Out of air incident

[Stoo]

the OP doesnt say but im wondering if sidemount diving is a new discipline for her and doesnt yet have the ingrained muscle memory -reg switching should be an action that is automatic, if it that is the case a bad experience like this is a teaching lesson she'll not forget, Ive no doubt shell go away reassess and come back better prepared. If however she is an experienced sidemount diver then Id tend to agree with you

Exactly.... Pretty basic stuff there, and not an awesome response. All fun and games until you have solid rock over your head.

 

[Wibble]

She panicked over what should have been a simple immediate switch to the other reg.

It's practice which sorts the natural panic response out. Lots of practice. On every dive.

Was the original panic due to diving on a single?

Since moving to doubles/sidemount/rebreather have never worried about being out of gas as there's always the reserves. Could, of course, carry a PONY but that too needs practice, practice, practice.


Practice makes perfect and closes down the panic response.

 

[Marie13]

It's practice which sorts the natural panic response out. Lots of practice. On every dive.

Was the original panic due to diving on a single?

Since moving to doubles/sidemount/rebreather have never worried about being out of gas as there's always the reserves. Could, of course, carry a PONY but that too needs practice, practice, practice.


Practice makes perfect and closes down the panic response.

The original panic mentioned in the OP was on her first ever cave dive after class with her husband/dive buddy. So she was SM.

 

[Wibble]

The original panic mentioned in the OP was on her first ever cave dive after class with her husband/dive buddy. So she was SM.

Ah. OK.

Then just needs more practice. The cure for most scuba diving evils.

 

[boulderjohn]

A diver with enough experience to be in caves should have reacted to not getting that breath of air with a response sequence along these lines:

1. What the heck? Why am I not getting any air?
2. I bet my air is not turned on fully. Let's give that a shot. (Turns valve)
3. Ah! That was the problem. It must not have been fully open. Next time I'll do a better job on my pre-dive check.

OR​

3. Nope, that didn't work. I'll switch to my other tank, turn the dive, and see what's going on when I get back to the surface.

That 3 step sequence should have taken a few seconds. In beginning tech training--the very first class--that sequence should be drilled repeatedly.

 

[J-Vo]

Something I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is side mount valve roll off. For my configuration its the right side valve and it has happened to me. Tends to happen if I'm keeping my right elbow down by my side and holding something to the right of me.

Lets keep in mind the OP is a baby cave diver and may not have any previous experience with redundant gas diving. The standards allowing this is for another discussion.

 

[Marie13]

Something I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is side mount valve roll off. For my configuration its the right side valve and it has happened to me. Tends to happen if I'm keeping my right elbow down by my side and holding something to the right of me.

Lets keep in mind the OP is a baby cave diver and may not have any previous experience with redundant gas diving. The standards allowing this is for another discussion.

I was also curious why their first dives after class were at Ginnie. Why not do something “easier” like Peacock? I ask this having recently done Ginnie/Devil’s without having any experience with flow.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Well, as the OP stated, they were doing their practice at Ginnie. I would hazard to say that most divers taking an Intro Cave/C1 class in Cave Country (not the OP) make class dives at Ginnie into The Devils System and after class make post certification dives their. That site shouldn't be 'too much' for a properly trained Intro/C1 diver.

 

[rx7diver]

... I would hazard to say that most divers taking an Intro Cave/C1 class in Cave Country (not the OP) make class dives at Ginnie into The Devils System ...

Yes, my Cavern class and Basic Cave class (back-to-back, four days total, in 1988) took place at Ginnie Springs. I drove down from MO. (My sense at that time was that a lot of people did their first cavern/cave training at Ginnie Springs.) No big deal. Negotiating the strong spring flow (outflow) was an important part of our training. We did load into my instructor's van and go do another couple of training dives at other nearby springs, for variety, after our initial dives into the Devil's System. Again, no big deal.

By the way, at that time, cave diving wasn't "marketed" the way it seems to be now. Rather, the training was made available to people who were already "pretty sure" they wanted to dive submerged caves. Still, two of my three fellow students, both open water instructors, DNF-ed the Basic Cave course.

rx7diver

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

As soon as I read this:

Getting into the water for our second dive, we placed our cylinders (side mounting) into the water on the steps going down to the water with the tank valves ON. With all the people at Ginnie Springs entering and exiting,

I knew that there was going to be a problem.

People just often DGAF about others or more often have poor situational awareness.