Out of Air at 84 ft

[The Kraken]

Poor Pilot Fish !!!

The man asks a simple question.

All he wants are resolutions to the problem given.

He defines the scenario, albeit there could be a bit more description of the dive. I have to assume it is a recreational dive.

We've run the gamut from better pre-dive planning, better gas management planning, effective use of lights for communication and so on.

The stuff is now in the fan, what are you going to do. It's too late to discuss what one can do to aviod the situation.

As he stated in the beginning of his question, the hows and whys are irrelevant, what is your resolution to the problem at hand.

 

[pilot fish]

I would simply turn the knob on the 50% mix. Even at 140 you can hit the 50 untill you get to your first stop at 70 feet. You just have to remember at 140 you ppo2 is about 3.2 and you ox clock is ticking fast.

To quote an instuctor" WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING RUNNING OUT OF GAS " and then he said " THAT'S NO EXCUSE"

huh? 50% on what tank?

 

[pilot fish]

Poor Pilot Fish !!!

The man asks a simple question.

All he wants are resolutions to the problem given.

He defines the scenario, albeit there could be a bit more description of the dive. I have to assume it is a recreational dive.

We've run the gamut from better pre-dive planning, better gas management planning, effective use of lights for communication and so on.

The stuff is now in the fan, what are you going to do. It's too late to discuss what one can do to aviod the situation.

As he stated in the beginning of his question, the hows and whys are irrelevant, what is your resolution to the problem at hand.

whewwwwwwwwwwww, thanks

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Poor Pilot Fish !!!

The man asks a simple question.

All he wants are resolutions to the problem given.

He defines the scenario, albeit there could be a bit more description of the dive. I have to assume it is a recreational dive.

We've run the gamut from better pre-dive planning, better gas management planning, effective use of lights for communication and so on.

The stuff is now in the fan, what are you going to do. It's too late to discuss what one can do to aviod the situation.

As he stated in the beginning of his question, the hows and whys are irrelevant, what is your resolution to the problem at hand.

Giving advice on a hypothetical question may be fruitless. In a panic situation he may not react in a way that has been suggested. The best advice I can give is to not let yourself get in a situation like that. That being said, if he doesn't panic the best answer would be to get to the closest air supply, whether it's vertical or horizontal.

 

[simbrooks]

As he stated in the beginning of his question, the hows and whys are irrelevant, what is your resolution to the problem at hand.

Unless you are going for a statistical analysis of how many people would do one or the other, this part has been answered in terms of what you would think about when rolling your dice at that point - why go horizontal, why go vertical, what the problems are associated with both of these "solutions" has been covered already. The rest is all useful instruction on why you dont want to be there and how you avoid being there - which is actually far more important IMO. Now if someone does find themselves in this situation due to everything going south, what are they going to do, get on SB, check out this thread and decide which way to go based on the consensus opinion of those who answered the hypothetical question or just do whichever seems more logical after a second or so of thought - either the buddy is close enough to swim to or they arent, if they arent your only other air is the surface - its plain, its simple. There is far more to be learnt from this thread regarding buddying, air management and communication than to simply poo-poo it as not being the answer to the question.

 

[simbrooks]

huh? 50% on what tank?

50% nitrox on a deco tank - dont even consider it pilotfish. That is one extreme exposure of oxygen if you take your time getting up from that depth and of course a very high risk or oxtox even if only for a short time. I would not suggest this to others, maybe try to make it up to a depth where the PPO2 is not quite so extreme then hit the tank for all you are worth back to the surface. If you are carrying deco mix you may well have a deco obligation and you have to see it out.

 

[pilot fish]

50% nitrox on a deco tank - dont even consider it pilotfish. That is one extreme exposure of oxygen if you take your time getting up from that depth and of course a very high risk or oxtox even if only for a short time. I would not suggest this to others, maybe try to make it up to a depth where the PPO2 is not quite so extreme then hit the tank for all you are worth back to the surface. If you are carrying deco mix you may well have a deco obligation and you have to see it out.

That's tech diving, right? I'm speaking of rec diving. Don't know the setup you describe

 

[Iruka]

I'm too tired to read the previous 94 responses, many of which were, obviously "this shouldn't happen because..........." I've never run out of air at 84' in 5,000 plus dives, but I "also" thought "what if?" So, I did a "practice" emergency swimming ascent years ago from around 90....slow all the way, watching speed & controlling my speed by letting out more or less air. (especially have to watch the last 20' or so, as you have to let more air out to keep from ascending too fast.) Anyhow, did it on one breath with plenty to spair, but it wasn't a panic situation, and I was starting with full lungs. In your given scenario, I'd probably try to get the 30' or so to my buddy....no worries about ascent speed....I'm a fast swimmer, so it wouldn't take too long....in my younger days I was able to hold my breath over 3 minutes, so in a life-or-death situation, I think (hope, ha ha) I could force myself that distance. Also, whatever sort of noise-making device I had on hand would be used...if your buddy saw your "out of air sign & you swimming frantically towards him/her, I'd hope he'd be swimming towards YOU just as fast...effectively cutting the distance in half. I guess the big question is how far can you swim "on empty"....maybe a thing to practice (?)....because IF you try to swim towards someone & are NOT able to make it to them, you've pretty much eliminated the chance of doing a swimming ascent. Standard disclaimer: again, proper procedures should make the scenario unlikely blah blah blah, but I have no problem answering the question as given.

 

[jbd]

One of the things I'm leaning from this thread is that I have to stick with the wandering buddy, EVEN if he strays from me. When I catch up to him/her I will try to point out that we need to stay closer and then reinforce that when we get back on the boat. I also need to make certian things clear in a pre-dive chat on teh boat PRIOR

What you are learning from this thread is all stuff that should be taught in the OW course. As you now seem to have experienced with a wide assortment of buddies is that its not being taught very well if at all. The problem is the market calls for quick short classes that barely teach the "diver" individual skills let alone having enough time to instill good buddy practices.

Most of the real divers that have responded to you about staying with your buddy etc, etc, etc have learned this over time and through the entry of DIR concepts into recreational diving.

 

[Diver0001]

No, thank God. It is just something I have wondered about and was curious what other divers might do. I have been on a lot of dives where all of us have gotten spread out, as happens on most dives, or my Buddy has wandered off, or we have just gotten seperated for one reaon or another.

I see. Effectively you're solo diving and in solo diving prevention is paramount. Make sure you can't run out of air at 84 feet because frankly neither one of your options looked very appealing.... You can avoid it ever happening with a combination of working on skills and changing some things about your gear.

Also, about the buddy. It takes two to tango. One buddy wandering off means that the other buddy let him wander off..... This is a skills issue too (as much on the part of your buddy as on your part). If it's a regular buddy you should work on it.

R..