Ran out of air

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Pretty courageous first post!
Welcome to ScubaBoard, @EddyMHD !
Don't mind the criticisms. They're mostly folks trying to be helpful and keep you safe.
I can't tell you how much I've learned from my new buddies on ScubaBoard.

Keyword is "mostly"! But yes, knowing who to ignore is key to getting valuable information from others.

 

[Celt]

I was spearfishing with my dive buddy in a ship wreck, it was like 30 meters/90 feet and while i was down there i saw a super nice yellowtail snapper and i wanted to shoot it so i lined up with the fish trying to shoot it but my air was running low so i took the shot thinking it would be a good idea.. i shot the fish and missed because i was stressing luckily it didnt get tangled with the ship. so i just let go of the gun because it floats so it just went back to the top and i took off my belt and started kicked as hard as i could or else i would of not made it up. When i got up i started breathing heavily untill i was a bit more relaxed and i went down once again trying to look for the belt but i could not find it. I think it got in the ship wreck or burried in the sand. What i want to say is that if your running out of air just go back to the top and dive down with full air again and dont risk it..

If you had to swim hard to get to the surface without the weight belt and you were able to get back down without the weight belt it's possible you don't need it for the fishing your doing or maybe less weight.

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

So yeah, I get the OP because it happens in many sports.

@EddyMHD

My only advice is to set clear turnaround points, which in freediving would be time at depth, yes? Never waver from that. No fish is worth SWB/drowning.

Setting personal depth (and time) limits is good advice when freediving. In fact, I think all freedive watches have the capability to activate a maximum depth and/or maximum time limit alarm; should the diver exceed the specified value. So even if you feel fine, the alarm can remind you to head up.

It is important to consider that a diver at 90 or 100 ft (scuba or apnea) might be experiencing a slight degree of narcosis. Combination with the potential effects of oxygen reduction can result in a compromise of the freediver's normal cognitive functions,

And as previously mentioned, it is not that simple. Setting a depth and time constraint that is within your normal (or previously established) personal limits does NOT ensure safety. There are just so many variables that come into play, particularly when spearfishng,

For example, the rest period from the previous dive, the over all fatigue from exertion and thermal stress of diving for a period of time, the excitement generated by seeing and pursuing a particular fish, the amount of exertion the diver uses to "fight" the fish on the ascent, the potential for entanglements and for a shark or predator to "complicate" the situation, the variability in physical performance capabilities from one day to the next, the potential need to fight a surface current while "resting" between dives, are just some of the variables.

Spearfishing brings in so many more variables compared to simply "freediving". Relying on fixed numerical limits when spearfishing is not always a solution - you have to pay attention to how you feel as well.

For all these reasons, freedive spearfishing can be as challenging as someone wants to make it and it requires a conservative and disciplined approach (and team work) to do it safely.

It is not so simple as a scuba diver who can just look at his computer and air pressure gauge to make objective decisions about when to head up. And of course, the consequences of staying too long on scuba for 20-30 seconds can be drastically different than a freediver making the same delay.

For these reasons, It is important that we try to avoid generating undue criticism toward someone who makes the decision to drop a belt.

That is one of the reasons I have implemented the MAKO replacement policy.

(Please) dive safe!

dano

 

[tursiops]

Setting personal depth (and time) limits is good advice when freediving. In fact, I think all freedive watches have the capability to activate a maximum depth and/or maximum time limit alarm; should the diver exceed the specified value. So even if you feel fine, the alarm can remind you to head up.

It is important to consider that a diver at 90 or 100 ft (scuba or apnea) might be experiencing a slight degree of narcosis. Combination with the potential effects of oxygen reduction can result in a compromise of the freediver's normal cognitive functions,

And as previously mentioned, it is not that simple. Setting a depth and time constraint that is within your normal (or previously established) personal limits does NOT ensure safety. There are just so many variables that come into play, particularly when spearfishng,

For example, the rest period from the previous dive, the over all fatigue from exertion and thermal stress of diving for a period of time, the excitement generated by seeing and pursuing a particular fish, the amount of exertion the diver uses to "fight" the fish on the ascent, the potential for entanglements and for a shark or predator to "complicate" the situation, the variability in physical performance capabilities from one day to the next, the potential need to fight a surface current while "resting" between dives, are just some of the variables.

Spearfishing brings in so many more variables compared to simply "freediving". Relying on fixed numerical limits when spearfishing is not always a solution - you have to pay attention to how you feel as well.

For all these reasons, freedive spearfishing can be as challenging as someone wants to make it and it requires a conservative and disciplined approach (and team work) to do it safely.

It is not so simple as a scuba diver who can just look at his computer and air pressure gauge to make objective decisions about when to head up. And of course, the consequences of staying too long on scuba for 20-30 seconds can be drastically different than a freediver making the same delay.

For these reasons, It is important that we try to avoid generating undue criticism toward someone who makes the decision to drop a belt.

That is one of the reasons I have implemented the MAKO replacement policy.

(Please) dive safe!

dano

Your belt policy is terrific.

 

[lowviz]

@EddyMHD, welcome to the board! You may find this thread to be an interesting diversion: What's in a (user) Name?

Your user name (to me) conjures up eddy currents in magnetohydrodynamic devices...

 

[Searcaigh]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Boys and Girls, quit the petty comments and play nice or go home

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[wetb4igetinthewater]

@EddyMHD,

Your thread here demonstrates that Gareth Lock still has a ways to go to establishing a Just Culture. I highly recommend his full Human Factors in Diving weekend seminar: The Human Diver - Counter-errorism in Diving - Home Page. Rather than hurl insults your way (which benefits no one), it is more constructive to step back and examine "the system" that lead to a near miss or worse. No one every wakes up in the morning and says to themselves, "I'm going to kill myself diving today" or "I'm going to kill a customer today".

With that in mind, I invite you to look back to think about what led you to take a rather risky decision. There may be many contributing factors. It could be training, your personality (I'm guilty of this, but not related to diving as I started late in life - had a few "hold my beer" moments when I was young, so I'm tossing a cotton ball, not a stone here), or other things. I invite you to look within and possibly follow up with another post. That would be valuable. Examining "systems" has tremendous value.

Due to not having a pervasive Just Culture, people are incentivized to bury their own mistakes. When you bury your mistakes, you can then claim to have never made any and can be unjustifiably judgemental. It isn't just the scuba industry that has this problem.

Sometimes even when people are aware of all the risks and have mitigation plans, sometimes those plans fail and their time is up.

 

[tursiops]

@EddyMHD,

Your thread here demonstrates that Gareth Lock still has a ways to go to establishing a Just Culture. I highly recommend his full Human Factors in Diving weekend seminar: The Human Diver - Counter-errorism in Diving - Home Page. Rather than hurl insults your way (which benefits no one), it is more constructive to step back and examine "the system" that lead to a near miss or worse. No one every wakes up in the morning and says to themselves, "I'm going to kill myself diving today" or "I'm going to kill a customer today".

With that in mind, I invite you to look back to think about what led you to take a rather risky decision. There may be many contributing factors. It could be training, your personality (I'm guilty of this, but not related to diving as I started late in life - had a few "hold my beer" moments when I was young, so I'm tossing a cotton ball, not a stone here), or other things. I invite you to look within and possibly follow up with another post. That would be valuable. Examining "systems" has tremendous value.

Due to not having a pervasive Just Culture, people are incentivized to bury their own mistakes. When you bury your mistakes, you can then claim to have never made any and can be unjustifiably judgemental. It isn't just the scuba industry that has this problem.

Sometimes even when people are aware of all the risks and have mitigation plans, sometimes those plans fail and their time is up.

I think you've forgotten that when you are 14 you are immortal. Not to mention that the brain is still maturing.

 

[fsardone]

I think you've forgotten that when you are 14 you are immortal. Not to mention that the brain is still maturing.

That's exactly what I was trying to praise to OP for (in my deleted post referring to a deleted post). At 14 we all made mistakes. Hats off to this young adult that, recognizing his, admitted it in public in search of (help, confort, support, guidance) you choose. He showed maturity and just culture. Now if we want to help him let’s share how we got over our mistake that we surely did being more experts.
Experience build our library of situations and solutions ready made to pick when the condition show up again.
A superior diver is who uses his superior judgement to avoid situations requiring his superior skills.
And again to op congrats for taking the path to become a better diver: knowing we are all fallible.

Cheers

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I think you've forgotten that when you are 14 you are immortal. Not to mention that the brain is still maturing.

I was trying to avoid being condescending and speak to him as an adult as that is the behavior he has exhibited in his post.