Regulator catastrophe on New Year dive

[Marie13]

Any comments on my decision to breath down the "wet side" in sidemount. Other than not turning the dive, was it the right decision? If I had taken a sudden fast deep breath I would have breathed at least some water. I was counting on switch to the other reg if something came up to tempt me to that. Was I take an appropriate risk that I might take that breath before I could switch?

I should probably post this question in the sidemount forum.

I’ve not read the entire thread, but you should have turned the dive and switched to your other reg.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Any comments on my decision to breath down the "wet side" in sidemount. Other than not turning the dive, was it the right decision? If I had taken a sudden fast deep breath I would have breathed at least some water. I was counting on switch to the other reg if something came up to tempt me to that. Was I take an appropriate risk that I might take that breath before I could switch?

I should probably post this question in the sidemount forum.

I’d have swapped to my dry breathing reg and most likely called the dive, depending on depth and how much longer I had left on the dive. Could the damage have happened when you were assembling or donning the cylinders?

 

[L13]

I’ve not read the entire thread, but you should have turned the dive and switched to your other reg.

I know I should have turned the dive, even though it was just a shallow tour of a quarry. That's my biggest lesson from this. I knew it at the time. Now I just have to do it. I had 4 times the gas I needed for the dive, but that is not a good reason. I had essentially lost all my reg redundancy even though one was limping along.

Let's pretend I turned the dive, but had 10-15 min till I could surface.

I switched a few times to make sure my dry reg was good. but switched back to use the gas from the wet reg(it got worse on each switch, so I stayed on the wet reg after that).

What is your rationale for staying on the dry reg? I'm asking because I tend to make better decisions when I understand the reasons. I'd like to understand everyone's opinions and their reasons.

 

[L13]

Could the damage have happened when you were assembling or donning the cylinders?

Probably. It was dry on the new year's eve night dive the night before. Once I noticed it wet, it got worse each time I swapped. I suspect it was damaged before entry (assembling or donning), but the mouthpiece only loosened which each regulator swap until it fell off as I exited.

 

[Marie13]

I know I should have turned the dive, even though it was just a shallow tour of a quarry. That's my biggest lesson from this. I knew it at the time. Now I just have to do it. I had 4 times the gas I needed for the dive, but that is not a good reason. I had essentially lost all my reg redundancy even though one was limping along.

Let's pretend I turned the dive, but had 10-15 min till I could surface.

I switched a few times to make sure my dry reg was good. but switched back to use the gas from the wet reg(it got worse on each switch, so I stayed on the wet reg after that).

What is your rationale for staying on the dry reg? I'm asking because I tend to make better decisions when I understand the reasons. I'd like to understand everyone's opinions and their reasons.

Why the hell would you continue to breathe from a wet reg when you have a dry one? It makes no sense, especially since you had a ton of gas left. You’re at a quarry. If you really had an issue and no deco, you ascend and then surface swim the rest of the way to your exit point. I’m very familiar with quarry diving as I do a lot of it myself.

 

[sea_ledford]

Since it's a sidemount setup, could that tank have been knocked over? Maybe a boltsnap or something similar hit just right?

And I thought the housings were shockingly expensive. It's been a few years since I did anything with SP, but I remember for a while it was cheaper to buy all the parts for a second stage than it was to just buy a second stage. As a result SP had to jack up the price on a component to make the costs the same, and the housing was the least replaced part so it got the price increase. I had a housing crack during service once, and they wanted to charge me like $200 for it, even though the shop caused the damage.

I think that was a scubapro, but I might not be remembering correctly.

 

[lexvil]

Something looks like it got wedged, likely something longish that had good leverage, something solid, possibility even something like the corner of the backplate, something like that could happen as you are gearing up, things can get stuck and you pull it free without paying much attention.

turning the dive? I don’t know since it was an on site call and you came out ok…
a personal call but if you had 4 x the needed air switching to the other system is probably the better choice but with clear access to the big reserve in the sky it was a personal call.

 

[L13]

Why the hell would you continue to breathe from a wet reg when you have a dry one?

Probably because I was thinking "what would I do if I was gas limited." I think I made 2 wrong decisions for the opposite reasons.

1) I didn't turn the dive thinking about all the air I had on me and how close the surface was.

2) I breathed the wet reg thinking I needed to preserve every last bit of air.

It's funny how the human brain can do that, two opposite ideas at the same time. Talking about it here is reinforcing in my mind not to make the same mistakes again. Which is why I brought it up in the first place.

I'm not a cave diver yet, but what if I was an hour back in a cave? would breathing the wet reg still be a bad idea? I'm less certain of that and would like to be.

What circumstances, if any, would make it a good idea to breath the wet reg.

 

[Marie13]

Probably because I was thinking "what would I do if I was gas limited." I think I made 2 wrong decisions for the opposite reasons.

1) I didn't turn the dive thinking about all the air I had on me and how close the surface was.

2) I breathed the wet reg thinking I needed to preserve every last bit of air.

It's funny how the human brain can do that, two opposite ideas at the same time. Talking about it here is reinforcing in my mind not to make the same mistakes again.

I know someone diving SM who had an issue not long into a dive. Diver feathered the valve rather than switching to the other one. I could never figure that one out.

 

[L13]

I know someone diving SM who had an issue not long into a dive. Diver feathered the valve rather than switching to the other one. I could never figure that one out.

I think part of it is thinking "I'm just practicing for when I really have to." The risk however is if a second issue comes up, you are already behind.