OOA Buddy starts to drag you up by your octo - What would you do?

[TSandM]

The person doesn't have to be inflating to be headed up in a hurry. Assuming they were neutral when the OOA occured, swimming upward will, in short order, expand the air in their BC and make them positive and accelerate the ascent.

I'd dump everything I had to get as negative as possible; try to get hold of their inflator and dump them, too. If I couldn't reach them, I'd swim downward as well, if I could. I'd hope that reaching the end of the tether would stop them and make them think. If not, I think you're faced with an awful dilemma -- Allow both of you to go to the surface too rapidly and run the risk of DCS, or get your regulator away from the other diver and face the idea that that person runs a real risk of dying during a CESA in a panic. It's always better not to create a second victim, but bent is better than drowned.

In most cases, at least during the time it takes to transfer the regulator, you're going to get a sense of where the person is mentally, and you'll have time to reach out and grab them if they look completely gone. Even with a 7' hose, I think you'd have an opportunity to avoid the situation where somebody's gotten to the end of the hose in complete, blind panic.

Personally, I don't go that deep with anybody who I don't know (or have a very reasonable expectation of) can execute a competent, air-sharing ascent from depth. When I dive with new divers, I stay shallower so that anything that happened like that would be less likely to result in serious harm to anybody.

 

[wedivebc]

That is why I prefer to carry a redundant cylinder that I can unclip if OOA buddy was dragging me to surface. The donate what you're breathing mentality loses something when you dive a rebreather or even double hose reg.

 

[Footslogger]

I just had this horrible thought:

Lets say we are down around 100 ft and my buddy goes OOA. Of course, I donate my octo, and he accepts. My buddy then proceeds to abandon all training, and with a BC full of air, decides its time to start rocketing to the surface - dragging me along behind him. What do you do?

====================================

This may not be the "recommended" behavior ...but I'd reach up and yank the second stage right out of his/her mouth. Then I'd hand signal them to calm down and reapproach me, at which point I'd donate my octo and the two of us would surface together willingly.

 

[Diver Dennis]

I saw this happen at 45' in Bali a few weeks ago with someone else from this board, who was the one dragged up. We were just working our way up a long slope near the end of a dive. I was behind the other divers and looking up the slope when I saw one diver, who was OOA, frantically swim up behind another in front of her and grab his octo. I don't think she purged it and got a mouth full of water, and bolted for the surface before he knew what was going on. When she did this, his octo got hooked on her camera and she started to drag him up too. I could actually hear him yelling through his reg and finally yanking himself free.

I swam up under her and we did a slow ascent to make sure she was OK. It all worked out fine but it happens so fast that sometimes it is difficult to react, especially when you don't see them coming. She was a very athletic woman and when panicked had the strength to pull him up without much problem.

I would do the same as he did, try to get free first. Sometimes you might not be able to stop someone and you have to let them go.

 

[Drewski]

I like this:

Also, why would you donate your octo? Maybe that is contributing to his panic. Your buddy just recieved a reg that has no bubbles coming out of it and may not even be working. Give him your primary regulator. The fact that you were just breathing from it will help him keep the cool.

So, now that I just gave away the only regulator that IS working, what, exactly, am I supposed to breath off of?

Just wondering...

 

[H2Andy]

assuming a no-decompression dive, here are the dangers i see:

1. if i yank reg from runaway buddy, his panic level is only bound to increase. he may forget to breathe out and may end up with baurotrama or embolism = LIKELY FATAL

2. again, if yank reg, he may inspire water and not be able to self-rescue due to panic, leading to drowning = LIKELY FATAL

3. if i don't yank the reg, we'll both be breathing on the way up, so the risk of baurotrama or embolism lessens

4. if i don't yank the reg, he'll have gas up to the surface and then i can assist in rescuing him

5. if we do go up like a rocket, we might get bent, but given the low level of Nitrogen in our system (no-deco dive) this will most likely not be serious = UNLIKELY TO BE FATAL

so... my choice?

ride the rocket up with my buddy.

i've done it once before, and we were both fine

 

[Drewski]

The octopus vs primary vs "long hose" issues aside, TSandM offered some very GOOD advice.

The only thing I would add is to rotate the panicked diver and make eye contact as soon as possible. People in an OOA situation tend to get "zoned" and forget everything else, even after the emergency is resolved. By making eye contact and "slowing" the individual down, it's easier to recover.

Get a good grip, make the eye contact, "cool" stuff down, recover then make the ascent.

And remember, it's ALWAYS easier said than done...

 

[Nemrod]

Giving the OOA diver YOUR regulator (primary) is another falacy being promoted in the dive community these days and mostly only here on scubaDIRboard.com. Again, from life saving protocal, why endanger two lives? Hand the OOA diver your alternate or your pony but NOT the regulator in your mouth. Should it turn out that your alternate is non functional (why would that be?) then that is when you should know how to buddy breath. All these drills I keep hearing about with all these hoses and donating your primary, how many include buddy breathing drills?

N, there is a right way but it ain't that way

 

[ArcticDiver]

I have same policy as TSandM. As a traveling diver almost always my "buddies" are folks I've never met before. So, I never get into situations with them that I can't recover from solo. That can create some uncertainty on the part of Team Trained divers because they are used to Team Solutions where my experience puts me into a Self Solution mind set. But usually they figure it out pretty quickly. And if we are going to dive together frequently a couple dives and we are on the same page.

Another mechanical thing I do is to be sure the mouthpiece can be yanked off my long hose regulator. So, if the other person panicks and I can't control them I can yank the reg out of their mouth. Never had this happen for real. But, have practiced it in training. Remember; you are not obligated to lose your life to save theirs.

 

[H2Andy]

This is exactly why the seven foot long hose is WRONG.

Giving the OOA diver YOUR regulator (primary) is another falacy being promoted in the dive community these days and mostly only here on scubaDIRboard.com.

is this troll day?

it's not troll day, is it? if it is, i want my discount, damn it!