Runaway Buddy!

[Diver Dennis]

Yeah, I have to agree Catherine. There is no reason that he could not deploy after the incident, in fact it might have a calming effect on him to know that his buddies would know where he is and he could do his safety stop. The problem is he didn't have one. One thing that I did to mine was stencil my name on both sides, I dive solo but sometimes with a partner, so if it is a fairly busy dive site, they know it's me.
Sorry for stealing your solo line Catherine... it's a great one.

 

[SeanQ]

Yeah, I have to agree Catherine. There is no reason that he could not deploy after the incident, in fact it might have a calming effect on him to know that his buddies would know where he is and he could do his safety stop. The problem is he didn't have one.

It's possible. It is hard to say without knowing what is going through their head while this happens.

The problem was that they couldn't get to their alternate reg, not that they didn't have an SMB.

Ah.... I think I need to get some sleep. :snore:

 

[Diver Dennis]

The other problem is that the buddy knew he was supposed to surface after searching for one minute but he decided to go back down and look for the other guys. He did not find them and still did not surface. He said he did not want to go right back up because of the DCS possibility. With an SMB he could have deployed it so when he decide to do a long slow ascent towards the shore he would not worry the other 2 divers who he knew would be looking for him. That was the problem not having an SMB, worrying the other divers who were just about ready to call 911.

 

[bradshsi]

Thanks for telling the story. I like that you had an agreed plan for lost contact and stuck with it.

I like less the fact that your buddy panicked from a regulator loss when he was in easy reach of two alternate divers and air sources. But armchair diving and commentary is easier than real diving, so I'm in no position to pass judgement. There but for the grace of god go I..

I had one question about your narrative. You said you and buddy #1 slowly ascended after buddy #2 (including a safety stop). Given that it was 17 minutes into the dive and relatively shallow, would it not have been better to ascend directly in case buddy #2 was injured at the surface ?

In your position I would have ascended at 60 ft/min, which is as fast as I deem prudent. In fact I did this recently when my buddy had a runaway ascent from 50' due to weight/drysuit venting issues. Did I do anything wrong in taking this approach ?

 

[L.A.Dave]

I fail to see any value in what calling 911 would have accomplished......

Getting ones mask kicked off in cold water has to be one of the worse things. Glad things worked out. I had to do that 33 years ago in open water class in cold water beach diving.....it is really a nice fealing have cold water flooding your warm face and having a nice regulator supplying a full tank of air and you cannot inhale.

 

[Tollie]

Hey Rick,

Scary story and thanks for passing this on. I’m so pleased that the outcome was benign. No doubt following the incident you and your other team member did the right thing.

With a three man team formation is important and the responsibility of all members.

A question… was the panicked diver wearing a long hose and bungeed reserve or a conventional octo?

Panic is the mind killer, which is why he could not swim up and signal to you OOA or even why he could not recover his primary or retrieve his reserve regulator. Panic is not rational… but at least he did not breathe hold on the way up. It could have been a ton worse.

 

[TSandM]

This is a great story for a couple of reasons, I think. One is to point out that practicing skills like regulator exchange is well worth while. It's one of those simple things you can do while you are swimming along, and staying facile with it can prevent a minor annoyance like losing your reg turning into a major problem like a runaway ascent.

Another is to point out, again, the importance of having protocols in place for things like buddy separation, and STICKING TO THEM. I've had a couple of buddy separation events. One occurred shortly after descent from a boat, in about thirty feet of water, in pretty poor visibility. I was buddied with my husband, and we were to follow another buddy pair. I lost everybody moments after descent -- looked away very briefly, looked back and they were gone. When I couldn't see lights or bubbles in a short time, I ascended. The boat captain was calling to me, trying to point out the bubbles, but frankly, I thought that if I had lost these guys when we were all in the same place, doing the same thing, the likelihood of finding them if I just tried to descend where I thought they were was pretty low. I stayed on the surface for several minutes, and eventually my husband surfaced and we regrouped.

In another incident, I was practicing mask removal and replacement in shallow water and lost buoyancy during the drill. I had my mask off and began to go feet up to the surface, but without my mask, I wasn't sure what was happening, and before I could get things sorted out, I was on the surface (this was from about 20 feet of water). I did not see my buddy or his bubbles, so I waited for him to come up. He decided to deploy an SMB to let me know where he was, but he didn't fill it well enough, and it didn't stand up on the surface, and I didn't see it. The time it took to deploy the SMB was well over the recommended one minute. I was actually beginning to get quite worried about him by the time he surfaced, but again, searching for somebody in our local visibility is really not a very rewarding activity, especially if the person for whom you are looking is moving around as well.

In Rick's story, the original ascent was avoidable with better skills, but the subsequent anxiety/apprehension was totally avoidable simply by following protocol.

 

[Rick Inman]

I had one question about your narrative. You said you and buddy #1 slowly ascended after buddy #2 (including a safety stop). Given that it was 17 minutes into the dive and relatively shallow, would it not have been better to ascend directly in case buddy #2 was injured at the surface ?

Maybe. This was our second dive. I've been bent within NDLs once before so I'm conservitive. Cold water, tired from long drive, 47 years old... I kinda need to make the stop.

A question… was the panicked diver wearing a long hose and bungeed reserve or a conventional octo?

Long hose and bungeed backup.

In Rick's story, the original ascent was avoidable with better skills, but the subsequent anxiety/apprehension was totally avoidable simply by following protocol.

And that is the bottom line, isn't it?

 

[Charlie99]

Long hose and bungeed backup.

How long had he been diving with bungeed backup? The whole point of the bungeed backup is that it is supposed to be easy to find and use.

 

[Cacia]

I keep thinking the same about the necklace reg.... did he say anything insightful, like it was twisted around, or his fingers were numb? I have had such cold hands and lips before that I could not feel my lips or what I was touching....

Also, I realized something funny. All the times people tell JB and I we should not be sharing air (poor gas management)...I think we are really doing a "reg exchange" drill. We just need to speak the right language. I have intuitively always known we were doing the right thing practicing going along together like that in all different situations.---we just have never said "we are doing drills". There are some real upsides to being a playful diver.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TSandM
In Rick's story, the original ascent was avoidable with better skills, but the subsequent anxiety/apprehension was totally avoidable simply by following protocol.

And that is the bottom line, isn't it?
__________________

Maybe I have a screw loose but I disagree. Given the decision to choose between the other two divers being "anxious or apprenhensive"...I agree with his decision to put his physiology back at some depth for a few minutes. Of course, I must say if I don't have a marker, I don't dive. Even the buddy pair having one is not good enough for me. Honestly, I would go with one reg before going without a marker. I have been swept off wrecks in current, etc. more times than I have needed my alternate. I have searched for too many divers in high seas. I have very few rules but having a surface marker is one that I have made my own.