Rescued the Out of Air Newby today

[Quero]

If he had 500 psi at 38 feet, why didn't he just do a normal ascent?

 

[supergaijin]

Good on the OP for managing the situation.

Which hand signals did he get confused- from my limited understanding of the PSI signals, each finger is 100psi, thus 5 fingers is 500psi and half a tank (1500) would involve opening and closing the hand 3 times. Is this wrong?

I would have gone with the diver to the safety stop, monitoring remaining air and donating if necessary.

Again the OP did well, not only managing the situation, but having a chat afterwards and further educating the beginner.

 

[Rogersea]

I am also a little confused, if he had air left in his tank even less than 500psi or around 30 bar a normal ascent would normally be the prefered ascent. I am assuming that something has gotten skewed in the telling of the story.

But really nice job on reviewing the basics with the less experienced diver...

Cheers,
Roger

 

[DandyDon]

Why would he need to CESA when he still had air available? At 400-500 psi (assuming an Al80) he still had 10-13 cf of air. Even with a sac of 1cfm, he had time for a normal ascent. I don't even see the need for him to have shared air, but since he did, why didn't he have air to fill his BC at the surface? Didn't he still have his 400-500 psi? Good on the Op for getting him to the surface.

I don't know. Bratface said "holds his SPG out. He has less than 500 psi." I took it that she wasn't sure what small amount he had at that point. Later she added "Once on the surface I tell him to orally inflate his BC. He still tries to inflate with his inflator hose but I remind him he is out of air." It seems like a number of you missed that part. Sure, if he had 300 or 400# left and his Spg was accurate, he should have just ascended - but it seems like he was actually out. I suspect his reg was already breathing hard.

Whatever, it sounds like he incapable to getting himself to the surface on his own call really. Re-train and hide his camera...

 

[TonyErnst13]

CESA? No...

He had 500 PSI at 38 feet.. that's enough to ascend, make your 3 minute safety stop and get to the surface with 200-300.. NOT IDEAL, but definitely NOT an emergency.

CESA are for OOA situations when a buddy is not near by and preferably between 20-30 feet.... this situations did not meet those criteria ( over 30 ft, buddy was close, 500psi in tank) As a safety net you could let him use your air and switch back to his at 15 feet....

BUT, was he just less than 500, or OOA...

And the statement to orally inflate is confusing... was that an assumption, or did it not inflate when the LPI was used....
Sounds like when you teach a CESA and you have to remind them to orally inflate ( even though they technically have air ) Seems to me the diver should have realized he needed to orally inflate on his own had he tried the LPI and it didn't work.....

 

[herbdb]

Tony,

I agree with most of your comments, but it is not uncommon for a distressed diver to make it to the surface only to descend again and drown. In a perfect world a diver should not need reminding to orally inflate his BC, but this happens more than it should.

 

[DandyDon]

Tony,

I agree with most of your comments, but it is not uncommon for a distressed diver to make it to the surface only to descend again and drown. In a perfect world a diver should not need reminding to orally inflate his BC, but this happens more than it should.

Yep. Bratface did leave a little confusion with "He has less than 500 psi," vs "Once on the surface I tell him to orally inflate his BC. He still tries to inflate with his inflator hose but I remind him he is out of air," but she called it and worked it well. Dealing with a newbie who has lost his buddy or not bothered to dive with one, followed his camera so closely as to not manage his air well - perhaps finding the reg hard to breath, and not taking it upon himself to bail and head up when he finally noticed his failure - she got him up and got him to orally inflate. I would have been preparing to dump his weights for him if he started sinking and I bet she was ready for that too. We read all too many stories here in A&I of divers surfacing, then sinking - lost. There's one here in A&I from this past weekend.

In a similar situation, we may not know exactly what the LOA/OOA diver has in his tank so any actions needed to ensure he gets to the surface and stays afloat are warranted. Sounds like this diver might have failed on the surface anyway even if he'd done a CESA. One Inst here has convinced me that if I ever screw up enough do another one, I should pull my weights and hold them on the way up - just in case, so I'd drop them if I passed out for any of various possible reasons.

 

[Fishpie]

Re: hand signals.
It's not uncommon in the UK and other European countries to use the clenched fist salute to indicate half tank and this might have been confused with a low on air signal.

 

[Quero]

Re: hand signals.
It's not uncommon in the UK and other European countries to use the clenched fist salute to indicate half tank and this might have been confused with a low on air signal.

That's not my experience. All of my European divers use a clenched and raised fist to indicate 50 bar. When the clenched fist is brought against the chest, it means 50 bar + low on air.

 

[Kksmama]

One Inst here has convinced me that if I ever screw up enough do another one, I should pull my weights and hold them on the way up - just in case, so I'd drop them if I passed out for any of various possible reasons.

Thanks! I'm going to practice this with my buddies.