My first underwater emergency

[limeyx]

It was bound to happen some time -- something that really went wrong, and couldn't be solved underwater. I was incredibly lucky that it happened on a training dive.

I would actually disagree that you didnt "fix" it underwater -- in this case on a single, there's not really much you can do. The "fixing" was done by having a good gas plan in the first place, so that your two buddies were able to assist you.

I dont really see more that could be done in that case. Not "fixing" it would have been something like you being too far away from your team to get to them, or them not having enough gas to get to the surface with you OOA (or having them *already* sharing air and then your reg going)

 

[Darnold9999]

You have no idea how absurd this sounds. Where I dive if my buddy were 12 ft away they would be invisible. At 40ft they might as well be on Mars.

Good buddy skills? That's what you get when you can't change depth or direction without stopping the whole team to communicate the "deviation".

R..

Your opinion - not mine.

I want a buddy to be within swimming distance if something goes wrong. In clear warm water - no current - no dry suit 40 feet is WELL within my comfort range. I am not even slightly interested in swiming lockstep with my buddy/team in such an environment. In 15 foot visability, whathaveyou I am going to adjust that distance and my buddy check cycle time. Where I am currently diving, I wouldn't even think about going that far out of touch. In such conditions I will be (and am) VERY attentive to what my buddy is doing, because as I said a moments inattention will take them out of sight. Creating good buddy skills i.e. you are paying attention to your buddy all the time. I am not interested in diving in an environment where I need to stop the whole team to communicate the deviation in the PLAN, and diving in the vis I described 10 - 15 feet in my opinion does not qualify as such an environment. To define this opinion as "absurd" is just a bit over the top. I adjust my separation and buddy check cycle time to the conditions. Low vis, current, surge, overhead all will cause me to shrink the distance and up the cycle time. High vis, no current, no surge less equipment, will allow me to increase the separation and lengthen the cycle time. If you want to use cave diving protocol all the time that is your right, but to me that is absurd.

If you are diving where vis is sub 10 feet then you will need to pay even closer attention, perhaps in such an environment the lockstep dive is your only option. Personally I'll skip the dive, but then I know that the vis will be better tomorrow, you may not have that option.

 

[limeyx]

Still gotta be able to actually REACH it

From what Steve said, you did very well. And listening to the other stuff he was telling you, it sounds like you'll have no trouble passing when you do your re-eval

Yeah, but its way easier to reach in doubles.

 

[Cacia]

I thought Rob meant "absurd" as in not used to viz that good.....

 

[Diver0001]

If you are diving where vis is sub 10 feet then you will need to pay even closer attention, perhaps in such an environment the lockstep dive is your only option. Personally I'll skip the dive, but then I know that the vis will be better tomorrow, you may not have that option.

That's just local diving. 3 metre/10ft viz is about average. Lock-step diving isn't how I would describe it. If you dive in these conditions you just learn how to keep track of your buddy.

R..

 

[Darnold9999]

I thought Rob meant "absurd" as in not used to viz that good.....

Perhaps, written language is so hard to decipher. I obviously read it another way. On a reread it can be read both ways. I shouldn't be so quick to take offense!

 

[Darnold9999]

That's just local diving. 3 metre/10ft viz is about average. Lock-step diving isn't how I would describe it. If you dive in these conditions you just learn how to keep track of your buddy.

R..

I think that is all I was trying to say in my own convoluted way.

 

[jeckyll]

[hijack]Darnold: Viz was a bit worse on Les and my night dive on Tuesday, we both kicked the other in the head a couple of times. I felt that we had good buddy contact. LOL. But we found a new (to me) octo [/hijack]

I like having my buddies just far enough away that I don't kick them. Maybe that just me ...

 

[Darnold9999]

[hijack]Darnold: Viz was a bit worse on Les and my night dive on Tuesday, we both kicked the other in the head a couple of times. I felt that we had good buddy contact. LOL. But we found a new (to me) octo [/hijack]

I like having my buddies just far enough away that I don't kick them. Maybe that just me ...

Worse than last week??? There comes a time when skiing becomes a good option!!! Too bad its spring break.

 

[Ken abucs]

first of all, nice all went (relatively) good.
here a tip, to be even yourself more in control of situations like that. first, if you own your tanks convert them to Y or H valves and use the regulators with seperate 1st stages, so you can shut off the freeflow. if you dont own your tanks or travel a lot, where you use rented "standard" tanks - apeks has a nice little tool, called FCD (basically an inline shut off valve applied between your reg hose and the regulator). you can check it out @ http://www.apeks.co.uk/home_frameset.htm its one of this sites where it seems all is made in flash , so you need to go to products, regulators to find it. seems there is no way to link directly to the product.

Here's the direct link...

http://www.apeks.co.uk/products/pro...t=Freeflow Control Device&Category=Regulators