more time that you have U/W the better. The more you practice your skills the more confident you will be & then you will have more fun!