My First Real OOA Today (& With long Hose)

[Mark Vlahos]

Sorry mark, I wasn't clear. We we on the way back up when it happened - less than 40'. We were about 40 mins. into the dive.

Well, I guess that is a little better. I wonder though, why did he not just switch to your long hose at depth (when he was obviously pretty darn low on air) and just stay on it? If he had switched to your backgas then he would have had enough air to inflate his BC (yes, I know that a BC can be inflated orally) and keep his reg in his mouth while at the surface if the seas were rough, and either get into the boat, or make the shore exit through the surf. In my opinion, the long hose does make the entire process less stressful for the other diver. Hopefully this diver will be a convert to the long hose.

Mark Vlahos

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Mark, you make a very good point. I normally do not do dives to 100 or more feet. But recently went out on a small dive boat where the destination is decided once everyone gets there. Long Story short, dive is to 130 foot wreck with the top of the wreck at 110 FSW. There I am with an AL 80 and no pony. I do have a great dive buddy whom I met on the boat. Down the line, explore around the wreck, and out of bottom time (9 minutes as I have my SUUNTO set for ultra conservative), back up the line, safety stop for 3 minutes at 15 feet, and back on the boat with 1680 left in the tank. Total dive time: 18 minutes. A perfect dive with no issues, but technically, I did not do all I could have in the planning department now that you mention it.

Had I thought adequately about leaving enough air for me and my buddy to use from 100 feet. No. I was content to be back on the surface with 700 PSI and had planned to leave the bottom at 1000 PSI or 9 minutes which ever came first. But I think you are right, I should have planned on being back on the boat at 700 PSI. Fortunately I am not a large user of air and bottom time is normally the ending factor on most of my dive. But some of my dive partners can blow through a 120 tank in short order, and I need to factor in their air consumption just in case we are both using my AL80 on the way up (hey, it could happen).

Bingo! Gas planning is not really as much about you as it is about both you and your buddy. When I have done the dives I talked about with a buddy du jour who likes to be on the surface with 500 PSI the person placed in jeopardy is me, because he will not have the gas to get us both to the surface if I am the unfortunate one who either was not paying attention or had some massive equipment failure.

I just try to make sure that when we are talking about the dive plan, they understand that I will head up at whatever pressure is appropriate for the planned depth and other conditions. They will usually complain a little about the possibility of my cutting their dive short but still they will usually head up when I do, unless they thumb the dive first.

Mark Vlahos

 

[divenut2001]

Sorry mark, I wasn't clear. We we on the way back up when it happened - less than 40'. We were about 40 mins. into the dive.

I'm not either, but I've had some dives and help from some DIR divers. Hoping to take the Sept. class coming up.

But I have a pretty regular buddy who likes to do OOA drills with me. We watch each other, and (assuming all is good), if the other person looks totally distracted, we pull an OOG drill on them . A month doesn't go by that I haven't done 2 or 3 drills.

That's a perfect example on why it is soooo important to practice skills. Good job!

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

Kind of a non-event. Not very exciting at all.

That's what you are shooting for. Congratulations.

It's because of what you have done before the incident (skills and drills) that it turned out not to be a pulse racing event. It all paid off then and there.

Good job.

 

[Foo]

Mr. OOA should have ascended when his sick buddy did. Especially from 80'. Then, none of this incident would have occurred, and he would have been following his training, and he should have been watching his buddy's back. JMHO. I dunno, isn't it also somewhat of a diving faux paus to just assume that you can go buddy up with total strangers at 80' depth?

Of course, I'm glad you both handled it so well, and I join the others in saying, job well done to you for saving this guy's life, Rick. And I'm going to look into switching to a long hose for my primary. (I'm gonna need your help with this one, please, Firefyter.) This is an idea that makes sense. It does seem that in a large majoirity of the OOA incidents that I've read, the ripping of a primary from a surprised donor's mouth was involved. A person with no air generally is not going to be concerned with proper dive etiquette, they are fighting to survive.

Although he reacted calmly, it sounds like this guy needs finishing school.

Foo

 

[Robert Ordner]

He is a very nice guy but was having some significant challenges with his buoyancy as well...his tank became positive and he started the involuntary rise to the top..I manged to latch onto a fin and haul him down while Rick nicely donated some weight to his BC pockets. It was a great live learning opportunity for all involved.

 

[Xanthro]

In an AOW class two students both went OOA on the deep dive. Another went OOA on a fish awareness dive.

I don't understand how people don't check their SPG. At least in your story you were deep, down there awhile and were on your way up.

It's not fun to have someone signal OOA at 100f, and not even a warning he was low on air. I still had over 2500 psi left (started with 2900) so I hadn't asked him his pressure yet. Better then the other guy who we later found at the surface. I actually thought we had lost him.

 

[Foo]

He is a very nice guy but was having some significant challenges with his buoyancy as well...

I'm sure he is a very nice guy, so it would be a good idea for him to stay alive. Maybe he didn't have the experience level for that type of diving? Do you know if he has his AOW? I'm just glad he stayed calm and that Rick (and you) were able to help him survive this incident. It just seems like he may not have the experience level he needed to attempt that dive.

Foo

 

[hermosadive]

... Hopefully this diver will be a convert to the long hose.

Mark Vlahos

OOA on a long hose is still OOA. This guy has other things to focus on besides a long hose.