My first "incident" as a diver

[Jim Baldwin]

I try and hammer home the buddy check procedure prior to entry with new students and also with those doing advanced diving, (been there done that). Only opening the valve part way or turning it back the wrong way is quite common.

I get my students to test breathe both regs and look at their gauge. It should not move. If it does make sure the valve is open all the way. A good mental check list is always a good thing.

 

[irishsquid]

They will, unless like me, you tell them to keep their hands off of your gear.

Definitely +1.

 

[irishsquid]

...One thing you might consider doing in the future, is breathing your regulator while watching the gauge, BEFORE you get in the water. If the gauge isn't all the way open, you may see a fluctuation in the pressure with each breath (which you shouldn't if it is all the way open)...

...test breathe both regs and look at their gauge. It should not move. If it does make sure the valve is open all the way. A good mental check list is always a good thing.

This is my last final check going into the water after inflating my wing. I also check my gauge while inflating the wing.

 

[The Chairman]

Anyway, that is why I am checking out this board today, so I can figure out what other problems I am likely to have, and hopefully avoid another incident or accident!

It is my humble opinion that ScubaBoard is the best way to sharpen and refresh your Scuba Skills. There is no instructor, book or magazine that is as rich in the amount and breadth of knowledge that you can find right here. There's a lot presented in a Scuba Class in a rather short period of time. It's easy to miss or to forget vital information, so a place like ScubaBoard is a great way to re-emphasize those skills you need.

Before I splash, I go through a mental checklist of what I need to be a diver. One of the important points of that checklist is to breathe through my reg while looking at my pressure gauge. That will vet not only my tank valve, but also my gauge, tank pressure and that my regulator is working properly.

 

[DandyDon]

Cindy,

I agree with Jax. Thanks for sharing. This happens more than you might think.

That is why on many chartered dive boats the DM will check the divers air after he/she is suited up and ready to do the giant stride into the water. Sometimes I am so neurotic, I will ask them to check mine anyway.

You handled the sitiuation well and learned from the experience. I was not familiar with the sporadic readings on the gauge issue/situation. I am now.

Which is exactly how I went in the water 1/4 on last time it happened to me: the skipper turned it all the way off, back 1/4. Breathing the reg and watching the spg doesn't work for me, on my reg anyway, or maybe it's just me. I'm not going to trust that anyway; prevention is best - or my home bud & I check our valves for full-on at a 15 ft final check. For when I dive with other buds, I've learned how to open the bottom straps on my BC so I can lean the tank far enough to reach the valve myself.

I find it helps me if I tell the crew nicely that I tip better if my tank is left full-on. I screw-up enough on my own without help on that. And they will often grab your valves when you're not aware.

 

[redacted]

They will, unless like me, you tell them to keep their hands off of your gear.

Well worth a try but it is, unfortunately, not a 100% solution. Some boats insist on a check before you jump. I have never seen one of those boats screw it up so it does not bother me. But I still make a last breathing test while I watch my SPG before I splash. Heck, I have even had a pretty good buddy check my valve while I was not looking and turn it off by mistake. SH

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Well worth a try but it is, unfortunately, not a 100% solution. Some boats insist on a check before you jump. I have never seen one of those boats screw it up so it does not bother me. But I still make a last breathing test while I watch my SPG before I splash. Heck, I have even had a pretty good buddy check my valve while I was not looking and turn it off by mistake. SH

Nope. They can insist all they want, but no one touches my gear. I Have seen it happen to others and caught it happening to me once. Once. Call me Francis, nobody touches my gear.

 

[The Chairman]

I have had it done to me, on my left hand tank valve.

I breathed twice on my reg, looking at the gauge as they called us to move to the back of the boat for our drop.
I THOUGHT the guy was trying to help me balance.
We were doing a hot drop on a wreck, so I went in with no air in my BC.
He yelled dive, I put my reg back in my mouth and fell backwards into the suds holding my mask and reg with my right hand.
I got a little over two breaths and was at 20 ft before it stopped.
I reached up the right side for my handle and realized it was the tank with the handle on the other side.
I had breached the surface before I got to the other side.

Now I look at my gauge as I breath on the diving platform.

 

[lamont]

Which is exactly how I went in the water 1/4 on last time it happened to me: the skipper turned it all the way off, back 1/4.

The 1/4 turn back thing is nonsense that really needs to be stopped.

The proponents of that will pontificate about some mythical issue with valves getting jammed on which I've never seen and never read as actually happening anywhere.

Meanwhile, the all-the-way-off-1/4-turn-back problem happens frequently (happened to me very early in my diving career).

In open water there is also absolutely no sense to the 1/4 turn back since the presumptive failure mode is just the valve sticking on, which is fine for single-tank recreational divers.

In cave where there's an overhead its more theoretically an issue since if it did stick on it would eliminate the ability to shut down a post to preserve gas. But again, this supposed failure mode goes largely unreported and the bigger issue is to use rubber valve knobs instead of plastic so that they withstand impact with the overhead better without shattering. It was also my cave instructor who set this whole issue straight with me that valves should either be all the way open or all the way closed so that there's no doubt about their position if you breathe off of them.

 

[redacted]

Nope. They can insist all they want, but no one touches my gear. I Have seen it happen to others and caught it happening to me once. Once. Call me Francis, nobody touches my gear.

I do understand that. But it may mean there are some dive ops or locations that you will not be able to dive. For me, it just was not worth giving up on those ops and locations.