Panic and Tech Diving

[rjack321]

Are some people just more prone to keep their cool or can the panic response be trained into a diver so that they react in a calm and rational manner to extreme stress?

Yes to a degree

Should this be part of tech training?

Its been a part of every tech & cave class I've been in (2 each)

Do any instructors try to train for this?

Mine all seemed to: Chris LM, Danny R, Joe T, and Andrew G

Has anyone been in a panic or near panic situation?

Near panic once or twice, deep breathing (as paradoxical as that always seems at the time) and rationalization are about all I fell back on at the exact moment. Stop, breathe, think kinda thing.

 

[ucfdiver]

Lost buddy is scripted in Cave1 (and in fact nobody is even taken off the mainline) at this cavern + Intro level its mostly an "understand the recalculate and search" concept and running through the motions.

Its unscripted in Cave2, where a buddy will be physically removed from the line you're on and left hidden in the dark somewhere. They don't want to leave Cave1 students unattended in the cave so they don't do this in C1.

Personally I think Danny's wrong about the lost buddy in the cavern while your other buddy is OOA scenario. Guess it partially depends on the exact circumstances. I'd probably blow off all stops and leave the OOA buddy on the surface then promptly re-enter too. Unless I could see the "lost" buddy and they were close enough to reach.

I would slap myself in the face to wake up, this won't ever happen in real life, and if it did, maybe you just need to realize that you're SOL.

 

[TSandM]

I was actually talking to a recent tech class graduate about training dives last night. He was recounting a situation in his class where two divers had had their left posts rolled off without their knowledge. BOTH of them donated gas, went to their backups, found them empty, and immediately signaled OOA.

An instructor for the same agency pulled that on me in my first dive with him, and I donated, put the backup in my mouth. found it dry, and had a brief moment of surprise -- then the fact that my OOG buddy was breathing happily off my primary reg told me what had happened.

Neither I nor the team whose story I heard had ever had that failure thrown at them before. How do you teach somebody to slow down, think, and choose the rational response? I do believe some of it is related to personality.

 

[DiverLaura]

experience. discussions. learn from others. learn by diving. extrapolate. learn your gear inside and out. learn your diving environment inside and out. learn yourself inside and out. Did I mention learn your gear? love you gear, practice in it, dive in it so much it's a second skin, become one with it, that way if you have to reach back and turn on a rolloff, or go on bailout (or a stage), it's just second nature, a non-issue. as long as you have a reg that works and a tank that has gas in it you are okay... You may have switch **** out a bit, have your buddy help get things sorted, but as long as you have a way to get breathable gas to your lungs, you have time to sort other stuff out if you keep your wits about you.

The things Leon talked to us about in my CCR class were likely places i'll never go and/or never be faced with. BUT, now i've actually heard of them, i have some answers in my arsenal to help solve lesser problems.

The bottom line is, as long as you are breathing, you have time to sort stuff out as long as you slow it down, get control of yourself and think. If that is reinforced again and again and again, hopefully it sticks.

this could also be a place where the training methods of the old days, where we DID turn peoples air off unexpectedly was actually helpful. You can either signal OOG, or reach back and check your valve. if you had a PITA buddy who was into hazing, usually the first thing you learned to do was check your valve. same with no mask drills... "oops, your mask is gone" (as you are videoing the wolf eel or something else non-training related)

 

[Dive-aholic]

Lost buddy is scripted in Cave1 (and in fact nobody is even taken off the mainline) at this cavern + Intro level its mostly an "understand the recalculate and search" concept and running through the motions.

Its unscripted in Cave2, where a buddy will be physically removed from the line you're on and left hidden in the dark somewhere. They don't want to leave Cave1 students unattended in the cave so they don't do this in C1.

It's a matter of the way you set it up. I do lost buddy unscripted in Intro and never leave the students unattended. It's actually quite easy.

 

[DiverLaura]

lol.. cave instructors seem adept at perfecting the art of ninja

 

[Dive-aholic]

lol.. Cave instructors seem adept at perfecting the art of ninja

:d :d :d :d :d

 

[rjack321]

It's a matter of the way you set it up. I do lost buddy unscripted in Intro and never leave the students unattended. It's actually quite easy.

I'm not defending they way they've setup the course(s) just telling you the GUE training council's general thoughts - at least the way they were reiterated to me a few years ago. My Cave1 was 4 yrs ago and was a class of 2 students so maybe that shaped how lost buddy proceedures were taught.

 

[packman]

In both my basic and full cave classes, the instructor just disappeared on us. One minute there...the next, "sonuva...where did she go?"

 

[LiteHedded]

my course was the same way except mine was uphill both ways in the snow!