Runaway buddy

[Meister481]

Wow! This is one of the great reasons for this list. I am a new diver with just a few dives. This issue was NEVER covered in my training. Before I read this thread, I would have been completely clueless about what to do in this situation. I feel I have learned a valuable lesson.

Keep reading, you will learn a great deal!

 

[Hutchel]

I personally can't see anything you did wrong. I have just completed my rescue diver cert and we were definately taught if you can't make a safe ascent while assisting someone in distress let them go. When you get to the surface you will still be in a position to lend assistance as opposed to now being in need of rescue yourself. You are ultimately responsible for your own actions. Lending assistance to a buddy is very important, BUT ultimately you still must look after yourself. One corpse is always better than two.

BTW I don't recall the disconnect low pressure inflater being mentioned in any of our training either. I do remember reading that the BC dump rate is one of the items evaluated in BC reviews by some of the testing labs for just this reason. That did make an impression on me.

Lee

 

[String]

LP inflator and drysuit if applicable should be trained at open water level. Its in the standards for everyone i know about.

Oh and FWIW both my wing and drysuit will inflate quicker than they can dump.

 

[reefugee]

I don't recall doing the LP hose disconnect in my OW course. However, when I went through the course a second time because of my daughter - we did do the LP disconnect. I think I just forgot doing the LP hose disconnect in my OW course because it was so simple and we probably only did it once.

Minh

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

We did not do LP disconnect in OW this past spring or ever even talk about the inflator sticking. We did cover reg free flow

Next time I go out diving I am going to have my buddy and I practice this along with another set of safety drills and basic OW skills.

 

[D_B]

Wow, I would never have thought so many in OW have not done, or been told about releasing air from the dump and disconnecting the hose .. It may not be intuitive for a new diver to react to this quickly, but you should at least have the knowledge. ... OK, I do not know how far up I would go before I could react but I am sure that one of the first things I would be thinking is .. that thing is Stuck! ... get it off of there!! .. It just may take me a bit to accomplish it

 

[pir8]

If you went through my class you had to disconnect and reconnect your lp hose underwater. It is on the slate that I follow so that I don't forget anything.

 

[Diver Dennis]

It's been a few years since my OW AOW certs so I'm not sure if I was taught that. If I was, I forgot about it...

 

[PacketSniffer]

To make life a little easier during a runaway inflator, a "hose hat" from DeepSeaSupply can help. See here.

 

[Diver Dennis]

I might just buy one of those PS. Thanks for the link.