Not a very nice experience

[Cyber_Ghost]

Here's something that happened a little while ago (march) just after I got my AOW qualification.
I was on a shore dive with a new buddy (met on a local Israeli diving forum), the dive was a shore dive with a maximum expected depth at 8m, sounds simple enough, nice weather, water temp not too cold (18C) sea is calm, starting tank pressure is 210BAR with an AL80 cylinder.
About 30 minutes into the dive I encounter problems with my BCD power inflator (new TUSA Liberator sigma, on it's 10th dive), seems the deflate button is stuck on open and all the air I add is released.
Since at this stage I'm still at 170BAR and not too deep (4m), I decide to sink and try to fix it, after a few minutes of playing around the deflate button releases and all is good.
At the end of the dive, surfacing some 7-9 minutes from the shore, the problem is back again, all the air in the BCD begins to flow out.
So at this stage I'm in problem, since I'm on about 40BAR in the tank, and still some time from shore, I decide to ditch my weights, disengage the inflator air supply and start deflating orally.
After a few minutes I make it to shore and discover that not only my buddy helped my along the way, she also picked up the weight pockets and brought them with her.

Lessons learned:
1)New equipment can fail, never rely on anything.
2)Ditching weights is a life saver.

After the dive the problem turned out to be a failed spring in the inflator that damaged the plastic housing, and the inflator was replaced.
It was the fist time that I was in trouble and without a DM nearby so had to do everything myself.

 

[redacted]

You have a good buddy.

 

[Cyber_Ghost]

You have a good buddy.

Had , we did a few more dives together and then she couldn't continue diving as much as I wanted...

 

[Gombessa]

Can I ask how she retrieved the weight pockets? Did you ditch weights by handing them to her, or did she descend at depth (leaving you on the surface) and pick them up off the bottom? If so, I'd be a little concerned about someone leaving a buddy with an obvious equipment problem and descending alone to retrieve "dead weight" gear.

Just something to think about!

 

[TSandM]

If they were swimming up slope, it would be a pretty simple matter to pick up the pockets.

Kudos to you, OP, for keeping your wits about you and solving the problem! Just a hint for another day . . . Even if the power inflator is stuck in the "deflate" position, lowering it below your body will stop the exit of gas. In a horizontal position, one should have to lift the inflator significantly to get any gas to dump. In a vertical position, you might have to hold the inflator down along your body, but even then, you should be able to hold a significant amount of air in the BC.

 

[Cyber_Ghost]

If they were swimming up slope, it would be a pretty simple matter to pick up the pockets.

Kudos to you, OP, for keeping your wits about you and solving the problem! Just a hint for another day . . . Even if the power inflator is stuck in the "deflate" position, lowering it below your body will stop the exit of gas. In a horizontal position, one should have to lift the inflator significantly to get any gas to dump. In a vertical position, you might have to hold the inflator down along your body, but even then, you should be able to hold a significant amount of air in the BC.

That's what happened eventually, with the extra weight gone... only took me some time of swimming to figure out.
I think though that it made me feel better prepared to do my next dives and I managed to keep my cool in a few other not "very nice" cases.

 

[Doubler]

CG,
Ever dove Ceaseria?

 

[Cyber_Ghost]

CG,
Ever dove Ceaseria?

Nope, didn't have a chance.
I live a couple of hours drive from there, so when I was in the area I preferred to dive in Haifa (Scire submarine, the big barge, the Turkish ship).

 

[mark99]

Maybe a third lesson that you should take away from this is that immediatly after you patch up an equipment problem, you should call the dive rather than continue.

 

[ItsBruce]

My thought exactly. Fatalities and serious injuries are rarely the result of some catastrophe. Rather, they are the result of something small that cascades.

Imagine the malfunctioning deflator button combined with a cramp or a buddy who loses a mask... add some unexpected waves ...

Call the dive at the first malfunction.