Reg Blow Out at 60 ft

[TSandM]

You now know that you should probably buy a pony bottle and depend on that rather than some anonymous, ill-trained and disinterested buddy.

The other option being a non-anonymous, properly trained and interested buddy?

To the OP: You sound like you handled a stressful situation very well. You also sound as though you were largely surrounded by people with marginal skills and unimpressive situational awareness. Beyond the lessons of not diving questionable gear and coping with breathing water, you might consider some larger lessons regarding who you dive with.

 

[FPDocMatt]

Wow, you and your instructor really screwed up. First youwent on a training dive with a regulator that you knew was damaged and almostdied. Then you didn't tell yourinstructor that the regulator was damaged (they could have had a spare) so youalmost died. You didn't stay in your team, so you almost died. Your instructordidn't check your gear before the dive so he almost killed you. He didn't have group control over his students, so he almost killedyou. Your instructor didn't recognize the problem, so he almost killed you.
The only good thing that happened here was that you didn'tdie and lived to tell the tale.
Learning through discovery is not the best way to train.

You know it's a mark of my having become, after only a month on Scuba Board, a real Scuba Board member, that I don't think this post is harsh. It's just an experienced scuba diver telling it like it is in an effort to help a less experienced diver to avoid disaster in the future.

Reminds me of when I first was planning to make a trip to New York City years ago. The people where I lived in Texas told me that New Yorkers were full of hostility. When I got to NYC, I found that it was the Texans who were full of (veiled) hostility. The New Yorkers just told it like it was, with no hostility at all.

 

[Slamfire]

...If it was free flowing, would I be able to breath from it?

Yes, you would. Try it in a controlled environment. Push the purge button to full blast and experience first hand how it feels to breath from a free flowing reg. There are always alternatives to panic and bolting. Panic and bolting should never be an option. It helps to think beforehand about the different "what if" scenarios and figure out the different alternatives to deal with them. In the case of a free flowing reg at 60ft during a no-decompression dive, it is very probable that you may have enough time breathing from the free flowing reg to reach the surface within a minute or more (ascent rate of 60 ft per min or less). In other words, it doesn't even need to degrade to a CESA--particularly if you have decent buddies with you.

 

[Rkelleyj]

Now, choking and vomiting at the same time, they say you're supposed to do all that into the regulator as well, but I've never tried it.

Unfortunately, they can't make choking on water a requisite part of the OW class, since it's dangerous.

I was on my wife's first OW dive with her instructor who made her (and me lol) cough underwater. I think that should be a MINIMUM requirement!

B

 

[fjpatrum]

Certainly sounds like a recommendation for some good old-fashioned all-metal regs. If I like the way it breathes at depth I'll probably be switching my Swimaster in as my primary instead of my G250.

I haven't read the whole thread but posting based upon my first reading of your original post.

While I think you handled yourself well, it seems to me you're taking it a bit too hard and blaming a lot of other people for not recognizing your issue though you were dealing with it just fine.

If you have a bee in your bonnet about insta-buddies, that will come across. If you think you're too good for insta-buddies, that will come across. If you have a good attitude and are tolerant that different people have different needs and experience levels, that will also come across. You have choices and you can always choose to not do a dive. Sounds like you made one poor choice (diving with faulty gear) that scared the bejeesus out of you and now you come across (to me) as someone with a bad attitude as a result. Communication underwater is difficult at the best of times unless you've trained extensively with someone. Expecting someone, especially an insta-buddy, who was dealing with their own issues to recognize what waving your reg at them means doesn't seem reasonable to me. Just my opinion, which is probably worth what you paid for it.

I'd suggest doing some serious self-reflection about what prompted your anger/annoyance and then make an honest assessment of your own skill level before you discount all insta-buddies as kooks.

That is a good question. I don't know the answer. When the diaphragm came out of the front of the reg, the controlling mechanism opens all of the way, shutting off air flow. If it was free flowing, would I be able to breath from it?

You should have learned in OW class how to breath from a free-flowing reg. Or was that a rhetorical question for you to think about some?

EDIT: Just in case it wasn't clear, I think you actually handled yourself extremely well during the incident. It's the before and after-incident issues from which I think you can learn the best lessons. Others have already said stuff about gear inspections and I'm sure you've already decided not to dive known faulty gear again. Buddy selection can be a difficult task but it doesn't have to be. Remembering it's always better to dive another day than take an unnecessary risk of having an accident today is, I think, one of the hardest lessons to learn, though. Whether that risk is associated with gear, weather, or buddies, isn't especially relevant but is definitely more difficult depending upon which is the issue.

 

[fdog]

I'd like to point out that breathing from a free-flowing reg is trivial, when compared to breathing from a second stage with no facepiece, no diaphragm, with the valve body exposed and rapidly bleeding air from multiple ports on the valve.

With the valve lever sticking out of the cauldron of bubbles so you can't get a seal on the valve body, hence it's a nicely aerated mix of water/air. Nope. Not easy at all - it would be easier to cut the second stage off the hose and breathe off the butt end of the hose...


All the best, James

 

[markmantei]

Just as a suggestion, you could have given the hand signal for problem, and then pointed at your reg, it would have been more specific than just waving your regulator around.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Just as a suggestion, you could have given the hand signal for problem, and then pointed at your reg, it would have been more specific than just waving your regulator around.

Just a comment, Valhalla is a covered, underground ICBM silo, it is essentially pitch black at depth. Hand signals are of little use unless you are right next to your buddy, light signal are much more effective. Its a poor location for many types of training unless extra precautions are taken.

 

[bane51031]

Just to echo the others good job walking away from this one, chalk it up as a learning experience. You should of learned how to breathe off a free flowing reg. in OW class and it is a timed exercise and the instructor should have had you look at your pressure gauge before and after to drive home the point of how fast your air is depleted when this happens, also the instructor should have kept your group togehter, I don't care if I am teaching an OW,AOW or even a specialty class we all stay together as a group otherwise how can I assure everything is under control? Yes, you should never dive any gear that is not 100% nuff said not gonna keep beating a dead horse there.
Also you can cough or even vomit out your reg. just remember to hold reg. in place without hitting the purge button, don't ask how I know you can vomit out a reg. just trust me and the fish love it...
And finally if I or my wife are traveling we also ask that our gear be left alone, I won't even let them change my tanks out between dives, personal preference and I have my reasons for it, one of which is I am responsible for my own gear.

 

[markmantei]

Just a comment, Valhalla is a covered, underground ICBM silo, it is essentially pitch black at depth. Hand signals are of little use unless you are right next to your buddy, light signal are much more effective. Its a poor location for many types of training unless extra precautions are taken.

It actually sounds like a very cool dive, as much for the history as anything else. Maybe I'll get a chance to dive it one day.

I'll defer to those of you who have been at the site, but I can't agree more that it sounds like it would be a poor choice for a training dive, particularly by the sounds of tight quarters and quantity of divers in a near pitch black environment (although all those lights should help to alleviate the darkness a little). If it was indeed pitch black though, I wouldn't expect the instructor to see much regarding the waving of the regulator either, or if you could see that, certainly not to notice that the reg was missing the diaghram and cover. It sounds like there are a few questions that could be asked of the instructor, but not noticing the damaged reg wouldn't be one of them (by the sounds of it).