Request for information not covered in any course

[TMHeimer]

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.

Good one, and one I rarely heard any of the instructors I assisted mention.
Other good points are to solve the breathing problem and/or get to the surface.
I would add to approach each dive as if it were your first even if you dived the site a hundred times.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Did you have a SS up? Did you give the I'm not OK wave?
The whistles aren't as helpful as we've been led to believe. If the wind isn't quite right, boat not quite close enough, etc etc
I still have my Dive Alert but learned that it's definitely not my top signaling device.

 

[rhwestfall]

There is no way to teach/predict everything. The only universal solution is: "Don't do the dive if you are uncertain"...

Self control....

 

[rhwestfall]

Step 1 is "air?", from there, it is "anything"...

 

[MichaelMc]

A hierarchy of priorities may help. I'm told pilots use:
*Aviate: is the plane still flying.
Maybe for scuba: no broken bones, ruptured lungs, still able to breath, in control of depth generally, of sane mind. Period.

* Navigate: are we going the right way.
Not lost, not silted out, ..., able to get back to, and onto, that solid ground thing.

* Communicate: talk to ground/others.
Order might be a bit different with buddies on communicating vs navigating.

If you can breath and are not way deep in a cave/wreck, you likely can sort it out.

 

[JamesBon92007]

It sounds like it must have been quite disturbing if you don't want to dive again. Fairly recently I had a situation occur that made it difficult for me to dive again in the near (back then) future. But it was not my life that I was worried about, it was the life of the person I rescued. It was one of those situations where one thing after another went wrong. I had booked a dive for the next day and called to cancel because every time I thought about diving I started throwing up. We ended up doing a nice, shallow, shore dive instead and worked our way back up to the regular boat dives but with a few new rules and one less "favorite" dive op.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@Kharon

I'd recommend looking into Human Factors in Diving (Human Factors Skills in Diving - Home). I wish I could describe the tremendous benefit of the course. It will have you look at not just diving differently, but everything you do if you apply the principles.

 

[JackD342]

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.

Yeah, you really need to provide more context to get more helpful answers. What was the close call, and was it you or someone else?

But I would say that there is A TON OF STUFF that could go wrong that isn't specifically covered or even mentioned in an Open Water or Advanced Open Water class. But also, those basic classes generally provide the following guidance to help a dive avoid getting caught unprepared:

• Dive within the limits of your training and experience.
• Follow the buddy system, as your buddy is your primary back up plan for many emergencies, whether anticipated or not. (And if going solo, get trained for it.)
• Get an orientation to a new and unfamiliar dive site/location - often as a guided dive, but can also be a good briefing. What do I want to see? What do I want to avoid? And special entry or exit techniques required?
• When taking on new specialized dive equipment, or diving in environments or situations for which you have not been trained, seek out direction and/or instruction to fill in the gaps and prepare you for new possibilities. Many of the more "light weight" specialties that just seem to be nothing more than common sense still familiarize you with and/or prepare you for situations that you might not have anticipated.

And as long as we are at it, I will move just slightly off topic and suggest that a scuba refresher is highly undervalued and under utilized. I don't have a current book handy, but the PADI OW book in front of me from 2011 says "Refresh your knowledge and skills with Scuba Review after long periods of inactivity." I feel that guidance includes a huge miss. It appears to imply that if you dive often, you have no need for a formal skills review. My viewpoint is that the basic emergency skills learned in Open Water should be reviewed and practiced periodically. If the only time I ever practiced with an alternate air source or disconnecting a run-away inflator hose was 20 years earlier in class, am I really prepared to deal that emergency if it were to happen today? Look past the dive count.

 

[TMHeimer]

I always agree about reviewing the skills. As I rarely buddy dive, that means going through the motions of a lot of them on land once weekly. Better than nothing. I have an old list of tips I figured out to help me demonstrate the skills, though I'm retired from that.
I also review a page or so of a manual from one of the courses daily and then move to the next manual. Can't hurt.

 

[lowwall]

Accidents are typically the result of a whole series of errors. All it takes to avoid the accident is to avoid any one of the mistakes.

The best way to do this is to have a mindset where you are continually evaluating conditions and risks before, during, and after your dive. Before you get in the water, you need to make sure your equipment and health are up to the task. You have to be willing to skip or abort a dive or some part of it if it's outside your skillset. While diving, you need to look around often, think about what you see, be willing to adjust your position to avoid obstacles or close with a buddy or guide, and to know where you are with regards to your personal minimums on gas or NDL time or your deco plan.

This mindset will make most accident chains go away before they even get started. If despite all this, something does go wrong, you need to have a set of skills that allows you to calmly deal with the most common issues. At minimum, this is the stuff from OW: mask removal and replace, switching regs, swimming without a mask, BCD removal and replacement and switching to an alternate air source, whether it's a buddy or second tank you are carrying. IMO, you should do the first two at some point on every dive unless there's a specific reason not too. Depending on how and where you dive there may be many more: nav skills, disentanglement skills, swimming skills, boat handling skills etc.

Comfort with these skills will allow you to deal with pretty much anything that you haven't made disappear from proper planning and mindset.

Kharon -
Have you taken Solo and Rescue courses? I haven't, but I imagine they should include the above.

What I have taken is the basic Motorcycle Safety Foundation course. They go through the above in detail and it immediately made me a safer and better rider. I consciously adopt this mindset to all risky activities such as driving and cycling along with diving. I was also a lifeguard and lifeguard instructor. Lifeguard training is similar. Only part of it is about the specific skills you need to perform a rescue. Much of it is about learning to spot issues before they become problems and having or formulating a plan for the rescue well before you get within reach of the victim.