Near miss opening night of lobster season

[Finatik]

It's hard to put into words what happened only because I feel so stupid. This is to the best of my recollection as to what happened. The blame rests entirely on me and the reason I’m posting this is to give people a little insight into what happens in an emergency situation and hopefully won’t be repeated by anyone else. I readily admit that some of my decisions were pretty bad. Horrible in fact. I hesitated posting it here because some people can be brutal on this board but here goes.

This happened on opening night of lobster season.

We got into the water at midnight and dropped down to about 35 feet. Lots of kelp where we were at. About 5 minutes into the dive I had a minor air leak my back up regulator (integrated type). I tried to clear it by breathing on it but it didn’t clear. I showed my buddy and he tried to clear it but couldn't. I opted to go ahead with the dive knowing that I would have to monitor my air very closely. Should have called the dive, but the flow wasn’t that bad and felt it was manageable. We would just cut the dive very short. *Note – at the 1st sign of equipment malfunction call the dive even if it seems manageable – it might lead to something unforeseen.

We were in the kelp and I got caught up several times and one time I tried to kick free and it pulled one of my fins off. No problem I retrieved it. I let my buddy know and I got the fin on and we went on. I missed 4 lobsters and we were on the hunt.

I got caught up again and kicked free. Lost another fin and this time couldn't find it. I signaled to buddy and thought he understood that I lost a fin. He signaled to me asking if I was ok. I signaled OK back thinking that he just meant was I OK not let’s scrub the dive. He moved off back to the hunt. I should have called the dive at that point. I didn't want to blow the dive for him. Spend 2 hours getting over to the dive site, water was rough on crossing, paid $100 for boat, only wet for 10 minutes - so I kept going. With one fin. Singularly the worst decision made in my diving career. Up to that point. *Note – fins are an integral part of your buoyancy system. Go figure.

I caught a bug. Great no problem. Air consumption went from 3000 to 2000 in 15 minutes with the air leak and entanglements. Pretty quick rate of consumption. I was watching it very closely (every 5 minutes or so).

I estimated another 15 minutes no problem and we would surface. The leak began to get worse on the integrated second and I was at 1000psi. I signaled to go up and we did. We hit the top no problem and surfaced between two boats. We didn't know which boat was our. We started swimming for the second boat which turned out not to be ours. *Note when diving at night MAKE SURE you know which visual signs makes this your boat.

The minor leak had started to be a free flow and was really blowing and it was suggested I unhook the inflator hose to make it stop. I undid the inflator hose to stop the free flow. I’ll get back to this one later.

We realized that the boat we were swimming for wasn't the right one. We turned around for our boat and started swimming for it. The current had picked up and I was not making any head way (with one fin). We swam for a couple of minutes but it was slow going. Buddy suggested that we drop down and go under water to make it easier to get closer. I deflated and we dropped down. Big mistake!!!! Don’t ask me what I was thinking. I wish I could say I was narced but not likely on top of the water.

We got closer to the boat but decide to surface. Once I got to the top I couldn't inflate the BC because the inflator hose was disconnected. *Note never disconnect your inflator hose. Seems pretty obvious now but.....

I got to the top, realized I couldn’t inflate the BC and was trying to kick and blow (oral inflate) like I was taught. BC wouldn’t blow up. Took a mouth full of salt water and started to go under. Called for buddy’s help. He was 20 feet away and couldn't help. *Note - stay within arms reach of your buddy, you may actually need his help.

Tried to put reg in my mouth but I had let it go because I was trying to orally inflate the BC. Swallowed more water. Started to choke. Where's the reg? *Note - never let go of your Reg.

Sank again and took on more water. Kicked with all my strength and resurfaced. Found reg and put in mouth but at that point was breathing so heavily to the point of hyperventilating that the reg couldn't supply air fast enough and it felt as if I was drowning with it in my mouth. I know that doesn't sound rational but that’s what it felt like. I spit it out. Went under again.

Tried to find weight release on the BC but couldn't. Buddy was now next to me and I grabbed his BC trying to stay on top of the water. I looked into his eyes and I read his thoughts. At that point I knew he was thinking "oh **** he's going to drag both of use under". All I could think about was being taught “don't get to close to someone drowning because they will bring you down and kill you too”. (On ride home he confirmed that I read his thoughts accurately).

Buddy yells Help. Help. Help. Help. Help. We were directly between two dive boats. Ours swung a light onto us.

I told buddy between gulps of slat water to pull the weight release. I couldn't get it loose. Panic. Stress. Me trying to stay afloat and alive, starting to drag him down. He couldn't release the weights on the Zeagle. He pushed me away. I figured I had to do something to save myself. *Note - your buddy is there to help you but ultimately you need to save your own ***.

I was chocking, and fatigued. I felt I was drowning at that point. I knew I had to do something and the only thing I could think of was to ditch the BC. I undid the cummerbund. Then the snap holder and then the chest snap. It slipped off no problem.

Freedom. Buoyancy.

I lay in the water with buddy screaming Help Help Help Help at the boat. It took them a good 5 minutes + to get to us. Both DM's from both boats showed up at the same time. Later they said they weren’t sure which boat we were from and they each thought the other one was handling it. *Note - DM isn't going to save you....maybe after the fact but don't count on a rescue.

At that point I was floating on my back just trying to catch my breath and buddy and DM pulled me to the boat.

I felt so stupid.

All of the training. All of the time diving and I disregarded it to keep the
dive going. I was disgusted with myself for letting this happen. I F-n knew better.

I thought I was going to die. I panicked but not to the point that I FULLY lost my head. I do credit my training with saving my life in that situation. All of the scenarios I trained for did run through my mind and it was only that that made me lose the rig at the last moment before sinking to the bottom.

In reflection it's a good idea to push the open valve when trying to inflate the BC by mouth. The stress, panic, etc. made me forget. I WILL not forget in the future. *Note - just because you trained once or twice doesn't mean you can do it in a real situation. Train more.

I will be much more certain and ready to call a dive in the future - even if
it's on opening night and I paid $100 bucks for a boat. I will not forget
what I did wrong and it won't be repeated. It's forever marked into my brain
- so in that aspect I'm a better diver because of it.

Be gentle.

 

[TSandM]

Thank you for a very vivid description of how people can get into serious trouble on the surface.

Just a couple of observations: Disconnecting the inflator hose when you have a leak or freeflow into an integrated secondary is probably a perfectly legitimate maneuver, and I don't thing I'd put "never disconnect your inflator hose" down as a lesson. The lesson is to be comfortable with oral inflation, which probably few of us practice as often as we ought (memo to self).

Second observation is that one of the reasons I like the configuration I use, and the way I'm trained to use it, is that absent a MAJOR screwup, I'm never going to have a regulator further than about six inches from my mouth, and I'm always going to know where both of them are. The secondary is around my neck, and the primary is either in mouth or clipped off to my harness where I can actually get it in my mouth without unclipping, if need be. Even if I let go of it altogether, it's likely to sit on the front of my shoulder.

I've done a dive with a small leak. The dive had a max planned depth of about 25 feet, and the surface was always an option. I don't know what your parameters were, but it may not have been unreasonable to have continued with the dive after the first problem. If I had then lost a fin, though, I think I would have thumbed it.

I'm sure you're not the only person on SB who has ended up in more trouble than they bargained for, because they didn't want to scrub a charter dive they'd paid a lot of money for. It's a pernicious thought. I know I dove on a lot of decongestants in Indonesia when I got the community cold, and I knew that could cause problems. I was lucky, and didn't have any, but that "I paid a lot of money for this, and I don't want to have wasted it" thought can lead to some bad decision-making.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Well, the big thing to understand, and I harp on this constantly, is that when you get to the surface you are no longer a diver, you are a swimmer: BY ALL MEANS DITCH YOUR BC/RIG if it is going to drag you down. Dump it. You can go back and get it later, that'll be a fun dive. I can not overstate it enough, drop the BC and weights. Your exposure suit will float you all that you need...

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Wow, that sounds close. It is hard for me to understand how a diver can successfully ditch the entire scuba unit, but neither he nor his buddy were apparently able to ditch the integrated weights from the Zeagle BC?????

Sounds like lobster fever almost claimed another diver! Those little crustaceans will kill you, if you're not careful.

 

[Finatik]

In talking with my buddy after the dive he indicated that the lobster bag was obscuring the t handle. I was floundering, swallowing, choking and maybe the lobster bag was in the way or not. I couldn't find the handle during the situation.

 

[PerroneFord]

Glad you're ok. Glad you learned some lessons. I too have been diving with a leaky regulator. You have to be cautious. When the second thing when wrong, put your thumb in the air. It's only bugs and cash. Both are easy to come by.

 

[LAJim]

A well written and very educational report. Such honesty deserves a polite and supportive reaction from everyone on this Board. Glad you are OK.

Jim

 

[limeyx]

Good thing you ended up OK.

I had a surface issue myself when I was up with Lynne in Washington last weekend.

We were getting back onto RJacks boat after a tech1 dive, and my buddy offered to help me get my BC off in the water (which you have to do in order to get onto the RIB).

I really should have just asked him to come close and step in if/when I asked him (which would have avoided the following near disaster)

We were over 100 feet of water with a very silty/muddy bottom.
I am in doubles, which are plenty negative.

i had undone my waist strap, BUT since I use a Backplate that has a crotch strap, the crotch strap was still entangled in the waist strap (I did not realize this)

Now, the next step is to deflate the BC part-way to allow more room to get out.
I did that, and then my buddy pulled the arm straps to try to get me out, but in such a way that not only couldn't I get out but I couldn't move my arms either!

it was at that point that the doubles started to sink, pulling the crotch strap and me down with them.

Fortunately I had a reg in my mouth, BUT I couldn't reach the inflator because my arms were pinned. I tried yelling through the reg, but no one could understand me.

So, despite sinking I had to yank the reg from my mouth and yell. (The hilarity of a pannicked diver yelling a helium-voice was not lost on me even at that point!)

Did I say this was over 150 feet of water?

My buddy quite confidently says he can't reach the inflator right now, at which point I almost (deliberately) drowned him.

Luckily we figured it it w/out too much drama but I definetly will decline the "help" next time!

(NOTE: as far as I know, my buddy was not deliberately trying to drown me)

 

[Ken Kurtis]

First of all, excellent post from what was obviously a harrowing experience. And I'm glad you're willing to share all of this with the scuba community because that's how we all learn from these things.

It certainly seems like you've keyed in on a number of the mistakes you made during the dive: air leak unattended, caught in kelp repeatedly, lost fin, reg out of mouth with on the surface, etc., etc.

Just so you know where I'm coming from with the rest of what I have to say, one of the things I do is test the gear and write a fatality report & accident analysis for the LA County Coroner's Office when we have a scuba fatality in our area. (I'm very glad I'm unable to add you to the official record. I'm working on three less-fortunate souls right now.)

In almost all of the cases that we review, 99% of the time, diver error plays a major part in getting the accident chain started. And what we see time and time again is that it's usually not one little thing that gets you, but it's problem 1, then problem 2, then problem 3 . . . and at some point it overloads you and you become a Coroner's case.

The advice that we give to all divers, regardless of skill level or experience, is that when that first thing goes wrong on the dive . . . stop. Fix it. If you can't fix it, abort the dive until you can resolve the problem. As we said, little problems have a way of becoming big problems.

I have taught something to my students for the last 26 years and it's something I invite you to burn into your psyche: You never get hurt on a dive you don't make. Much better to abort a dive you could have finished than to continue a dive that will spiral out of control.

And one final (probably obvious) thought: No matter how much you may like lobster (or any other underwater pursuit), it's not worth dying for.

Glad to hear you've come out of this in one piece & wiser and hopefully others will also benefit from your experience.

 

[ItsBruce]

1. Gllad you are ok.
2. My thoughts:
a. I not convinced the leak in the integrated regulator was a reason to call the dive. You monitored your air supply and were not much different from a dive who had a greater SAC. The only real problem this caused was that you eventually had to disconnect the supply. That, in and of itself is not a problem as all divers used to have to orally inflate their BCDs. The problem was that you had not practiced that skill.
b. Kelp entanglement. Unless you panic over it, its not an unexpected part of diving and does not call for aborting a dive. As to the extra air usage, again its the same as a higher SAC and only requires extra monitoring.
c. The first loss of a fin was corrected and does not call for an abort.
d. The second fin loss is enough of a malfunction to warrant aborting the dive.
e. Once you were on the surface, you had aborted. There was nothing more to abort. I would be concerned about the fact that your weights would not dump. That should warrant testing, practice, etc. to see if some other system is needed. It is unlikely that had you aborted sooner this would have happened differently. But see note "a" above.
f. Your failure to press the button when trying to orally inflate the BCD is from lack of practice. (Note to self: Practice this.) It is unlikely that had you aborted sooner this would have happened differently (though you may not have disconnected the fill line).