Ran out of air!

[NAUI AL]

...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.

Never treat "depth" as a goal, objective or benchmark to the point that you pull your attention from ANYTHING else..

However, I'd also love to know how you went through 2k lbs of air on a descent. Did anything else happen that you are leaving out? Equalization issues? Gear issues? Anything that paused you? If not, you really should check your gear for malfunctions (leaks) and pay more attention to your pre-dive check with your buddy. Having done so would have solidified your buddy's knowledge of your air level - to which should have been the level being used for the planned dive.

Glad you're okay.

 

[tracydr]

Thank you for sharing. I know this must be difficult to put yourself before the firing squad. I know you've probably figured out a lot of things to do different yourself. Might I add, if your air consumption is this poor and you were really only down a few minutes you are not ready to dive to 100 feet. That and the fact that 15 dives spread over two years means your skills are probably pretty rusty. Did you do some easy refresher dives recently, practice skills, weighting and bouyancy?
One thing my buddy and I do is to ask each other how much gas we both have. He's an instructor and I still check his, I'm a DM candidate. We probably do this 5 times on any given one hour dive, more if it's deep or difficult. When we were new to diving together, he would compare my gauge to what I actually told him. Might I suggest besides air sharing that you incorporate this into your dives? We also do mask drills and other skills on every safety stop. I stiil do mask drills in the pool at home, especially my favorite (not), swimming without a mask and snorkel to teach independent mouth without nose breathing as I used to get a big shot of water up my nose on mask removal if I did it without pinching off my nose.
If you can only dive 5-10 times a year you will need to find some ways to keep your skills up so that you are not having to learn to dive all over again every time you take a trip.
Again, thanks for sharing and I'm really glad you're here to share!

 

[tracydr]

Thank you, Tim, for your post. By posting your experience here you are helping others to learn more about safe diving.

As another poster suggested, be prepared from some rude remarks from other posters. They haven't happened yet, but I would not be surprised to hear some. We have a couple of boors here on SB who get their jollies from bashing new divers for mistakes.

Yes, you made mistakes, but you are to to be commended for honestly reporting them and owning up to them.

Frankly, I also wonder about the Instruction you received. That's not necessarily your fault; your Instructor may bear some responsibility. Divers needs adequate training in pre-dive planning. It's not clear to me that you received that. I would recommend doing an internet search on gas management and learning a bit more about that.

One issue that stands out for me is that you appeared that you may have been focused on meeting a certain depth. Don't worry about going deep.

It sounds like you have learned a lot from the experience. Keep diving.

What's that link to Lynne,(T SandM's) article on gas management and calculating SAC? That was the best thing I've ever read on gas management. Anyone have the link?

 

[tracydr]

Never mind. Right after I asked about the link, I saw that Lynne posted it. Thanks!

 

[DevonDiver]

Hi Fishytim2...

Glad you got up safely. Thanks for sharing details of your experiences.

I am interested to know... how do you feel that your attitude has changed since you experienced this incident?

You've written this report, I guess, for the benefit of other novice divers? You hope that they will benefit from the information and not make the same mistake/s that you did? With the benefit of hindsight, what advice would you share with them? What recommendations?

 

[Bogie]

Glad you're Ok.
Thanks for sharing for others to learn.

 

[DeusVerto]

You are not alone...
(text edited for brevity)
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

On my second solo cross-country I did exactly that. I made it back safely, but my instructor chewed me a new one (I was 16 at the time). And you're right; you don't do it again.

You never realize how valuable staying alive is until you've defied death.

 

[ChrisMan]

I haven't even started doing my diving yet (Doing a seven month internship starting next month), but I have been making a point of paying careful attention to threads just like this one.

The way I see it, if I take note of these mishaps, remember where the mistakes were made, and understand the advice given by the more experienced guys on the board, then surely that can only help to make me a better diver.

And like I say, that's before I have even started diver training. I am already beginning to understand alot of the concepts, such as proper planning, NEVER go beyond the limit of your training and capability, never hold your breath, remain calm and think before taking action and the list could go on and on that I have already learned purely from this board.

So Tim, and everyone else who posts these experiences, I would like to say a big thankyou, because I am sure that they are a massive resource to those of us that read them.

Cheers

Chris

 

[timchea]

hey fishytim2 thanks for sharing and learning with us. In addition to all the good advice/feedback here, remember to run through a refresher of hand signals with your buddy and BWARF before each dive to know your buddies equipment and octopus location.
BWARF - http://www.scuba-diving-smiles.com/the-meaning-of-bwarf-on-a-predive-checklist.html


Dive Safe
Tim