AggieDiver
Contributor
My wife and I had an interesting first dive on our trip to Little Cayman last week, and looking back, I think there were several things we did well that saved us from potentially bigger problems, but also some things we will do differently in the future.
Event: We were on our first dive on the Bloody Bay Wall at Dot's Hot Spot on Sunday morning around 9am. We had our regs serviced immediately prior to the trip, but had last had our BCDs inspected or serviced approximately 2 years before. This was our first dive in about 11 months. We had an uneventful descent to the top of the reef in around 30 feet of water and were heading towards the edge of the wall. Just as we started down a cut towards the wall, at around 55-60', my wife attempted to add some air to her BC using her inflator button. The button stuck open, inflating her BC to capacity rapidly and sending her towards the surface. I managed to grab her and slow her ascent while trying to get the inflator button unstuck. After several seconds attempting to get the button unstuck, I gave up and disconnected the hose from the inflator. We had risen to around 30' in what was probably less than 20-30 seconds. We were able to dump the excess air and level out to assess ourselves. My first instinct was to thumb the dive and head for the surface to discuss what had happened and fix the BC inflator. However, thankfully, I looked at my computer and noticed that we had a hard ceiling of 10' indicated on the computer. had we surfaced and violated that ceiling, we would have likely locked out the computer and caused ourselves to have to sit out several dives. After some brief signalling and checking with each other, we decided to continue the dive, with my wife manually inflating and deflating the BC as needed for buoyancy.
Lessons Learned:
1 - Prior to entering the water, my wife had not tried adding any air to the BC to make sure it was working. This should have been part of our predive gear check, and neither of us checked it on her BC. After reattaching the hose, the inflator worked fine for the rest of the trip, so it was likely just a piece of grit in the connection that could have been easily remedied on the surface prior to the dive.
2 - On our first dives of previous trips, we have left our camera on the boat to make sure everything is working before adding the task loading. On this trip, we took the camera on the first dive, and having it with her complicated my wife's attempts to fix the issue herself. On future trips, I will insist that we leave the camera behind on the first dive to make sure that our gear is functioning properly while free of extraneous tasks like managing a camera.
3 - Both of us were on the same page as far as response actions. First establish as much negative bouyancy as possible for the buddy to slow the ascent rate while trying to fix the problem. Second, try to unstick the inflator button. Third, disconnect the inflator hose. If we had been unable to disconnect the hose, my next step would have been to turn off her air at the tank valve and give her my octopus. The last resort, which she was starting to prepare for as I was working on the inflator hose, would have been to ditch the BC and let it head for the surface without her while she took my octo and did a controlled ascent with safety stop using my computer as a guide.
4 - This is the one I still am not 100% sure about. I think once we had calmed down and assessed the situation, continuing the dive was an acceptable decision. Here is why: We were very early in the dive...less than 5 minutes in, and had not accumulated any significant nitrogen load. Our ascent was from a relatively shallow depth (55-60'), and stopped at around 30 feet, so the ascent rate was not that extreme (~25-30' in about 20-30 seconds) and was unlikely to have caused any DCS issues. Had we been later in the dive with more nitrogen loading, or had we had a greater overall depth change in the ascent, I might have made a different decision. We both communicated via sign language that we understood she was ok to continue the dive using the inflator manually, and I was extra attentive for the rest of the dive to make sure there were no further issues.
5 - After an event like this, check your computer as part of the next step in decision making. Had we either immediately surfaced, or done a short safety stop and not paid attention to the hard ceiling on the computer, we might have locked out the computers by surfacing for what in the end was not a life-threatening situation once the inflator hose was disconnected.
6 - Finally, as a buddy, but also as a potential rescuer, my last step in the immediate decision tree in responding to the stuck inflator would have been at what point would I have to let go and let my wife rise to the surface alone if all other actions could not fix the problem in time. One of the first things we were taught in Rescue class was that the rescuer needs to be sure they don't endanger themselves by rushing in to a situation where they cannot safely perform a rescue. In this case, was the value of me continuing to hang on to my wife and slow her ascent worth the risk that both of us could get bent if we both went to the surface together? My answer...I don't know. I do know that I probably would not have decided to let go, mainly because we were so early in the dive, even a full ascent to the surface would not have been likely to result in getting bent. I can't honestly say I went through all that in my mind in the 10-20 seconds I had to think it through, but I do remember a flash decision of "do I need to think about letting her go?" running through my brain about the same time I managed to get the inflator hose disconnected. If I hadn't gotten it disconnected just then, it is a decision I would have had to make very shortly thereafter if I couldn't reach her air valve. I think it is a decision process that is worth thinking about beforehand, because those few moments of forethought may really help clarify what you do in a future situation where you have to make that decision.
In the end, it was a very brief, but very intense episode that we both won't soon forget. However, I think we both managed it fairly well and had good instincts about what steps to take to respond quickly. Had I been futher away or had she been deeper when it occurred, it might have turned out differently. In some respects we were lucky, but hopefuly reading this and thinking through some of the issues will help somebody else out in the future when facing a similar scenario.
Event: We were on our first dive on the Bloody Bay Wall at Dot's Hot Spot on Sunday morning around 9am. We had our regs serviced immediately prior to the trip, but had last had our BCDs inspected or serviced approximately 2 years before. This was our first dive in about 11 months. We had an uneventful descent to the top of the reef in around 30 feet of water and were heading towards the edge of the wall. Just as we started down a cut towards the wall, at around 55-60', my wife attempted to add some air to her BC using her inflator button. The button stuck open, inflating her BC to capacity rapidly and sending her towards the surface. I managed to grab her and slow her ascent while trying to get the inflator button unstuck. After several seconds attempting to get the button unstuck, I gave up and disconnected the hose from the inflator. We had risen to around 30' in what was probably less than 20-30 seconds. We were able to dump the excess air and level out to assess ourselves. My first instinct was to thumb the dive and head for the surface to discuss what had happened and fix the BC inflator. However, thankfully, I looked at my computer and noticed that we had a hard ceiling of 10' indicated on the computer. had we surfaced and violated that ceiling, we would have likely locked out the computer and caused ourselves to have to sit out several dives. After some brief signalling and checking with each other, we decided to continue the dive, with my wife manually inflating and deflating the BC as needed for buoyancy.
Lessons Learned:
1 - Prior to entering the water, my wife had not tried adding any air to the BC to make sure it was working. This should have been part of our predive gear check, and neither of us checked it on her BC. After reattaching the hose, the inflator worked fine for the rest of the trip, so it was likely just a piece of grit in the connection that could have been easily remedied on the surface prior to the dive.
2 - On our first dives of previous trips, we have left our camera on the boat to make sure everything is working before adding the task loading. On this trip, we took the camera on the first dive, and having it with her complicated my wife's attempts to fix the issue herself. On future trips, I will insist that we leave the camera behind on the first dive to make sure that our gear is functioning properly while free of extraneous tasks like managing a camera.
3 - Both of us were on the same page as far as response actions. First establish as much negative bouyancy as possible for the buddy to slow the ascent rate while trying to fix the problem. Second, try to unstick the inflator button. Third, disconnect the inflator hose. If we had been unable to disconnect the hose, my next step would have been to turn off her air at the tank valve and give her my octopus. The last resort, which she was starting to prepare for as I was working on the inflator hose, would have been to ditch the BC and let it head for the surface without her while she took my octo and did a controlled ascent with safety stop using my computer as a guide.
4 - This is the one I still am not 100% sure about. I think once we had calmed down and assessed the situation, continuing the dive was an acceptable decision. Here is why: We were very early in the dive...less than 5 minutes in, and had not accumulated any significant nitrogen load. Our ascent was from a relatively shallow depth (55-60'), and stopped at around 30 feet, so the ascent rate was not that extreme (~25-30' in about 20-30 seconds) and was unlikely to have caused any DCS issues. Had we been later in the dive with more nitrogen loading, or had we had a greater overall depth change in the ascent, I might have made a different decision. We both communicated via sign language that we understood she was ok to continue the dive using the inflator manually, and I was extra attentive for the rest of the dive to make sure there were no further issues.
5 - After an event like this, check your computer as part of the next step in decision making. Had we either immediately surfaced, or done a short safety stop and not paid attention to the hard ceiling on the computer, we might have locked out the computers by surfacing for what in the end was not a life-threatening situation once the inflator hose was disconnected.
6 - Finally, as a buddy, but also as a potential rescuer, my last step in the immediate decision tree in responding to the stuck inflator would have been at what point would I have to let go and let my wife rise to the surface alone if all other actions could not fix the problem in time. One of the first things we were taught in Rescue class was that the rescuer needs to be sure they don't endanger themselves by rushing in to a situation where they cannot safely perform a rescue. In this case, was the value of me continuing to hang on to my wife and slow her ascent worth the risk that both of us could get bent if we both went to the surface together? My answer...I don't know. I do know that I probably would not have decided to let go, mainly because we were so early in the dive, even a full ascent to the surface would not have been likely to result in getting bent. I can't honestly say I went through all that in my mind in the 10-20 seconds I had to think it through, but I do remember a flash decision of "do I need to think about letting her go?" running through my brain about the same time I managed to get the inflator hose disconnected. If I hadn't gotten it disconnected just then, it is a decision I would have had to make very shortly thereafter if I couldn't reach her air valve. I think it is a decision process that is worth thinking about beforehand, because those few moments of forethought may really help clarify what you do in a future situation where you have to make that decision.
In the end, it was a very brief, but very intense episode that we both won't soon forget. However, I think we both managed it fairly well and had good instincts about what steps to take to respond quickly. Had I been futher away or had she been deeper when it occurred, it might have turned out differently. In some respects we were lucky, but hopefuly reading this and thinking through some of the issues will help somebody else out in the future when facing a similar scenario.
, she pushed the instructor away and calmly disconnected the lp inflator hose and continued her dive by oral inflation. No problem at all.
