Out of air incident

[BlueTrin]

Guess you have never dived fast current/hot drop. Stop at 15', miss the bottom target...

I guess he meant to say: “whenever possible”

 

[johndiver999]

Yeah, it was easier - and probably faster - to swim up than fooling with the BC underwater
I was quite comfortable swimming up.

Well it sounds like it was easy for you, but I know it would be much easier and quicker for me to loosen the harness and access the valve.

 

[Stoo]

A 6m/20ft depth isn't deep and the instructor's there to sort things out.

20' is more than deep enough to drown in. I understand what you're saying, but at the same time, I can hear the dead guy's attorney in the court room: "So let me make sure I have this right. You intentionally disabled a critical piece of equipment on the deceased divers gear and as a result of this, he panicked, aspirated water and bolted for the surface, embolising on the way? Have I got that right?"

If I learned nothing else in 20 years of teaching diving, NEVER underestimate a student's ability to kill themselves.

 

[Dody]

I had a similar incident while diving in Cozumel several months back. I had been diving day after day after day, and I got complacent. I didn't check that my valve was fully open, and I let someone else set up my gear.

I took three breaths while looking at the SPG, jumped into the water, fully dumped my wing, and pressurized my ears all the way to the bottom at 60 feet. I tried to take my first breath at 60 feet, and I got nothing. I knew immediately that it probably the valve. I tried to reach my valve, but the DM had strapped my tank way too low and I couldn't reach the valve.

I didn't panic, and I knew that I was diving a balanced rig. I swam back up to the surface with ease, where I had plenty of air to hike up my tank and fully open the valve.

Questions out of curiosity. How long did it take to surface from 60 ft? It should have been over two minutes. Was it that easy?

 

[rx7diver]

Questions out of curiosity. How long did it take to surface from 60 ft? It should have been over two minutes. Was it that easy?

Hmmm. He had just left the surface. Just how much nitrogen can a fella absorb in the time it takes to descend directly from the surface to 60 fsw and then return directly to the surface?

@Doc Harry, if you couldn't reach your valve, could you not have doffed your rig and pulled it around in front of you to turn if fully on, and then donned your rig again?

rx7diver

 

[rhwestfall]

Think he was talking about 30 fpm ascent rate...

 

[Dody]

Think he was talking about 30 fpm ascent rate...

Yes but rx7diver is right. If you have absorbed very little nitrogen, you can surface faster without risking DCS... theoritically.

 

[rhwestfall]

They taught us 60 fpm back in the day...

Also, they reinforced bent beats drowned....

 

[Doc Harry]

Questions out of curiosity. How long did it take to surface from 60 ft? It should have been over two minutes. Was it that easy?

Don't quite remember. I was relaxed, it didn't take very long. My last breath was at the surface, and I did a continuous Valsalva all the way down (I had been diving a lot for a week and was having trouble with my sinuses). My first breath at depth was when I got nothing.

 

[Doc Harry]

@Doc Harry, if you couldn't reach your valve, could you not have doffed your rig and pulled it around in front of you to turn if fully on, and then donned your rig again?

rx7diver

I don't need a weight belt while tropical diving, so I hesitate to doff my rig underwater if there are better options. There was a better and much easier option, swimming back up.

My shoulders dislocate easily, so these days I am also hesitant to reach back and put my shoulder in a risky position.