Rescuing an unconscious diver underwater.

[ZapDiver]

I've just finished the Rescue diver course and have the following question:

It says in the book that when you find an unconscious diver under water, you must secure his regulator, hold his head so his airways are open and bring him to the surface USING YOUR OWN BCD.

However my instructor told me something that made a lot of sense to me, if you bring the diver to the surface using your own BCD, and sudedenly your hold on him slip, the diver will go down again and you will bolt uncontrolled to the surface, making it possible to suffer severe damage and almost impossibilitating the rescue of the original unconscious diver by yourself. So it would be better to use the unconscious diver's BCD to lift both of you to the surface and, in the case that you slip, he will bolt to the surface, but you will be able to be up there shortly and help him.

What are your thouths about this?

 

[TMHeimer]

I don't know. My Rescue Instructor told us to deflate both BCs and use yours to ascend. My DM class Instructor said to deflate both and use BOTH to ascend. And I have heard it said to just use the other diver's one to ascend. Which is best? I would tend to use my own (since I'm used to it) and make sure my grip on him is solid.

 

[BradnerBoy]

We were taught to inflate the victim's BC. I can't see any good reason to inflate your own.

 

[200 Bar]

I've just finished the Rescue diver course and have the following question:

It says in the book that when you find an unconscious diver under water, you must secure his regulator, hold his head so his airways are open and bring him to the surface USING YOUR OWN BCD.

However my instructor told me something that made a lot of sense to me, if you bring the diver to the surface using your own BCD, and sudedenly your hold on him slip, the diver will go down again and you will bolt uncontrolled to the surface, making it possible to suffer severe damage and almost impossibilitating the rescue of the original unconscious diver by yourself. So it would be better to use the unconscious diver's BCD to lift both of you to the surface and, in the case that you slip, he will bolt to the surface, but you will be able to be up there shortly and help him.

What are your thouths about this?

Wouldn't be much of a rescue if you let him slip...

 

[Hallmac]

My thoughts are it does not matter.

If you are in control, and you lose your grip you vent, invert, and swim back down. Shooting to the surface like a dolphin at sea world means you had no business in the ocean to begin with. Your basic skills should not disappear just because somebody else is in trouble. If they do then you need to stop, think, and breathe a minute.

Both methods are acceptable. Both methods have valid arguments. You are the one that is in charge and in control. Do what ever you need to do during the incident. Your safety comes first, the one in trouble gets what they can get.

 

[Hawkwood]

umm...if the "victim" is out of air, it's gonna be hard to inflate their BCD. When we play the victims, drysuit and inflator hoses are disconnected. You drag me to the surface, you better know how to keep me there.

 

[Hallmac]

I can't see any good reason to inflate your own.

Not picking, only using the statement to help think it through, there are a couple common reasons. Victim is out of air, victim damaged their BCD.

 

[ColinB]

One of the things we practiced in my rescue class was starting to lift the victim using our own BC, letting them slip, and then flaring out while dumping air and trying to invert and return to the starting position to pick the victim up again. With only a couple of tries, we could all do it in about 10' of water without breaking the surface. It was actually one of the more fun exercises, and one that I think is a good skill to practice, since it can also help you react quickly with a stuck inflator or other problem with your own gear.

 

[Mike Boswell]

In my Rescue Class we were taught to inflate the victim's BC - orally if necessary - and use his buoyancy to help you both ascend at a safe rate. This is easy to do, and if the victim gets away from you he will continue to ascend, and you can follow at a safe rate.

 

[TSandM]

The way I was taught, you get above the unconscious diver and as negative as you can, and use his BC to make him buoyant; this melds the two of you together, and should you lose your grip on him, he will at least end up on the surface. It made a lot of sense to me, so that's how I would do it if faced with that situation.

In general, if you find someone on the bottom, unresponsive and completely out of gas, the prognosis is pretty darned poor.