New Divers and Dangling Equipment!!!

[SquattingRadishDM]

L.G. - Look Good

 

[fgriffith]

I just completed my checkout dives for my OW certification last weekend. Hoooray!!

But that's not what this post is about really. : ) I just wanted to give a little tidbit of advice to all the other newbies, like myself, out there.

When you're in the water pay attention to where all your gear is, especially dangling items like hoses and regulators!!! Why you may ask do I think this is a good piece of advice?

On my fifth dive of our trip (my first dive as an actual, certified OW diver), everyone on our trip decided to go on a night dive. As nearly everyone on the trip had just been certified, we took an hour to go over a briefing of what to do, what to expect, etc, on a night dive... and those in charge of the dive trip made sure we went to a fairly shallow, very easy dive location.

Everyone was really excited about the dive, heebie-jeebies aside, and it was definitely a beautiful night for a dive... virtually no seas at all. So, we make it to the dive site, just after sundown, just barely enough sunlight left to see... everyone finishes getting ready and off we go! I was one of the first in the water, made my way to the mooring line, where I waited for my buddy (my hubby), and then we made sure we were all right and then started our descent to the bottom of the line, where the DM was waiting for the group.

About 1/2 of the way to the bottom, my regulator was suddenly, fairly violently, yanked from my mouth. Knee-jerk reaction I reached over my shoulder to retrieve it, however it was stuck on something... Something that was pulling it. I turned to look over my shoulder, and there was one of the other just-certified divers. She'd simply left her computer dangling at her side (even though she had a bungie to connect it to her BC). Not paying attention to where she was going, she had buzzed right over the top of my hubby and myself... the dangling computer wrapped through my regulator hose, the bungie snagged on my hose and hence as she moved on, it yanked my regulator with it. More afraid that my reg would be damaged than anything else I quickly followed her, tapped her leg to let her know I was there, and unhooked my reg. She apparently never even noticed anything had happened... Looked down at me as I was retrieving my reg and putting it back in my mouth, shrugged and swam on.

I checked to make sure my reg was all right and my hubby and I finished our descent... the rest of the dive was great. Luckily, if anything had been wrong, I had my AAS, as well as my hubby right next to me with his AAS... so either way, I would have been fine... but her computer could have been damaged, my reg could have been damaged... and if either I or her (if she had noticed something was wrong) had panicked bad things could have come from the incident - that could have easily been avoided if she (or her buddy) had simply checked to make sure that all of her gear was properly secured.

Making sure that my computer and AAS is always attached and not left dangling at my side wasn't something that had really dawned on me as being an important part of the predive buddy check... Now, however, it's something that I vigilently check. It would be a very silly way to ruin an expensive piece of equipment, or heaven forbid, cause someone to be injured. But, since this was something that I never even thought of, I thought perhaps it was a suggestion that might help other newbies like myself as well

Cheers!
Marcia

Unfortunately, you will see this sort of thing often. Even from experienced divers. I get a chuckle when I'm watching scuba programs on Discovery and the divers have their gear dangling all over the place. "So and So is a marine biologist with a hundred years of experience diving"... and the guy has his octo dragging behind him in the sand... unbelievable.

Congrats on keeping your cool!

Frank

 

[scubapro50]

I couldn't believe that new divers are not taught to buddy breath and the use of snorkels as optional. Are we "dumbing down" dive clases like the education boards did our schools ? Yes ..... they all should check each others gear before they get into the water ...... or is that too being left out of the new dive courses?

 

[RonDawg]

Unfortunately, you will see this sort of thing often. Even from experienced divers. I get a chuckle when I'm watching scuba programs on Discovery and the divers have their gear dangling all over the place. "So and So is a marine biologist with a hundred years of experience diving"... and the guy has his octo dragging behind him in the sand... unbelievable.

Very true. If anybody caught last week's episode of "Deep Sea Detectives" you would have seen John Chatterton (not exactly a newbie himself) with his SPG dangling...and at one point actually hitting the wreck :11:

 

[scubacoz22]

i have noticed that also, when the DM's help you put your gear on before you go into the water they should hand you your octopus so you can secure it. I have had to ask for mine every time. I dont think one of them has ever handed it to me. Its nice to have your gear put together for you but when everything isnt secure once you get it on sometimes its better to do it yourself.

 

[Foo]

I always secure my octo in it's holder on my BC before putting it on. Just make it part of your rig setup ritual, and that might help you with the problem. Happy diving!
Foo

 

[fgriffith]

I couldn't believe that new divers are not taught to buddy breath and the use of snorkels as optional. Are we "dumbing down" dive clases like the education boards did our schools ? Yes ..... they all should check each others gear before they get into the water ...... or is that too being left out of the new dive courses?

It appears the dive certifications are being dumbed down a bit. I just learned that my wife's OW instructor never taught dive tables at all. All the students used computers. I'm not sure which agency.

 

[waterkitty]

I think that everyone should do all they can to avoid looking like a Christmas Tree. My favorite all time description however came from O-Ring who described a diver looking "as if he covered himself in aquaseal and rolled through the LDS".

LOL....

seriously though, regarding the original post, I would think the computer-dangler should have at least flashed the "OK?" hand signal just to make sure...but that's my humble opinion...

 

[Robert Phillips]

I was doing a dive off of a boat at Anacapa Island a few months ago with a lot of vacation divers from around the country. There was on kid from one of the Southern States. He was a really nice guy and had a great time, but as my buddy and I were hovering along a wall at about 50fsw he was about 15'-20' away travelling across the sand with his left side up and right side down (swimming sideways) and every two or three feet he would push off of the sand with his right hand and at the same time is octo would leave a nice furrow in the sand, making a bouncing motion. It was rather funny to watch, but at the same time not. That's where I came up with the term "bottom farmers."
Dive safe,
dive often.
Robert

 

[BluOrchid2]

Sorry about your incident, OP, but I was wondering if you remembered to blow "champagne bubbles" when the reg came out of your mouth?