My first in water situation....

[String]

Ive done a complete dive with my BC inflator hose disconnected and only noticed on the surface after the dive waiting for the boat to come to pick us up. Not really a situation but from my experience disconnected inflators whether its BC or dry suit are the most common form of "mistake" and missed during rushed checks.

From small RIBS typically there is only kit up space for one person per side so rolling in opposite to your buddy is common place and no problems with it. The boat will engine off and stop to drop in and then reverse out (or alternatively you swim to its bow with engine off THEN it reverses out.

 

[armyscuba]

Good Story..One to think about..I don't dive a shoulder dump BC, but awareness on Your part was very good. I always inflate My BC fully before I hit the Water. I do it manually..That air is free. If Your full before You hit the water chances are You will hear a leak or sticking valve. (Sediment lodged in valve) which I have seen quite a few times. Try it the next time You dive. I saw Your BC was half inflated..Next time blast it full..then in the event You have this happen again..that 50% You lost that emptied it..would have been 50% You lost..plus the 50% left keeping You buoyant..just an idea..

 

[Sean C]

Actually, the problem was not the low pressure inflator/dump. I dive a Seaquest Pro Unlimited and it has a shoulder dump on the right shoulder with a dump pull that sits on the right shoulder strap where the two parts of the strap join and pivot. The pull was wrapped around the joining of the shoulder strap which resulted in the pull toggle being in the correct position. Only when I hit the water did it actually activate the dump. Unfortunately, it is a black bc with black straps and a black pull with a black cord. I also wear a wetsuit that is black in that area. That explains why the problem was not evident, no real visual clue or indication.

Ha, I survived without any real consideration or stress and my wife and I both learned from it. That's all I could ever ask for,....except maybe a bright neon pull cord that flashes.

Sean

 

[razor]

I can see how small issues could create problems. My wife and I just got back from the BVIs and while there did our AOW. The diving was great and uneventful except for one problem.

On our forth dive after a 1hr si I had a problem with my bc. We had just switched tanks and suited up on a rather cramped rib. We did our buddy checks, sat on the sides of the rib and did our back rolls into the water from opposite sides of the boat.

As soon as I hit the water I thankfully realized I had an issue. I did not have the bouyancy I expected from a half full bc. Apparently, my shoulder dump pull had wrapped itseft around my shoulder strap and had seated inself in a position that looked correct to myself, buddy and instructor. When I entered the water the stress on the shoulder strap combined with the surrounding water pressure activated the dump. Luckily, I was properly weighted, had my reg in and was close enough to the rib to grab hold and evaluate the problem. It still took me about 30 sec's to figure it out, when I added air to my bc all I could hear was air escaping from somewhere behind me. Anyways, finally clued in and fixed the snag, while our instructor monitored the issue.

Easy to miss and no one's fault. It looked right and did not release while I was balanced on the side of the rib. Lesson learned....make special note of placement of pull dumps and from now on backward rolls from a rib or dingy will always be on the same side as my buddy if possible, regardless of the watchful eyes of others.

I just came back from Coz. and the same thing happened to me. My wife and I did our buddy checks and backrolled over the same side. She went in first then I followed. I immediatly started to descend which puzzled me because I intentionally put air in the BC prior to getting in the water. I heard the air dumping but did not realize it was the valve till my wife came down/over and poiinted to my valve on the shoulder. I gave it a pull and it actually closed. This was kind of strange since when you pull it the BC should dump. The only thing I could figure was that it got stuck open and when I pulled it ,it some how came free. After I got this worked out we descended and my tank started to come loose out of the BC. Evidently the guy who put my equipment together did not wet the BC in water and the strap came loose. This just reminded both of us that we should always put our own rigs together and then double check them. The crew was great but real busy. We are responsible for our selves and our own equipment/ safety. Just my 2 cents

 

[Mako Mark]

These are good lessons learned, and even better that no one got hurt here, but one thing to remember is that about 60% of divers who die, do so with their weightbelt on.

Dont forget the most important rule of weightbelts: that you can ditch them easily if needed.

and the second most important: That you do so! even in the event that you fix the problem and decide to continue the dive, you can send someone down to retrieve it. I believe the going rate for divemaster weightbelt retreival is one frosty cold beer per weight. Cheap at the price.

 

[String]

Dont forget the most important rule of weightbelts: that you can ditch them easily if needed.

That IMHO is one "rule" that is a relic of the old ABLJ and even earlier days where weighting had to be correct and power inflators werent an issue.

I cant envisage any underwater situation that would be best solved by ditching my weights.

For buoyancy i have my BC (some people have twin bladders), i have my drysuit and i also have if needed a DSMB. My buddy also has the same giving us 6 possibles. Dont forget even if air is low or a fault you can still orally inflate a BC.

Also if weighting is correct on a single rig setup you should be able to fin up against the weight anyway even if you have no buoyancy.

The last few years there have been more incidents as a result of weights coming off when they werent supposed to be than incidents averted or rendered less of an issue by jettisoning them.

 

[H2Andy]

about the only situation i can think of is an emergency at the surface where getting
as possitive as i can is critical (such as performing CPR on an unconscious diver).

even then, it probably wouldn't be necessary given (a) i don't carry too much weight
anyway (6 ditchable pounds) and (b) my BC would be more than enough to give me
the buoyancy i need.

HOWEVER, that is not to say that there are tons of situations where ditching weight
might be the EASIEST way to solve the problem, and when you are dealing with an emergency and may be getting close to task overload, having an easy out can be priceless.

 

[String]

Maybe i should expand, underwater weight ditch i see as nothing more than a dangerous relic. It could be handy on the surface to float a casualty that bit higher although on the other hand we manage AV on a fully kitted (with belt) casualty without trouble.

Jettisoning a weight belt underwater from any depth IS going to hurt the person with its barotrauma, embolism, DCS or all of the above. Again i cant think of a single situation where thats the best option.

 

[miketsp]

Jettisoning a weight belt underwater from any depth IS going to hurt the person with its barotrauma, embolism, DCS or all of the above. Again i cant think of a single situation where thats the best option.

One tip, if you are (over)weighted and you have a BC failure you can always tie your spool line to your jettisoned belt and let yourself up slowly. You can still do your deco stops in comfort. When the boat picks you up just pull up your lead.

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

I once pulled the corrugated hose off of the BC at depth. I signalled my buddy, held my depth the best I could, and my buddy put it back on for me.

I try to weight myself properly, so I usually don't need much gas in my wing anyway. In this instance, I put gas in slowly afterwards, aborted the dive, did a normal ascent and stops, and I got the repair done after . . . "surviving."