Over breathing your reg

[Marivan377]

As a very new diver I’ve had my first incident. This weekend I was diving with two buddies I’ve never dove with before. The dive started fine we descended and began dive. At about the 20 min mark is where it kinda got interesting. We stop check our air situation and decide to turn the dive. The lead guy takes off and basically leaves me and the other guy behind. Now the other buddy starts to get away trying to catch the first buddy. During this chase I became winded. I was able to get to the guy in front of me to let him know I got to ascend. The reg couldn’t keep up with my breathing and I began gasping. So now little air and I’m taking in water. I basically forgot what I had been taught about stopping and getting my breathing right. In between getting little air and swallowing and purging water from my mouth. I surfaced. How does one handle an inconsiderate buddy who basically leaves you behind. I know I’m never chasing down anyone ever again. I didn’t realize the implication of breathing to hard.

 

[JackD342]

There is no magic answer for preventing a buddy from being a jerk. If you are abandoned, take care of yourself first. I bet you will be telling this story in the future every time you pair off with another unknown buddy, as you set your expectations of how the dive will go. No harm emphasizing what you don’t want to happen again.

 

[jgttrey]

With a modern well tuned reg, it would be very hard to overbreath, esp at the depth you are talking about. They can deliver far more gas than you could use.

My guess is that your breathing pattern itself was ineffective - i.e., you were beginning to hyperventilate and not getting a good gas exchange. I doubt it was an equipment issue. If still you feel it was, I'd have the regs checked.

Certainly, have the discussion with your buddy about being situationally aware and slowing down. In the end, of course, don't let a bad buddy put you in that position. Slow down and get breathing under control and make your own ascent if you have to. Anything is better than allowing a buddy to push you to the point of danger.

 

[leadduck]

1) Don't overexert yourself under water. Tell them at the surface that you didn't feel safe with them, their behavior is irresponsible and unacceptable particularly when diving with a new diver. 2) become better at swimming under water; that means good horizontal trim (to minimize drag) and efficient finning technique. (streamlining gear doesn't hurt either).

 

[doctormike]

CO2 buildup can result in a panic spiral, where extra work results in extra CO2 production, hyperventilation and ineffective breathing. One would think that the faster you breathe, the more efficiently you get rid of CO2, but the reverse can be true, especially when diving. Increased dead space ventilation may mean that more breaths per minute actually reduce CO2 elimination, so if you find that happening slow down and take deep, slower breaths. As the man says, "take a vent".

Remember, losing your buddy isn't a catastrophe, and at this level of diving your plan should be to surface if you can't reconnect after a minute of searching or so. Sometimes, even an inattentive buddy may realize that you aren't following him after he takes off at high speed, and may stop an look back for you. You did the right thing by letting one of them know that you were ascending. Not sure of the conditions, but this is one of the arguments for carrying a bright, focused light that you can use to signal someone from a distance - it's your "voice" under water.

Even if there are navigational issues, a need to find an anchor line, current, or whatever other concerns that make you want to ascend as a group, nothing outranks the need to breathe safely, so if you need to ascend, you ascend.

 

[seeker242]

How does one handle an inconsiderate buddy who basically leaves you behind. I know I’m never chasing down anyone ever again.

Don't chase them down. Done that. Won't do again. But, make sure they know what they did to you so it doesn't happen again.

 

[Caveeagle]

I think @doctormike nailed it. ...much more likely that co2 build up took over and caused your breathing issue.

Were you using an adjustable 2nd stage? ..dialed to the + side ?

How does one handle an inconsiderate buddy who basically leaves you behind. I know I’m never chasing down anyone ever again. I didn’t realize the implication of breathing to hard.

Learn to be confident and independent in the water. If you are diving deeper than a safe emergency ascent is possible, and you don’t have a buddy you trust, then you are essentially a solo diver. ..or worst case, you are babysitter for a potential disaster. Whether to carry a pony bottle has been hotly debated, but it is an option to help you be independent.

 

[Compressor]

A buddy that leaves you is not a good buddy. It's unfortunate as to what happened but it happens quite often. Learn to control your dive which includes your breathing/depth/time and be situationally aware of what is happening around you. Learn to be independant.

You sound like a very safe diver. When you dive with strangers aka insta buddies, expect irregular behavior.

As @doctormike said nicely, higher CO2 levels could explain your issue with the breathing. Unless the reg is problematic (tank valve not opened) it's hard to over breath the regulator.

Keep diving safely.

 

[Jonny Wishbone]

I think a lot of newer divers forget that the dive pace is set to the slowest diver for whatever that reason may be (older, heavier, more out of shape, smoker, whatever) If I am lead man in a follow the leader type dive, I always check behind me after several kick cycles to check on others, let them close the gap (if there is a gap) or to see if they stopped to check something out that I missed or something like that. The lead diver has more duty to wait for others than the following divers have to catch up. If the fast divers don't want to wait for the slower divers then they have the option of not diving with that diver anymore but not in the middle of a dive. (another bump for pony bottles) Just my 2 cents.

 

[Marivan377]

First thank you all for the feedback. I was diving a mk20/s600 yes it was dialed out and had just been serviced in November. The first 20min of the dive were fine. It was at the turn that it all went bad. We were at 60ft. Not that it makes a difference cause my hands were the only thing cold. Water temp was 39. I have a al40 that I have yet to carry. Lesson learned. Insta buddy=pony bottle for me. Thanks again guys.