Request for information not covered in any course

[Kharon]

Because of a recent near death incident I’ve become very concerned about the things I may not have been taught, that I might be (probably am) overlooking, or that I would never even imagine could happen. I didn’t consider myself a noobie with over 300 dives, more than half solo. But I’ve come to realize there is a huge hole in my training.

Through a post-mortum examination of what did happen I’ve come up with a number of questions to ask if they are not covered in the dive briefing as well as choices and actions to take in case of a similar situation. However, I’m not at all comfortable thinking that I’ve got all bases covered in all situations and I’m reticent to dive again.

I don’t find any courses that cover this aspect of diving in more than a rudimentary way. What is covered is the probable things that could happen. I've never seen any information on the rare, unexpected or unthinkable - all things which I experienced in this situation. I'm looking for possible things that could go wrong, appropriate actions, and how to prepare for and effect self rescue. Any sources of information or links to such information would be greatly appreciated – especially if they are comprehensive, especially if they cover the rare, unexpected, and unthinkable.

There are checklists for prepping your gear and making buddy checks before splashing. I would like to create a checkoff list for myself for situational decision making before splashing and throughout the dive. I know it can't possibly cover every circumstance but I want it to be as complete as possible.

 

[Aaron Harmon]

How about educating us... What went wrong?

 

[tbone1004]

@Kharon the list of variables that could go wrong are essentially infinite. The key is making sure you are prepared to work through them. Post what happened and we can talk about it, but a post like your OP doesn't really give us much to work off of. What adds insult to injury is a lot of things are environment specific, so having some sort of course structure is really hard and it's part of why mentoring is so critical to our sport.

 

[johndiver999]

Any sources of information or links to such information would be greatly appreciated – especially if they are comprehensive, especially if they cover the rare, unexpected, and unthinkable.

If you can't imagine or think of the circumstance, then how is somebody going to prepare or provide a briefing for that? Some situations are not reasonably foreseeable, may not be avoidable and may be lethal - thankfully they are probably very rare.

I don't think many divers prepare for the truly rare circumstances, but rather, try to prepare and be able to address the most common difficulties and failures and environmental conditions and try to formulate effective responses. For super complex situations, the responses probably fall into general objectives like:

Don't get:
bent
drown
chopped up by boat
lost
eaten
frozen
entrapped
become incapacitated
incapable of controlling depth and descent or ascent rate
squeezed
Losing the ability to see
etc.

 

[Storker]

I didn’t consider myself a noobie with over 300 dives, more than half solo

There are checklists for prepping your gear and making buddy checks before splashing. I would like to create a checkoff list for myself for situational decision making before splashing and throughout the dive.

You have about twice as many dives below your weight belt than I have. Where's your gut feeling?

While a lot of things can be checked off on a list - gear is a very good example of this - I don't think that "situational decision" can be specified narrowly enough to make a useful list. That's when I rely on my gut feeling. If things don't "feel" right, I'll reconsider my original decision.

It's really ironic, because as an extremely rational person I usually have no respect for feely stuff, but at the same time i do believe that the human brain is a wonderful instrument. And that it's able to evaluate poorly defined stuff and come up with a pretty clear indication that something is off. I'm pretty certain that most of those above 25 have had that eerie feeling some time. Listen to it, even if you don't know what it comes from. Because what it's saying is "something ain't right".

 

[tursiops]

As part of the Solo class, some instructors include a list of "what would you do if" questions for discussion. The point is not to try and list all possible things that could go wrong, but to develop some critical thinking and contingency skills so that you are not starting from zero if something happens during a dive. Then some of those more-likely things may get practiced, like a lost fin or mask or mouthpiece or compass or primary gas supply. The goal is two-fold: (1) look at things on a impact-likelihood diagram (typically, high likelihood things are low impact, and vice versa) and focus on those things that are not "on the curve," and (2) turn as many moderate-to-high things as possible into "annoyances" rather than "emergencies."

 

[KathyV]

Any sources of information or links to such information would be greatly appreciated – especially if they are comprehensive, especially if they cover the rare, unexpected, and unthinkable.

If you can't imagine or think of the circumstance, then how is somebody going to prepare or provide a briefing for that? Some situations are not reasonably foreseeable, may not be avoidable and may be lethal - thankfully they are probably very rare.

I don't think many divers prepare for the truly rare circumstances, but rather, try to prepare and be able to address the most common difficulties and failures and environmental conditions and try to formulate effective responses. For super complex situations, the responses probably fall into general objectives like:

Don't get:
bent
drown
chopped up by boat
lost
eaten
frozen
entrapped
become incapacitated
incapable of controlling depth and descent or ascent rate
squeezed
Losing the ability to see
etc.

I would add "don't dive during a lightening storm" to your list and I am sure that there are other examples that could be added.

We are occasional, recreational divers and we've experienced a few unexpected events over the years. I'm sure that I've mentioned most of these before but below are some examples. None of these incidents was uber-dangerous, I imagine that the incident @Kharon experienced was much worse, but they were scary IMO and they all could have had bad consequences.

Once on a Grand Cayman shore dive, it was the first time I used a new weight belt and it suddenly slipped off when I was at depth and I went shooting up to the surface like a popped balloon. I did not remember to hold my arm above my head as I ascended but I did remember to keep exhaling.

My husband dragged my weight belt up to the surface and helped me get back into it. We decided to head back in because I wasn't confident that it was secure. I had thought that the weight belt had been tight in the first place but I was wrong. We submerged, followed our computer's instructions, and swam at a shallow depth back to shore because of my very rapid ascent and to include a safety stop.

Once during a different shore dive, this time on Bonaire, my husband's high pressure hose suddenly ruptured while we were at depth. I gave him my octopus and we stayed together and made it back to shore. I can't remember if we did the safety stop or not but probably not. I am sure that it would have depended on how much air I had left. He left me onshore with the gear and he walked back to the car and came and picked me up. We always maintain our equipment well, and we had just had it serviced and inspected before we went on that trip, but the hose ruptured.

Another time on a boat dive (somewhere in the Caymans, not sure where) his mask strap broke underwater and we made it back while he was holding the mask tight against his face. I am certain that we did the safety stop that time. I have seen divemasters nonchalantly remove and adjust their masks while under water, and we learned to ditch and don during our YMCA classes long ago, but we are not anywhere near that level of comfort underwater.

Once we were at the end of a boat dive in St. Lucia and we were just hanging around under the boat doing our safety stop. I can't remember exactly what happened but suddenly water started gushing into my mouth through my regulator. I spit it out and frantically grabbed for my octopus and had a few panicky moments before finding it and sticking it in my mouth. I was in no real danger because we were right beneath the boat and I could have just surfaced, but we finished the safety stop. I don't recall what had caused the problem but we got the regulator fixed at the resort dive shop. Ever since then I am now always careful to keep my octopus secured and close at hand.

On a boat dive in Cayman Brac the mooring line parted and we came up to find the boat gone. We were pretty far from shore and the seas were rather rough - probably a contributing factor as to why the line had broken. Luckily it was a guided dive and the divemaster handled it very well. She got everyone together on the surface and told us that we would all surface swim together as a group to the next mooring - where she said that the boat would be waiting for us - happily it was there as promised.

We were once on a LOB in the Bahamas when a very bad storm developed and we weren't close to a port. The crew plotted a course to try and head away from the storm but it changed direction and started coming at us. They picked the nearest semi-sheltered spot (near an atoll I think) and dropped anchor and we prepared for rough weather. That included getting a lot of stuff off the dive deck and they re-reviewed the safety briefing with us. It really was a very bad storm but the boat weathered it well, but the mechanism (winch?) that is used to raise and lower the anchor was bent during the storm and they couldn't raise the anchor. They finally cut it and we headed back toward a protected harbor. They finished the trip by picking sites with permanent moorings that were close to shore.

My point here is that incidents are going to happen if you go diving, but that's true about many things in life.

I think driving a car is probably more dangerous than diving and you can't foresee or prepare for every possible scenario. You just have to be careful, maintain your equipment and your health, remember your training, and try not to panic when something bad suddenly happens. It also doesn't hurt to be lucky but you can't count on that!

 

[Brian G]

I think what you're asking for is a generic list of what to have in the back (or maybe front) of your mind as you evaluate any situation. Maybe something like "if you're not getting air from your primary, switching to your backup is the first step". I was taught to do a sweep if my regulator got knocked out of my mouth, but first switching to my secondary would be a prudent decision.

 

[markmud]

(winch?)

Anchor Windlass.

Hi Kharon,

Sorry to read about your incident. I think all of the people who posted have good points. Some are really good. The "what would you do..?" questions were asked of me during solo and tech 40.

Usually, the correct answer is get to the surface with a controlled ascent. Worry about your other problems while you are breathing from the big scuba tank in the sky. Solve the important problems first and foremost; like breathing.

Without knowing the details or severity of your situation, I am flat-out guessing to provide cogent thoughts.

Most humans can resolve one or two issues without much problem. Compound problems are difficult, unless you focus on the most important issue(s). Slow is fast. Work methodically. No wasted efforts.

good luck,
m

 

[KathyV]

Anchor Windlass...

Thanks, I would never have come up with that term on my own!