Ran out of air!

[TSandM]

I'm glad you got out okay. I suspect you will be a bit more respectful of the risks of diving for a while, at least!

I think you ought to read a couple of articles which will help you understand the whole gas management/gas planning concept. Your experience is an absolutely PERFECT example of the trouble that divers can get into when they have no ability to correlate the gas supply they have to start, with the gas requirements of the dive. More experienced divers do this by gestalt a lot of the time, but for new divers, having a specific method for planning is very much worth the effort.

Here are the links: Rock Bottom and Gas Management for Recreational Divers

NWGratefulDiver.com

EVERY dive I do, there is at least a brief discussion of the planned maximum depth and dive time, and how much gas each team member is taking down with them. This tells you which person is going to limit the dive (likely, but not always the person with the smallest gas supply) and everybody knows to keep an eye on that person and confer with them at any decision point in the dive.

You have already learned, and it has been pointed out by others, that an emergency procedure which hasn't been practiced won't necessarily go smoothly when it is needed -- and the essence of an emergency procedure is that when you need it, you need it NOW! It is a very good idea to use your safety stop to practice gas sharing, mask clearing and the like, so that all those skills stay sharp.

Now -- you lived through it, so you owe yourself to get educated and get careful . . . and go diving!

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

That which does not kill us typically makes us stronger. You have some room here to strengthen your skills ... seems you know enough to make use of it.

Some years back I wrote an article on gas management that you may benefit from ... if nothing else, use it to grasp the concept that the best time to think about how much gas you need is before the dive ever begins.

For all that you've been diving a couple of years, you are relatively inexperienced. People don't know what they don't know ... and sometimes you find out what you don't know by making mistakes. The trick is to survive them, and learn how to avoid repeating them. As long as that happens, it's all good.

Final bit of advice ... avoid the allure of depth. It tends to magnify mistakes, turning what might be something easily handled into something potentially lethal. If you want to go deep, take small steps toward that goal ... dive more often ... and consider taking a class that will teach you how to think about planning and executing a deep dive. It'll make your learning curve a bit less ... exciting ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ReefHound]

As we were descending, I was so caught up in passing my own best of 60 feet that I did not pay attention to the air gauge as much as the depth gauge. When we finally reached the bottom I was in awe that I made it.

You seem to understand that you need to improve your dive planning and to check your gauges more often, but perhaps more important is you need to modify your perspective that deeper is better, as exemplified in "my own best of 60 feet". 100 feet is not "better" than 60 feet and a diver whose deepest dive is 100 feet is not a better or more accomplished diver than one whose max is 60 feet. Don't chase numbers.

And you have not "made it" when you reach the bottom, but when you have safely surfaced.

 

[Akimbo]

One of the disadvantages to high performance balanced first stage regulators is that they work so darn well at low tank pressures. They allow a distracted diver to breath a bottle down to around the intermediate stage pressure over bottom before noticing increased resistance. Unbalanced first stage regulators begin to have noticeable increased breathing resistance at 300-400 PSI, but still deliver gas and certainly enough to add a little air to a BC rather than be compelled to drop weight.

If being underwater wasn't so darn interesting that divers occasionally get distracted, we would bother doing it. Sure you can talk about rules, but running out of air will happen. That is why I personally believe you must have a backup strategy that does not depend on a buddy. Distracted divers can also get separated, even by short distances. SPGs can also be inaccurate. If that means carrying spare gas, being able to blow & go (free ascent while exhaling), or both; that is a personal decision based on your practiced ability.

The strategy you select is obviously important to safety, but having full confidence you can get to the surface also makes for a much less stressful dive.

 

[Rick Murchison]

You are not alone...
This is a "standard" mishap scenario.
Diver inexperienced at new, deeper depth, loses track of air supply, runs dangerously low or out. Usually makes it with nothing more than a bruised ego, but occasionally ends up hurt or dead.
It's a broken record; the "pilot continued VFR flight into IFR weather conditions" of the diving world.
Bet you never do it again!
Rick

 

[under water]

Tim,
Thanks for posting your experience. I just have one more thing to add, that is more of a cumulation of thoughts I have had, than a lecture to you.
Although it may seem like an issue of going too deep, it probably is more an issue of how you challenge yourself.
It has been stated in this thread that you should expand your depth limits in 5 or 10 foot increments, but extrapolate that to other diving related issues as well.

Don't feel the urge to swim through that wreck until you are properly trained, don't go just a wee bit further into that cavern, don't trust someone else's dive computer when yours goes into deco, blah, blah, blah.
I think you have realized that distractions can get you in trouble really quickly (been there myself) and lack of planning and honestly understanding your limits can be the cause of many a poor ending.

 

[fishytim2]

thanks for every ones quotes, replies etc. Yes, there may be some who will bash me or my dive buddy, but just getting this story out is something that I wanted to share with new divers who may be absent minded as I was that day!

 

[joh]

Thanks for posting your story, Fishy - I know it probably took some cojones to admit your mistakes on here.

I hope you are proceeding in your diving and training, and enjoying your summer. The more time in the water, and the more training you do, the more comfortable you will be.

 

[Gil Middlebrooks]

I gotta tell you, Tim, from someone who has looking forward to his certification classes, this is great stuff. Yep, you suffer the spears and arrows from a lot of well meaning people, but you have done your good deed for the day just by getting someone like me to read this and to benefit from your experience and the advice of those in this thread.

Now, I'm going to read all those articles everyone mentioned.

Thanks again for posting this, and whoever mentioned starting off with a written checklist, you can be sure I will be doing that.

Regards,
Gil

 

[PatW]

Well, as people have pointed out, you made a series of mistakes. It is generally making a series of mistakes that puts people in dangerous situations.

However, once you did hit the emergency, you and your partner responded very well. I was impressed by that. Had either you or your partner panicked, things could have spun out of control. As it was, you did things right and managed to get out fine. I am also impressed by the fact that you seem to have learned from your mistakes.

The main thing, as you seem to recognize, is to treat this as a learning experience.

By the way, thanks for reporting this here. There is a good chance that someone will read your account and maybe avoid making the same mistake themselves.