Panicked Diver Stories

[Cudabait]

How many of you have seen panicked divers? I've seen numerous. The latest was a vidiographer who blew the seat in his first stage. Both regs free flowing....he bolted before I could even offer him an octo. 60' CESA. He was not injured.

Panic can happen to anyone, but all this guy had to do was free flow breathe.

Then there was the time my wife and daughter (both divers) saved a drowning DM on the barrier reef at Ambergis Cay, Belize.

Got an interesting story? Like to about read it.

 

[Diver0001]

Cudabait once bubbled...
How many of you have seen panicked divers? I've seen numerous. The latest was a vidiographer who blew the seat in his first stage. Both regs free flowing....he bolted before I could even offer him an octo. 60' CESA. He was not injured.

Panic can happen to anyone, but all this guy had to do was free flow breathe.

Then there was the time my wife and daughter (both divers) saved a drowning DM on the barrier reef at Ambergis Cay, Belize.

Got an interesting story? Like to about read it.

You're right. Panic can happen to anyone. I'm absolutely convinced of this.

I've seen divers panic to differing degrees and often they find a way to contol the feeling and stop-breath-think-do, especially if you intervene quickly enough. The odd one makes it to the surface before they get a grip. What you often see when this happens is that they claw their way up like someone climbing a ladder and claim that they couldn't breathe.

I've seen one diver get a lung injury from a breathhold ascent. It was horrible but I still wish I had it on video to show during training. Nothing will drive home rule-#1 more than seeing this.

R..

 

[mustfajohnson]

The first I ever saw sticks with me. Safety stop, Maui. Look over and this lady has the always described huge eyes and breathing like a Hoover. I started to her but she grabs the anchor line and is gone to the top. I finish the stop and she's climbed the anchor line and is 3/4 out of the water with her mask on her top of her head and still breathing out of the regulator. The boat crew has to pry her hands off the line. I'll always remember those eyes, Deer in the headlights!"

 

[Blue Kangaroo]

one I remember is a guy who at 12 mtrs got a bit of water in his mask - This started a massive panic ( now this was in crystal clear 30 degree water - basically a big bath )

first, a big over exagerated mask clear that was never going to work

then wild rotating arms

followed by riping mask off and throwing it away

then as a finale - spitting his reg out.

Oddly enough we banned him from diving with us until he got himself some more training.

Blue

 

[Spectre]

thankfully... this is still the worst one I've had to deal with:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=151393&highlight=poling#post151393

 

[ScubaRon]

I once did a driftdive in a deep river with a buddy. We lost sight of the riverbank and were floating in 80' of total blackness while I was checking my compass to head towards the bank. Then I notice my buddy is wide-eyed kicking as fast as he can towards the surface...and not moving an inch. He had not inflated his BC and was seriously negatively buoyant.

I grabbed his inflator and put a small puff of air in it, but he kept kicking and kicking. I was worried that he would take off like a rocket to the surface, but it was also clear that he was beyond reasonable thinking. Somehow I managed to control both our BC's and get us to the surface in a controlled manner, but it is something I will never forget.

Once on the surface and after about 10 minutes or so I insisted that he would allow me to finish the ruined dive, but that we would only go 10' deep. My real intent was to get him UW again, because I was convinced that if he got out of the water now, he would never dive again. I must have succeeded because today he is a dive instructor.
ScubaRon

 

[GlockDiver]

I panicked once during a dive. I realized that my car keys were in my swimsuit pocked underneath my wetsuit. Normally I wouldn't care, but among them was my key to my Grand Cherokee (w/SKIS aka computer chip) and my remote keyless entry.

Luckily, they RKE and key still worked once I got out of the water and walked over to my Jeep. Good thing, because it isn't cheap getting a new one of those reprogrammed.

 

[scubasean]

GlockDiver once bubbled...

Luckily, they RKE and key still worked once I got out of the water and walked over to my Jeep. Good thing, because it isn't cheap getting a new one of those reprogrammed.

RKE?

I carry my camry key inside two plastic baggies in my integrated weight pouch.

 

[ZenSquirrel]

scubasean once bubbled...


RKE?

I carry my camry key inside two plastic baggies in my integrated weight pouch.

Thats funny because one of my buddies carries her keys in her weight pocket. Before hitting the water she looks me in the eyes and says, "Don't ditch my weights."

 

[GlockDiver]

s/they RKE/the RKE/

RKE = remote keyless entry

Baggies sound pretty good. But what if you have to ditch your weights?