Number one cause of diving fatalities?

[2airishuman]

I guess I don't get the concept of carrying 1. extra bottles 2. extra air for other divers to use.

I carry a redundant source of air on any dive where the surface and the shore aren't readily reachable without scuba. I take a self-reliant approach to diving, and the redundant air source is there in the event of any failure of the primary.

I carry enough reserves to help another diver, in part because it is those same reserves I rely on for my own safety in the event of an emergency, and in part because one of the things I'm compelled to do by my faith is help a stranger in need.

Faith aside, I know that if someone died because I didn't share air with them, I would think about it every day, as long as I lived, afterwards.

The vast majority of my dives are 90 feet or shallower (deeper in California is actually much less interesting). I would become selfish of my air supply over 40 feet. I can free ascend from 60 with all my gear on because I have had to do it.

True anecdote: A guy off FL chasing lobsters ran out of air at 80+ ft. A PADI instructor handed him his pony bottle which did not function. So, the PADI instructor swam over to a new diver and grabbed her regulator and dragged her over to give her air to the careless lobster diver.

This could have resulted in drowning when the appropriate response would be tell the lobster diver "learn a life lesson from this; swim up yourself and have a nice day."

The life lesson I take from this is that you really have to be careful about checking your pony rig before each dive.

 

[boulderjohn]

True anecdote: A guy off FL chasing lobsters ran out of air at 80+ ft. A PADI instructor handed him his pony bottle which did not function. So, the PADI instructor swam over to a new diver and grabbed her regulator and dragged her over to give her air to the careless lobster diver.

This could have resulted in drowning when the appropriate response would be tell the lobster diver "learn a life lesson from this; swim up yourself and have a nice day."

Actually, it might not have been the preferred course of action. Many lobster hunters overweight themselves significantly so they can crawl on the bottom after the bugs, and he might not have made it to the surface.

In a well known case in the Florida Keys a few years ago, a lobster hunter went OOA and could not get to or stay on the surface. He had just bought a new BCD with integrated weights and could not figure out how to get them to release. (My guess is that it was a Zeagle, and he had put the weights in the wrong pockets.) A woman who had rented her gear tried to share air with him, but since her rental gear did not include an alternate air, they had to buddy breathe. They both drowned.

 

[kelpqwest]

Diver mistakes 1. too much weight 2. Ran out of air
He died from exactly what I said kills divers.

Equipment tip: use a rubber weight belt, not the bean bag system.
I can ditch my weight belt while blind upside down in 10 ft swells if I have to.

It would not surprise me if PADI said weight belts are obsolete.
Actually, a local PADI instructor told me that come to think of it.

 

[boulderjohn]

It would not surprise me if PADI said weight belts are obsolete.
Actually, a local PADI instructor told me that come to think of it.

You were misinformed. PADI has said no such thing.

As for me, I teach half the confined water sessions with pockets and half with a weight belts so students learn both. All the other instructors in the shop use weight belts only.

 

[kelpqwest]

I note that according to PADI, stated by boulderjohn, the diver with full lungs should have the water at eye level?

So, according to PADI, at the surface with full lungs your nose and mouth should be underwater?

I rest my case.

I hope new divers ignore that stupid guideline, but I am not sure they will read this far.

 

[2airishuman]

Normal breath, not full lungs.

How well it works depends on a bunch of things, like how much air you're carrying, and how much air is in the fabric and pockets of your BC and wetsuit that will later dissipate. I don't find it to be an especially useful guideline. I check for overweighting by feeling my wing with my hands to determine the size of the bubble in it, while submerged at the end of the dive. Underweighting becomes obvious as the dive progresses.

 

[BRT]

I note that according to PADI, stated by boulderjohn, the diver with full lungs should have the water at eye level?

So, according to PADI, at the surface with full lungs your nose and mouth should be underwater?

I rest my case.

I hope new divers ignore that stupid guideline, but I am not sure they will read this far.

Your head is 15 pounds of ugly fat. Do you really want to be weighted so it will be out of the water with a tank that is low on air and no air in your BCD? If so, How do you hold a safety stop?

 

[boulderjohn]

I note that according to PADI, stated by boulderjohn, the diver with full lungs should have the water at eye level?

So, according to PADI, at the surface with full lungs your nose and mouth should be underwater?

I rest my case.

I hope new divers ignore that stupid guideline, but I am not sure they will read this far.

It is with a normal breath, no air in the BCD, and a full tank. If your tank is empty, you will be about 6 pounds lighter with an AL 80.

This has been standard advice throughout the scuba industry for many decades. It's nothing new.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I always hear it's running out of gas.

I can see how that would be an issue if cave diving or getting lost inside a shipwreck etc, but in open water, how does someone just "run out of gas (air)"?

If the regulator broke and quit delivering air I think that could qualify, but I doubt if that happens very often.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I note that according to PADI, stated by boulderjohn, the diver with full lungs should have the water at eye level?

So, according to PADI, at the surface with full lungs your nose and mouth should be underwater?

I rest my case.

I hope new divers ignore that stupid guideline, but I am not sure they will read this far.

Actually, that is the weight check at the beginning of the dive, with a full tank of air. I, as well as BoulderJohn, used that illustration.

SeaRat