My first experience with panic

[drbill]

Learning how you respond to real emergencies is IMHO one of the most important things you can learn about yourself. This is one reason that despite being a solo diver for nearly 50 years, I never recommend solo diving to anyone. In that time I have "only" had three incidents where I unintentionally ran out of gas. Of these only one could be categorized as my fault (for not checking my SPG after the fill, then discovering they had forgotten to open the valve to my tank during the "fill").

I have learned that I respond very calmly to situations like this. Knowing this has made me feel safer with my diving practices because I maintain a cool head (or is it simply a state of denial?) and have recovered fairly easily in each case.

 

[piikki]

I have learned that I respond very calmly to situations like this. Knowing this has made me feel safer with my diving practices because I maintain a cool head (or is it simply a state of denial?) and have recovered fairly easily in each case.

Yea, but what would happen to you if - out of the blue - you DID actually panic anyway? I think many of base so much on the self-image that we won't, and while it's important to be self-confident as it's part of the prevention, it's also important to do the clean-up well when it happens. One is not ruined after it happens!

I can emphatize very much with the OP because just like him I KNOW I can panic but really at this point I believe I won't because I have not - yet. I have been very very scared in my life a few times and/or been in situations that have been very difficult and where I have had to react fast/take charge/where others have frozen or fled. In some of those situations my head and heart initially wanted to take that "OH NO" dive and give up. I can imagine how much more horrible it must feel if everything let go to that overwhelming chaos.

I totally respect someone who went through it and is working through the difficult emotions and doubt that it must bring with it. I think it would be a big jolt to my self-esteem to realize it happened to me - even when I rationally know it can. The hardest part probably is getting back on the horse and not worrying that one has become some sort of liability just because of one blib.

 

[Kingpatzer]

Were you deep enough that narcosis was a factor?

No. Sadly, no easy excuses available on this one.

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

Learning how you respond to real emergencies is IMHO one of the most important things you can learn about yourself. This is one reason that despite being a solo diver for nearly 50 years, I never recommend solo diving to anyone. In that time I have "only" had three incidents where I unintentionally ran out of gas. Of these only one could be categorized as my fault (for not checking my SPG after the fill, then discovering they had forgotten to open the valve to my tank during the "fill").

I have learned that I respond very calmly to situations like this. Knowing this has made me feel safer with my diving practices because I maintain a cool head (or is it simply a state of denial?) and have recovered fairly easily in each case.

Hey drbill:

I enjoy solo diving too........and like you, I don't push the idea on anyone. I see from your post that you have had three OOA situations that you recovered from (in 50 years).

I have a quick question.........Do you solo dive with a pony? Personally, I wouldn't solo without one. With my doubles on, and a 30 pony slung, I'm pretty confident that even with an OOA of my backgas, or a failure to my two first stages/three second stages on an isolation manifold, I would be able to switch to my pony to make a controlled ascent and do my deco stop/safety stop.

Let me know what you do, or how you feel when you have a moment...........my slung pony really doesn't get in the way at all when I dive. I use a good ScubaPro reg on this redundant bottle (ScubaPro's on my backgas too). Sometimes I just come home on the pony, and then use my backgas as my redundant system to practice with the smaller bottle. I don't want to learn how to switch over to my bailout bottle in the unlikely event of any problems.

 

[Puffer Fish]

OK, I'm confused.



How did they bolt if they couldn't kick?

They move, just really, really slowly. It's pudding, not set concrete.

But when they do get out of it, they have been trying to kick as fast as they can, so they just go continue...

If they were waist deep in the really thick stuff, it would usually take someone around 2 minutes to move that three feet, and then it was warp speed to the surface. The place is still there, only the mud is a bit deeper.

 

[Walter]

So how would one move out of the mud and not shoot up after getting free? I've never dived in mud.

 

[Puffer Fish]

So how would one move out of the mud and not shoot up after getting free? I've never dived in mud.

Use buoyancy control, and don't try to kick ( just a tiny bit of movement to avoid suction issues). One good kick and it is blackout time. We dove there looking for old bottles left by the Panama Canal works at the base of the trees. If you are next to a tree, then use the tree to tell if you are going up or down by feel. Most areas were a foot or two and not that big of an issue.

 

[tvh13]

The important thing, to me, is that you stopped yourself.


I don't know what anyone can do to extinguish that first burst of adrenalin. All you can do is work to control it. Very, VERY experienced technical and cave divers have died from panic -- Sherwood Shiles is an example. Knowing we're all human and that training only goes so far is part of what keeps us from pushing limits, I think.

What is Sherwood Shiles? Nothing comes up in Google.

 

[finbob]

Really enjoyed this thread. Showing my ignorance here, but hey that's okay - what is clucking? How & why is it done?

 

[sskasser]

What is Sherwood Shiles? Nothing comes up in Google.

Try Sherwood Schile, no "s" on the end.