Runaway Buddy!

[do it easy]

The part that freaks me out is that it seems as if your buddy didn't spend enough time working the problem out underwater. You said that he had never done a reg exchange- is he newly certified? Was this dive past his comfort, training, and experience levels?

If he wasn't a new diver, then it's hard to fathom that 1) he couldn't find his backup around his neck AND he didn't recover his primary- it's not like you cut it off with your fin. Again, we are back to the comfort, training, and experience levels.

Panic is a strange beast. I've recently been in some hairy situations, and I think that there is a fine line between panic and quick, effective action. When things got sideways for me, it felt like panic, except that I was doing everything right. I acted quickly and deliberately, but my heart and mind were still racing.

Anyhow, for what did play out, yes an SMB would have helped, but given the fact that he didn't have one, I think that he made a good decision to go back down. I think that you would have done the same thing in his fins. Even if you hit the 911 button, the best case scenario is that you wake up a bunch of people and Gary D chews you out. Worst case scenario you wake a bunch of people and Gary D has to get wet.

 

[Cacia]

yea, who cares if Gary chews you out!...he's a nice guy.(and he LIKES his job and could just call the whole search "a drill") whew, I am reassured to see other divers thinking similiar. I often feel like a real outcast with my impressions of how I think things should go.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Yes, I agree. Rick you did the right thing when you were going to call 911. As you said, he knew there was to be no solo but as easy said, he did the right thing going back down. The best thing for him,in my opinion, would have been to go and do his safety stop and then surface. You and the third diver did wait until it was past the time it should have taken for him to do a stop and come up. He should have surfaced, after a safety stop and looked for you guys.
I think, as Catherine points out, an SMB is an essential pice of kit and I never dive without one.

 

[lamont]

I think the buddy did make a mistake in dropping back down and doing a slow ascent. Its recreational diving, any DCS is likely to be very minimal and going down solo to do in-water recompression to inadequate depths using inadequate gas isn't really going to help a whole lot, and if he actually took a DCS hit that caused neuro symptoms he would not be in good shape underwater and solo. When he initially popped and lost contact he probably should have just surfaced and then stayed on the surface and waited. He sort of needs to think of himself as a casualty at that point, take himself out of the game, and get himself to the safest place possible (on the surface, BCD/Wing inflated) and wait for the team. If the team gets there and he's asymptomatic, then you can drop down and swim back in with a *very* gradual ascent...

 

[Cacia]

that is a reasonable argument. I acknowledge not wanting to take a hit at depth. If I were making the decision for myself, the 17 minutes at 40 ft would make me inclined to think that going down for a safety stop would be a prudent way to avoid an inconveniece hit. If the person had some skill challenges, or was a newish diver, you are probably right in not advocating going down. I think it is the diver's call.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Rick said the diver had not surfaced during the first ascent so he should have, IMHO, just done his safety stop, even a 5 minute stop and surfaced. The fact that he actually went back to search for Rick and the other diver show that the panic was over and he was confident enough to go back down. This was not sticking to their plan of surfacing if someone got lost. Rick followed protocol and the plan.

 

[SeanQ]

I'm not naive enough to comment on the physiology - I just don't know enough about it. I'll agree with Catherine that if the best choice is to descend I can't see a reason why it wouldn't be a good idea to deploy an SMB, even while still at the surface.

-EDIT- Dennis: Maybe he thought he could rejoin the group before they decided to ascend? Who knows? We can't be sure what made them make that decision because it didn't happen to us.

 

[dbulmer]

I agree with you Lamont. For me it's a question of risk. Staying on the surface gives the diver a limitless amount of gas and a better chance of meeting the other members of a team. I think Rick did the right thing by doing his stops and looking for his other buddy on the surface.

The other thing is that even the great diving gods can have bad days and all you can hope to do as a diver is practice and practice in the hope that the good days are much more numerous than the bad days.

 

[Diver Dennis]

I'm not naive enough to comment on the physiology - I just don't know enough about it. I'll agree with Catherine that if the best choice is to descend I can't see a reason why it wouldn't be a good idea to deploy an SMB, even while still at the surface.

-EDIT- Dennis: Maybe he thought he could rejoin the group before they decided to ascend? Who knows? We can't be sure what made them make that decision because it didn't happen to us.

That's true Sean but the plan was no solo and wait on the surface. As Lamont said, at that point he has to take himself out of the game. He could not see the others or they could not see him so he was in violation of the plan by looking for them under the surface. I have no idea why he did it and it doesn't really matter. He did not follow protocol, which was not the best decision.

 

[SeanQ]

That's true Sean but the plan was no solo and wait on the surface. As Lamont said, at that point he has to take himself out of the game. He could not see the others or they could not see him so he was in violation of the plan by looking for them under the surface. I have no idea why he did it and it doesn't really matter. He did not follow protocol, which was not the best decision.

I agree completely.