Panic!!!

[rick00001967]

I have seen this said so many times on this forum, and each time I have to laugh. There are MANY problems or issues that can happen underwater which are significantly more urgent or serious than simply not being able to breathe!.

Examples?

 

[A Bajo]

one thing I will add is learning to be comfortable controlling your breathing. If you have access to a pool just learning to swim and practicing controlling your breathing. For example, sinking to the bottom of the pool while slowing exhaling and trying to relax. (do not do alone!). During my ow I did a practice mask clearing and I took a big gulp of sea water which really through me off. I had told me my instructor to wait and I just did nothing till by body absorbed the water. My instructor has just hanging out watching me until I gave him and ok sign. I explained what happen to the instructor later and he said most people would have panicked. I have swallowed a lot water while swimming so I knew it would pass, although it was a lot more.

 

[gschaut]

A safety stop following an uneventful single tank dive to 16 meters is pointless.

A friend of mine (scientist) was doing routine survey of reef in the Keys. First dive of the day, no tissue loading from previous dive. He started at a dock in 3m of water and followed the bottom down to 15m. Spent 50 minutes documenting coral conditions, then returned to surface. All with ascent rate under 3m/min. After exiting the water, he suddenly collapsed and was rushed to a chamber. He's still alive, but he is paraplegic and will never walk again. DCS and AGE have a @#% random quality. You can be WAY within no-deco limits and still get bent. My opinion is that a safety stop should be made for all dives deeper than 10m.

 

[johndiver999]

getting eaten by a shark is up there but what other serous issues are there more than not being able to breathe

Sharks, eels, a boat trying to run you over on surface, even an uncontrolled ascent might be best managed by an immediate exhalation and delayed inhalation

 

[Belzelbub]

Sharks, eels, a boat trying to run you over on surface, even an uncontrolled ascent might be best managed by an immediate exhalation and delayed inhalation

Those are dangers, but not sure I’d rank them above not being able to breathe. Sharks is a possible tie. In actuality, there are very few things that are to the level of not being able to breathe. With very few exceptions, if you can breathe, you have time to work out the problem.

 

[Kitzy]

Sharks, eels, a boat trying to run you over on surface, even an uncontrolled ascent might be best managed by an immediate exhalation and delayed inhalation

Exhaling is still breathing

 

[Kitzy]

Ok well that's a rather unusual case, I've never seen or read anything even remotely close to something like that.

AGE isn't related to no-Deco limits and is not correlated with time at depth.

Someone I know, won't name names, had a "undeserved" (No hits are undeserved, we just don't know the full science yet) hit.

Their profile was nothing out of the ordinary, luckily they are fine now.

It does happen, being extra conservative and safe can never hurt!

And when things do go wrong/**** hits the fan, you might get a lot closer to the danger zone then you'd like.

 

[34109411]

A safety stop following an uneventful single tank dive to 16 meters is pointless.

not sure about that one...

 

[Derbdiver]

Recently on my second dive after Open Water Certification I had a mild panic - say 4-5/10 while clearing a full mask. Enough to make me ascend from16m without a safety stop!

I do feel I learned a lot from it though, enough to send me off practicing mask clearing and better self control next time. It gave me the knowledge that I could sit there with a full mask if needed until I calmed down, or even ascend safely with a full mask (hold nose if needed, that kind of thing).

Got me thinking, how often / common are panics? Does everyone have one at some point during their diving 'career'? What are peoples opinions?

If you have a pool and wear contacts, practice at night in the pool with no light, drop to bottom of deep end and remove mask with eyes closed clear it without opening your eyes. I had to do this on a night dive one time after getting kicked in the face. Mask clearing will become like breathing.

 

[Belzelbub]

A safety stop following an uneventful single tank dive to 16 meters is pointless.

I don’t necessarily agree with this. Can you skip it if necessary? Absolutely. The point of the safety stop is mostly to slow down the ascent. There is some benefit to pause a bit near the surface.

That said, if necessary, I will skip it on occasion. Really depends on what is happening and what my computers say my SurfGF is.