My first "incident" as a diver

[lamont]

we had a fatality here at dive site where there's a long surface swim and this woman had her valve turned off to 'save gas', and she dropped down and drowned in probably less than 20 feet of water.

 

[DandyDon]

we had a fatality here at dive site where there's a long surface swim and this woman had her valve turned off to 'save gas', and she dropped down and drowned in probably less than 20 feet of water.

Whose idea was that, and was he charged?

I don't remember: did any of us mention to Cindy that we try to minimize incidents, not have the second one for a while, and such. Mine run a little too close together at times, but I try learn from them.

 

[mrbeast1414]

Here's an idea...

Put regulator in mouth. Breathe. Enter the water. Breathe. Wait for buddy. Breathe. Descend. Breathe.

If there's a problem, it'd soon become evident...probably long before you got to the point of descent.

You don't get that 'check' when you enter the water with a snorkel in your mouth

good advice (eyeball roll). no actually its good

 

[chrpai]

Since we went off topic slightly regarding 1/4 turns of valves I have a question. Somewhere along the line I picked up on holding the purge valve down while slowly opening up the valve and then slowly easing off the valve. Kind of a gentleway of building up pressure.

Ideal or Unneeded?

 

[DevonDiver]

Some instructors teach that, others don't. The concept is that it prevents potential damage from a big surge of air into the regulator system...especially the SPG.

Having said that... if there was a fault in the reg system, i'd rather discover it when kitting up, than during the dive.

 

[lamont]

Whose idea was that, and was he charged?

Her idea.

 

[rongoodman]

A number of years ago Lynn Hill, a world class competitive climber, took a long fall when she leaned back to be lowered off. She had been interrupted while tying into her harness and never finished the knot. I don't believe she was seriously injured, but she could have easily been killed.

 

[NoDiver]

I agree with Bob to a degree. Having a buddy in proper position does not however absolve you of any responsibility for yourself. A buddy is really a last resort for when you cannot get yourself out of a situation. This thread will explain my philosophy on that : http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ering-diving/283566-who-responsible-what.html

As for your concerns about what could happen the answer is literally anything. At any time. What makes the difference is how prepared are you for it? Where are your skills at now? Have you done a refresher with a competent instructor who will look at your situation and tailor a course to address your deficiencies? I have found that a by the book refresher may be ok but is seldom of real use to anyone who has been out of the game for awhile.

I interview divers asking for a refresher, take them in the pool, do an assessment, and then set up a course of skills and exercises just for them. If you were to come to me and relay what just happened we might spend a few minutes on mask skills, etc but what we would really focus on is task loading exercises, buddy procedures, OOA drills, and buddy breathing. We'd then do some skills in combination with those. Like remove and replace the mask while swimming and sharing air, a ditch and don, simulate gear failures and the correct response to them. I'd also go over why you missed the air not all the way on and how to prevent it again. I;d say a proper predive check would have caught that pretty quick.

I've read a few of your posts and I must say I would LOVE to have you as my instructor. It's not going to happen, but I really hope I can find an instructor with the principles you obviously have!! You seem to be tough, but fair. I would hope that any instructor would fail me during certification, if I don't make the grade, than allow me to be a liability to myself and those with whom I dive. Bravo.

 

[rakpix]

we had a fatality here at dive site where there's a long surface swim and this woman had her valve turned off to 'save gas', and she dropped down and drowned in probably less than 20 feet of water.

wow, nothing about that makes sense: if she felt her regulator lock at 20 feet, had no buddy, no air in her bc, and was unable to CESA ... she could've at least dropped her weights >_<

 

[Ayisha]

wow, nothing about that makes sense: if she felt her regulator lock at 20 feet, had no buddy, no air in her bc, and was unable to CESA ... she could've at least dropped her weights >_<

This is unfortunately all too common in dive accidents. Victims have been found at the bottom, drowned with their weight belt on and no gas in the tank. Some have even made it to the surface, could not seem to stay at the surface, and then drowned with their weight belt on. Making sure that we are correctly weighted and that our weight belt is unencumbered, as well as practicing releasing our weight belt at the surface and orally inflating our BC are skills well worth practicing regularly.