My first uncontrolled ascent! didn't even know I was moving?

[Ladyvalea]

You may in fact have made yourself negative while standing but then you began to fuss with the snap. As you did you pumped up your lungs and became slightly positive. That quietly began your ascent while you were distracted. Your neoprene then began expanding along with any remaining air in your BC and voila, a runaway ascent.

You really need to pay attention to where you are at all times.

Same deal on the ascent while you were watching the computer. Practice, practice, practice. Venting should be second nature. You will eventually sense when you are tending to be positive. Many divers can detect an ascent by the sensation of their ears venting.

Stay in safe locations until this comes naturally.

Pete

That sounds so right! I think I was just fussing so much and probably did fill my lungs up more because my neck was cranked down to look toward my chest!
Wow!

 

[Ladyvalea]

Don't make an equipment change to bandaid a skills problem, there's no reason you should need to carry extra weight. More training and more diving. Why were you standing on the plane in the first place? How many dives do you have out of your open water course? What is the training level of your dive buddy? Sounds like you need to get with someone with some more experience.

I was standing on the plane...playing with the perch ..oh just 2 dives out of my open water course...my dive buddys are all new ..I'm still learning

 

[tstormdiver]

Just curious,.... Where were you diving. You said you were on a plane. There aren't a huge number of diving sites that have planes in them. Like I said, just curious. I live about 2-1/2hrs from Mermet Springs in IL where they have a 727 sunken there. Any chance you were there? Probably not since your profile says you're in Texas, but thought I'd ask

 

[TSandM]

Well, the big lesson for you from this is that when your attention is distracted by something, you lose awareness of your surroundings. This is pretty typical for new divers, but it's highly undesirable. What you can do is practice: Get close to something as a reference, then do something simple like take your regulator out of your mouth and put it back -- just something to occupy you for a moment. Take note of your reference before, during and after the task. If you go up, then come back down to where you started, and try it again, with more attention to your breathing.

With time and practice, you can learn to do complex things and not lose your buoyancy control!

 

[Ladyvalea]

Just curious,.... Where were you diving. You said you were on a plane. There aren't a huge number of diving sites that have planes in them. Like I said, just curious. I live about 2-1/2hrs from Mermet Springs in IL where they have a 727 sunken there. Any chance you were there? Probably not since your profile says you're in Texas, but thought I'd ask

I was at Clear springs scuba park..I'm sure it was a small plane.. I remember swimming into the passenger seating area and out the circle like doors.. then standin on top, playin with the fish.

 

[vicdiver656]

Somehow.....that sounds soooooo familiar!!

 

[redrover]

Ok, it was only from 30ft.. I'm at a scuba park, standing on a sunken plane, so I try to fix this swivel snap on my BC, I'm lookin chin down at my right shoulder, tryin to unsnap this swivel and before I knew it!! "I'm at the top of the surface" I didn't even notice that I was moving, floatin...I thought I was still standing on top of the plane!!
HUH??? I swear I was negative on the plane so how did I end up at the surface with no clue?
Dang! I need more work!

Oh, again later I was doing a safe ascent with my gekko computer in front of my face! I'm so ingross on the numbers that I forget to deflate my hose and the computer starts beeping and beeping! and then I take a second to think? why is this computer beepin and it finallly I relize I'm goin up to fast! but its to late!!! I see Blue Sky!!

I guess I can't "chew gum and swim at the same time"

Yep, tasking will nail ya. A visual reference helps to see movement ie neutral horizontal over the plane. Yes you can chew gum and swim at the same time, just gotta think ahead about what can happen when chewing.

So how to gain multi-tasking experience? My way was – still is - train myself to do that type of thing by feel only, looking is a last resort. And looking just long enough to see what my tactile was missing.
And think before I clip so to unclip is natural – where is my thumb going to naturally be seeking the mechanism. Practice you can do on the surface.
You said ‘fussing’. I’m real alert to fussing myself. Fussing tells me I have to stop, and think. Time to pause, settle down, focus on the real important things and when that is under control, then work out a better plan. At your stage I’d say one try and refocus on the more important before trying again.

 

[In10se]

Murphy is an opportunist. Mine happened in 5' viz with no structure around me. I was looking for my buddy's flashing green locater light and doing the double 360's while on a night dive. That was enough to disorient me and up up up & away I went. I think most everyone has been through something like this. It's not hard to lose track in the peasoup we dive here in Texas. We enjoy the 10/15 ' viz when we get it, but dive the 5' viz we are normally in. Makes it easy to get lost, lose your sense of position, and easy to improve your skills from the experience of it ... because you just have too. No choice.

We do know that the deeper we are the worse it would be to have a run away, but it also gets less likely because we get more neg buoyant. It does impress upon us the benefits of proper conservative off-gassing and using a safety stop for just what it's meant to be ... a redundancy. By the time we hit that last 30' ... if it does happen ... we should be able to have that run away with no issues. Plan for the worst, redundantly, and the worst is less likely to mess up our day when it happens.

What's cool about the situation you described is that you kept your cool through your event, and you kept your sense of humor afterwards while striving to learn throughout. Congrats ... well done.

 

[kadleck]

I remember swimming into the passenger seating area and out the circle like doors.

Hmmm - an overhead environment? Not really appropriate under OW rules, but sounds like an enjoyable place.

 

[magnifica]

When you multi-task it's easy to lose control of buoyancy. Here's a way to practice muti-tasking:

1) First practice hovering with a buddy for a few minutes to get you warmed up.
2) Play naughts and crosses with your buddy while hovering. Pass the slate back to your buddy when his turn comes up.
3) Pay attention to your ears! You should be able to feel increased pressure if you're descending and pressure relief when you move back up.
4) Also, pay attention to visual references in your surroundings; even if it's just a quick check out the corner of your eye. This will become second nature after practice.
5) When you feel confident, try other underwater activities such as sending up a DSMB or practicing compass reciprocal headings.