Preface:
A little over a week ago, I was in Tobermory, diving the Niagara II (~25m/85ft ~15 degrees), nothing particularly special about the dive that day, other than i was in almost all new gear (MISTAKE 1) (it was the second dive in this particular gear configuration, the first dive being a "benign" dive the day before, 45 mins at about 20ft just to check weight and get used to the setup.)
I was in a drysuit, single al80. steel backplate(new), wing(new), second time diving a long hose config (HOG D3 + classic 2.0, new regs) I always dive with the same people, and most dive very similar gear, so my check was for air and making sure i had all my stuff, no specifics about donating air etc. (MISTAKE 2)
incident:
we descended as usual, staying close to the line, to a depth of 22 meters, at a depth of 22 meters, my alternate popped out of the rubber necklace it was in (temporary until i made a bungee one), as im putting it back in, i take a breath and inflate by drysuit, and my primary regulator flew out of my mouth, free flowing, i grabbed it and bit down, breathing off the free flow, and alerted one of my buddies that i had a free flow. he handed me his regulator (poseidon xstream), i did not know how to purge it, i was pressing the front, and i could not exhale to clear at that point as i had grabbed it at the end of an exhale, and did not think to go back to the freeflow to get a breath, so i refused the regulator, and placed my freeflowing regulator back in my mouth, and that was understood as a sign of panic.
i maintained eye contact, signaled that i was okay breathing from the freeflow and we began a slow ascent to the surface, we stayed on the surface for 10 minutes, i had 2000 psi left, we then descended back down slowly to see if the problem would happen again, so we continued down to the wreck and swam around for a while before heading back up, doing a safety stop and surfacing.
once on the boat, we checked the IP, and it was at the higher end, so it was brought down, and i had no more issues for the next dives of the weekend
Conclusion:
i messed up, i dove with too much new gear that preoccupied me, i did not check how to purge the poseidon, and refusing a regulator might have gone very differently if it was seen as a sign of panic by someone a lot less experienced than the instructor who i was diving with. I'm very glad we went back down after the freeflow, it probably helped keep me diving this weekend, instead of sitting out the dives, afraid of something happening again.
i'm glad I did not fully panic, and remembered that i could easily breath from the free flow, but it was a good lesson and it did not end in an injury. Im still unsure if both my regs freeflowed or only my primary.
A little over a week ago, I was in Tobermory, diving the Niagara II (~25m/85ft ~15 degrees), nothing particularly special about the dive that day, other than i was in almost all new gear (MISTAKE 1) (it was the second dive in this particular gear configuration, the first dive being a "benign" dive the day before, 45 mins at about 20ft just to check weight and get used to the setup.)
I was in a drysuit, single al80. steel backplate(new), wing(new), second time diving a long hose config (HOG D3 + classic 2.0, new regs) I always dive with the same people, and most dive very similar gear, so my check was for air and making sure i had all my stuff, no specifics about donating air etc. (MISTAKE 2)
incident:
we descended as usual, staying close to the line, to a depth of 22 meters, at a depth of 22 meters, my alternate popped out of the rubber necklace it was in (temporary until i made a bungee one), as im putting it back in, i take a breath and inflate by drysuit, and my primary regulator flew out of my mouth, free flowing, i grabbed it and bit down, breathing off the free flow, and alerted one of my buddies that i had a free flow. he handed me his regulator (poseidon xstream), i did not know how to purge it, i was pressing the front, and i could not exhale to clear at that point as i had grabbed it at the end of an exhale, and did not think to go back to the freeflow to get a breath, so i refused the regulator, and placed my freeflowing regulator back in my mouth, and that was understood as a sign of panic.
i maintained eye contact, signaled that i was okay breathing from the freeflow and we began a slow ascent to the surface, we stayed on the surface for 10 minutes, i had 2000 psi left, we then descended back down slowly to see if the problem would happen again, so we continued down to the wreck and swam around for a while before heading back up, doing a safety stop and surfacing.
once on the boat, we checked the IP, and it was at the higher end, so it was brought down, and i had no more issues for the next dives of the weekend
Conclusion:
i messed up, i dove with too much new gear that preoccupied me, i did not check how to purge the poseidon, and refusing a regulator might have gone very differently if it was seen as a sign of panic by someone a lot less experienced than the instructor who i was diving with. I'm very glad we went back down after the freeflow, it probably helped keep me diving this weekend, instead of sitting out the dives, afraid of something happening again.
i'm glad I did not fully panic, and remembered that i could easily breath from the free flow, but it was a good lesson and it did not end in an injury. Im still unsure if both my regs freeflowed or only my primary.
