Out of Air

[Capt Tom McCarthy]

I consider myself an experienced diver, done the specialty courses, with over 30 logged dives

Well done. He said over 30 logged dives. 2000 is over thirty logged dives. So it is possible he is quite experianced. Lol. I think experiance doesn't really prepare you for an emergancy situation as much as muscle memory related to drills and training. You can be diving for years after you've recieved any training, then you find yourself in a situation that you forgot what to do in. I'm assuming he is closer to 30 dives than 2000 which could have been to his advantage seing as how the training is still relatively fresh in his head and probably hasn't become complacent in diving yet (which can lead to laziness, cutting corners and/or bad habits).
-Capt. Tom

 

[limeyx]

I travel quite a lot on business to exotic places where there are scuba opportunities on hand. Scuba gear in good condition is almost always readily available to hire, which is cool because I don’t have to carry the stuff with me. Today I had a close shave and was grateful for the good training I underwent (SSI). My air gauge showed that I still had a good supply of air, when all of a sudden the air supply stopped. We were deep diving (35 meters) and I felt the panic coming on. I consider myself an experienced diver, done the specialty courses, with over 30 logged dives; however, in a real life situation things are somewhat different than in training. Because it was an early morning dive, the dive operator doubled as my dive buddy, and it was only him and me. I was about three four meters away from him, and he was interested in something on the reef, hence his attention was not with me. I knew I was in trouble and as I mentioned, panic waves crept over me, then I remembered what my dive instructor drilled into me, when in trouble “THINK and then act. I also remembered not to hold my breath but to slowly exhale. I started to relax, swam to my buddy signaled my distress and we shared air. We made the slow ascent and when we later inspected the gauge, it was clear that it somehow got stuck and showed the wrong amount of air. It was also apparent that somewhere there must have been an air leak in the system.

One thing you could do to reduce the chances of this happeneing again (except monitor your SPG more frequently

is to always perform a bubble check either on the surface or as you descend. We do these on every dive without exception (even if it's a 30 foot dive)

basically take your buddy, turn them away from you and submerge them just enough so that their tank valve, first stage and second stages are under (also any drysuit valves). Check for bubbles leaking from any hose, reg (1st, 2nd) deco bottle, argon bottle.

if bubbles exist, you have to make a choice about how serious they are compared to the dive at hand and be prepared to call it.

also make sureto check your octo/backup 2nd stage works and can be deployed/is clipped off etc.

 

[SparticleBrane]

It could also be that your SPG never actually read 0 to begin with.
Make sure it reads 0 before you ever pressurize your system! If not you could be in for a bit of a surprise.

This can happen slowly over time by cranking open your valve as fast as possible--it "springs" the SPG and eventually it stops reading 0 when there's no pressure on it.

 

[DandyDon]

Ugg my math was misfiring today. For some reason I was thinking it was around 160ft. Duh, 3.3x 35.

I cheated - used an online conversion.

 

[laserdoc]

That same thing happened to me years ago in Cozumal. Thats when I STOPED using rental gear. Got home and went out to buy my own reg and guages. Just don't trust rental gear........except maybe a weight belt.

 

[diverrob]

Another way to see if you have a leak in your system is to pressurize your system after you put your reg on, then shut it off without purging the air through one of the regulators. Note the pressure, then finish gearing up. Check it again before you put the rig on, if its moved you've got a leak. Breath from one of the regs watching the pressure gauge go down to 0 to see if its sticking. If you've got no leak turn the air on, put your rig on, do your buddy checks and get in the water.

Safety note, ALWAYS make sure your air is on before getting in the water, and check your buddies. It's always the last check I do before getting in the water, singles, doubles, or rebreather.

 

[limeyx]

Another way to see if you have a leak in your system is to pressurize your system after you put your reg on, then shut it off without purging the air through one of the regulators. Note the pressure, then finish gearing up. Check it again before you put the rig on, if its moved you've got a leak. Breath from one of the regs watching the pressure gauge go down to 0 to see if its sticking. If you've got no leak turn the air on, put your rig on, do your buddy checks and get in the water.

Safety note, ALWAYS make sure your air is on before getting in the water, and check your buddies. It's always the last check I do before getting in the water, singles, doubles, or rebreather.

I think the only reliable leak check is in the water. You could have a slow leak that's going to get worse that you wont notice on your gauge.
If you look at a pressurized system u/w any leaks ought to show up.

Example: I have a slow leak on an SPG on a deco bottle. on the surface there's no way I will notice it but it's plain to see underwater.

Of course you still ought to to a check for any obvious (big) leaks on surface as they are easier to fix there.

 

[griffindm]

Congrats on handling a tough situation well. I had a similar experience on my 3rd OW dive after certification. I immediately bought my own life support gear and ALWAYS take it with me. The challenge as a new diver is in knowing you are checking your air enough, knowing how the remaining air should be declining, and knowing when to call the dive when you are suspicious of a problem.

Like others have said, the first step in taking responsibility for your own safety is in recognizing your limitations. It will take several hundreds of dives before I ever think of myself as 'experienced'.

 

[Pietfer]

Tx all, I now realise (and agree with Dandydon - this is a red flag) that Scuba and gholf has a lot in common, NEVER CONSIDER YOURSELF AS "EXPERIENCED".

 

[victor]

My air gauge showed that I still had a good supply of air, when all of a sudden the air supply stopped.

I have never run a tank completely empty.
I assumed possible wrongly, that breathing would get progressively more difficult not suddenly just stop.
Also if I ascend and the pressure decreases then I should be able to breathe again, obviously not for long.
Next time I am doing a checkout dive I must arrange with my buddy to run a tank right down to empty at about 15ft to find out what happens.