scubette
Registered
Hi Everyone -
I'm new to this site and well I guess you can say diving as well, of which I just love!
Had a very horrifying experience this past weekend and was wondering if someone could explain to me what to do should this ever happen again.
I was with a group testing out new drysuits for drysuit cert. My buddy and I was swimming toward the back of the group. Well, while diving, my buoyancy was out of control, as some may know, a diver cannot use their BCD for buoyancy control underwater while diving with a drysuit. Low and behold, I was at 47 feet depth with 550 psi left in my tank. I signaled to my instructor and buddy and we started to ascend slowly.
This is what happened next. When I reached 43 feet, all of a sudden all of my air was gone. Within seconds!!! Couldn't believe it. My buddy was approx 7ft below me as I was ascending just above him. I had already exhaled just prior to my air running out and could not inhale any air. There was no air in my BCD. I was stuck, stuck with no air in my lungs to slowly exhale or "aahhh" on the controlled ascent. My airway was closed. Actually, there was no controlled emergency ascent. I kept ascending, was at 32 feet, looked up to the surface and knew I could not make it. I felt like I was going to choke or fight for a last breath from somewhere, but knew it would be water. Didn't know what to do. My gut took over and I made a last ditch effort and swam down about 8ft to my buddy and grabbed his alternate air. I know I wasn't suppose to swim back down, but I had to, to essentially save my own life.
To run out of air is one scary moment, but to run out of air and have NO air in your lungs to exhale to make a controlled emergency ascent is TOTALLY different.
Besides from purchasing a pony bottle or 3cft spare tank, are there other skills or what could I have done when I had absolutely no air left in my lungs to exhale to make an ascent quicker than my buddy was ascending?? Very, very unsettling.
I'm new to this site and well I guess you can say diving as well, of which I just love!
Had a very horrifying experience this past weekend and was wondering if someone could explain to me what to do should this ever happen again.
I was with a group testing out new drysuits for drysuit cert. My buddy and I was swimming toward the back of the group. Well, while diving, my buoyancy was out of control, as some may know, a diver cannot use their BCD for buoyancy control underwater while diving with a drysuit. Low and behold, I was at 47 feet depth with 550 psi left in my tank. I signaled to my instructor and buddy and we started to ascend slowly.
This is what happened next. When I reached 43 feet, all of a sudden all of my air was gone. Within seconds!!! Couldn't believe it. My buddy was approx 7ft below me as I was ascending just above him. I had already exhaled just prior to my air running out and could not inhale any air. There was no air in my BCD. I was stuck, stuck with no air in my lungs to slowly exhale or "aahhh" on the controlled ascent. My airway was closed. Actually, there was no controlled emergency ascent. I kept ascending, was at 32 feet, looked up to the surface and knew I could not make it. I felt like I was going to choke or fight for a last breath from somewhere, but knew it would be water. Didn't know what to do. My gut took over and I made a last ditch effort and swam down about 8ft to my buddy and grabbed his alternate air. I know I wasn't suppose to swim back down, but I had to, to essentially save my own life.
To run out of air is one scary moment, but to run out of air and have NO air in your lungs to exhale to make a controlled emergency ascent is TOTALLY different.
Besides from purchasing a pony bottle or 3cft spare tank, are there other skills or what could I have done when I had absolutely no air left in my lungs to exhale to make an ascent quicker than my buddy was ascending?? Very, very unsettling.