Out of air emergency at 105 feet

[openmindOW]

Nuts4corals, thank you for your post. That's an amazing story.

I turn in the direction we were heading and waited for the DM to get in the leading position. However, he came in front of me and motioned that he’s out of air. Without thinking I reached down and grabbed my Octo and brought it up as he wasted no time in taking hold and taking a nice big breath of air…

This DM is an embarrassment to dive professionals. DMs are supposed to be rescuers, not rescuees.

The DM needs to go. I would urge you to consider filing a QA on this DM. At minimum, please let his employer know what happened.

Looking back on this unfortunate incident I would like to get a better understanding of what actually should have happened in terms of a safety stop. Air permitting should we have done the stop for 3 minutes? Or was it the right thing to get to the surface right away when sharing a single tank?

You did a super job. Yes, the DM should have done a Safety Stop with you. I hope you didn't tip the guy.

 

[Lorenzoid]

How about an option of letting the OOA diver ascend to the surface while you remain at safety stop depth but keep an eye on him from below (vis permitting) to see if he seems to be panicking or otherwise in need of further help? If he's swimming toward the boat, you could maintain your safety stop depth while you swim along below him and keep an eye on him.

 

[Steve_Dives]

With my regular buddies we have a gas plan that will allow us to perform a deep stop in addition to a shallow stop at ~15 feet. The plan assumes someone loses their air just as we are departing from our planned depth, and further, incorporates the higher air consumption rate of stressed divers into the ascent plan, all while arriving at the surface with at least 200-300 psi after all stops are complete.

In your situation, would I have surfaced with him from the safety stop? Yes. He may have had something else going on more serious than a little case of the bends.

 

[Scared Silly]

The OP did fine. I too would have taken the DM to the surface made sure they were fine and as importantly safely on board and being attended to by someone on board. Anything less would be irresponsible IMHO.

Then I would have descended back down and completed the stop and perhaps some more. Why?

1. Though I ascended to the surface there would be no harm in descending to a shallow depth.

2. Had plenty of gas to hang at 15-20' for a long time.

3. Though the dive was over I might as well try to salvage whatever was left of the dive and perhaps see something.

Finally, when back at the dive shop I would ask for ask for half of my money back on the dive for having to rescue their DM for a stupid a$$ mistake.

 

[Skeeter1097]

You did a good job. The Safely stop was a choice not a must. But I would have doon the stop. But the rest of the day was shot.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

How about an option of letting the OOA diver ascend to the surface while you remain at safety stop depth but keep an eye on him from below (vis permitting) to see if he seems to be panicking or otherwise in need of further help? If he's swimming toward the boat, you could maintain your safety stop depth while you swim along below him and keep an eye on him.

You might not be able to tell if a diver on the surface is in trouble from 15' below, as strange as that seems.... until he sank back down, unconscious. The OP did the right thing by staying with the OOA diver.

Skipping the "safety stop" while within NDL's was the right thing to do in this case, because the OP had no idea if the OOA diver was signaling to surface due to a health problem, impending panic, whatever.

Best wishes.

 

[DandyDon]

I can't believe this guy was a DM... but then I've seen a number of them that couldn't dive their way out of a paper bag (and some that are excellent... I guess it's just the bell curve). Hard to believe he would get to the point of being OOA as a DM.

He kinda double blew it huh?

Nuts4 did you have a buddy of your own here?

 

[Gombessa]

How about an option of letting the OOA diver ascend to the surface while you remain at safety stop depth but keep an eye on him from below (vis permitting) to see if he seems to be panicking or otherwise in need of further help? If he's swimming toward the boat, you could maintain your safety stop depth while you swim along below him and keep an eye on him.

If you think about it, that's really no different than waiving bye-bye and having the OOG diver ascend on his own. The scenario given never inferred that the OP would just leave the scene afterward. The issue is being in proximity and position to be able to notice and render immediate assistance in case (or better, before) a problem arises.

 

[TSandM]

There are a lot of things that have to go right to get an OOA diver to the surface and safe. Just because their head is in the great gas tank in the sky does not mean the emergency is over; someone who is panicked may not remember to orally inflate their BC, and may sink again and drown. I do not believe the rescue is done until the OOG diver is buoyant at the surface, and it may not be then, if he has any symptoms of AGE or other ascent-related issues.

A safety stop is optional. The risk of DCS with a controlled ascent is very, very low. I would have gone up with the OOG diver, and I would not have returned to the water to do stops.

This is one of the discussions that takes place with technical divers from time to time -- how much deco will you blow off for a buddy? And even under a decompression ceiling, if the time is short, you are probably okay to go up with someone in distress. An optional stop would never have me take back the gas supply from someone who had none of his own.

 

[nuts4corals]

I just spent the time to read each and every post twice as i wanted to take it all in. First, thanks so much to all of you for some very thoughtful and interesting responces...

to quickly answer some of the questions posted to me... the DM had no buddy assigned My buddy was motioned by the DM to join up with the second group in the water a decision that I think if i was the DM I would have motioned this buddy to surface along with us...

After reading the responses here I can tell you that it was not clear to me at safety stop depth why the DM wanted to surface without a safety stop. i know seeing his eyes wide open and signaling me that he's out of air he was definitely panicked but once we arrived at 15 feet i could not tell if it was panic or something else. I actually thought that he may be having some sort of other emergency. After the fact on the boat I think that perhaps he may have been worried about the other divers that he left below wanting to go back down to check he kept saying that the other DM who took control of his assigned divers would never let him live it down. He was worried about his job and he should be IMHO. The other DM in the water was with the company for far longer than he was and I did not feel the need to report him as it was very obvious to me that when this DM came out of the water that someone was getting in serious trouble that day... and heads were going to roll.

its interesting that many people on here said that they would wave bu-bye to the OOA diver in such a case. I have to admit that the thought crossed my mind but at that moment it just didn't seem like the right thing to do and besides he had my octo in his mouth, so do I snatch it??? The last thing that I needed is a guy struggleing with me for my octo under water. hmnnn.... I think if the guy was panicked and endangering my life than sure you have to do what you need to but it wasn't like that in thsi case. He just wanted to get to the surface and honestly when you are placed in this type of situation you really want to see the ordeal end safely. Its a tough call as not doing a safety stop is a risk in itself.

Thats why now I feel that if I had to do it all over again in the future (I sincerely hope not), once he was safe and in control on the surface, I would communicate that I'm going back down to finish my safety stop air permitting... I think that would have been the best thing to do and now I know so thanks again to all who have contributed.