Scared the s..t out of me

[Jim Kerr]

I've done that myself after switching from a jacket style BC that I dove for years to a BP/W. Just had to get use to the different locations of the buttons. Luckily it was when I was trying to descend from the surface and not while trying to ascend.

The going right past you (looking for you?) to 100 fsw is puzzling though. He may have been untruthful about his experience or he might have had "his own" theory that if he went deep it would reverse the affects of the rapid ascent. :headshake:

 

[Diver Dennis]

When were there 3 divers lost? I've done a lot of diving in PV in past years and am interested to learn more. Thanks.

 

[robint]

sounds like to me the guy lied about his experience AND also was hitting the wrong buttoms on the inflator going up and down. And every diver who does something stupid like that blames the gear!!! (Another reason I think he lied about his experience).

Glad it all worked out and no one got bent. So now we want to hear details about divers getting lost....... nothing was ever posted about that!

 

[Divedoggie]

sounds like to me the guy lied about his experience AND also was hitting the wrong buttoms on the inflator going up and down. And every diver who does something stupid like that blames the gear!!! (Another reason I think he lied about his experience).

Glad it all worked out and no one got bent. So now we want to hear details about divers getting lost....... nothing was ever posted about that!

People have always put themselves into bad situations, but it seems more and more common these days for it to be someone else's fault or equipment failure. Owning up to one's own mistakes is old school.

The story is the same with traffic accidents, bad business decisions, divorce, and hurricanes.

 

[leabre]

I had just purchased a BP/W in July and hated the short inflator tube. It hurt my wrist to try to use it and it was a nuissance in ADP when I needed split-second instinct reaction requiring it. Of course, I was used to a much longer tube from my previous BC. Anyway, one night before a lobster run at the beginning of season I traded my tube and hose with someone who had a spare longer one (about 3 inches longer and he wanted a shorter one) so it worked out.

We were at roughly 48 feet at the Cleo St. Barge in Laguna and I was heavy (I overweighted by 2 lbs because I was using a 120 cf tank the first time when used to 80). I didn't check the buoyance charactertics before calculating weight or I'd have known I not need to change weighting. I had already taken 8 lbs. off when I took on the BP/W.

I pumped a short burst of air into the bladder to help with bouyancy and the air kept flowing in and I saw the ground get further away (only 8 ft. vis that night). I solved the problem by disconnecting the hose (I have a rubber thing that makes it very easy to grip and disconnect) and then dropped back down within the minute. I had only risen 12 ft. so thought it harmless. It did, however, take a while to find my buddies dive light but he didn't notice I dissappeared. He did, after all, just bag a good size keeper.

Anyway, I make it sound like I knew what to do. Truth be told, it wasn't intentional to disconnect the hose, at least, I didn't consciously do it. Just that I learned after 40 more dives with that thing that it disconnects on its own when it wants to but it worked out that night. I was only my 40th dive that night.

To the one who said we learned to disconnect the hose from the inflater in OW (as an emergency measure underwater as opposed to gearing up and breaking down), I don't think we learned that one in my OW (NAUI) or in ADP but I now know and sometimes practice it just in case.


Thanks,
Shawn

 

[Phreak]

Ya gotta read yer gauges..

Repeat!

This is an interesting topic, it makes me wonder where the diver was certified.

I was certified in Seattle, in 50 degree crummy viz...and gear heavy, drysuits, etc etc.

Then I went to Hawaii, 70 degree water - PERFECT viz, and went on a charter where we slowly dropped to 104 FSW w/ our DM...and it felt like maybe 60 FSW to me. It's weird. Stress level of diving in the tropics is so much less than cold/ deep/ wreck/ cave diving. It's like dessert.

Hows the water temp and vis down in PV ?

So yes, he needs to read his gauges - obviously- but also he might have dropped to what 'in his mind'- felt like the 60'-70 ' range...before getting a clue and realizing, hey I'm way too deep here. Then add some narcosis.

Glad you were there, dude!

 

[DandyDon]

When were there 3 divers lost? I've done a lot of diving in PV in past years and am interested to learn more. Thanks.

I think that was in this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/212062-3-missing-deep-dive-incident-mexico.html There was confusion over where, but I think the incident was finally identified as PV

I wouldn't be surprised if he mistook his inflater for his deflater, I've done that several times :/ Going back down, and to 100ft though, is insane. Did he have any idea he was that deep, or what his air was? Unpredictable sounds right in this case...

Yep, me too - too easy to get those confused. I have retrieved divers from the surface who did just that, escorted them back down to 15 ft for a longer Safety Stop, keeping my Pony bottle handy in case either of us need it for additional time. I avoid the deflator, try to keep in the habit of using the inflator or dump valve. One can release small amounts of air with dump valve and the likelihood of getting it confused with inflator is small.

What's the best course of action if your inflator does get stuck? Keep the deflator depressed until you can detach the hose?

As suggested above, use the dump valve not the deflator to offset a runaway inflator until you can disconnect the inflator hose. This and oral inflation are valuable skills to practice. I have done them without practice, but now my regular dive buddy and I do drill on these...
> Using dump valve rather than deflator;
> Disconnect and reconnect inflator hose;
> Oral inflating BC; and
> Grabbing weight pouches to dump if needed.
Runaway ascents, rapid descents, submerging with hose not hooked up (did that once), and and drowning on surface with air left in tank, weights never dumps have all been indicated in too many loses.

 

[Dv4fun]

This happened to me at 40 fathom grotto, we were doing a AOW dive and on our ascent from 110 ft , 2 students and myself, we stopped at 40ft to check out the prehistoric sea biscuttes and to level our bouyency , I noticed rubble and dirt falling on us and thought "darn its starting to rain causing debris to flow into grotto, I then looked back at the student and signalled wheres your buddy , she freaked and we looked around for about a minute and headed for the safety stop, turns out his "new vest " < 6 dives , inflator hose stuck open. I happened to teach his open water and at 15ft he remember to remove the inflator hose and the debris was his fingers clinging to the wall trying to slow his descent, even with the dump open was too much fortunatly the training kicked in and he saved himslelf. I wont name the vest , but, it permenantly was stuck open and he had to replace the inflater part after we got back. The response to sticky inflator button is valuable training.

 

[mrfixitchapman]

On my second dive at Cozumel I was at about 80 ft over the edge of a wall with a 'new' buddy. the divemaster was just below us. Another diver from the trip drifted downward past us. She had her feet down, head up, holding the inflator hose over her head with her finger on the deflate button. Looking right at me. Down she went, over the edge into the dark blue. Divemaster didn't see her go by. I finned straight down after her. I got to her, took the inflator aout of her hand and hit the inflate button. I was about to throw weights when we stopped the descent and began to float upwards. Divemaster sees us. When we get back up to him I handed her off to him and checked my guages. I'd bounced to 165 ft and used up too much of my air. I did a very slow ascent to 60 ft, stayed at 60 for five minutes, ascended to 15 ft, waited out the rest of my air, (about ten minutes), and surfaced. Boat driver swings around to pick me up. I board the boat and he teases me about being such an air hog. Miss Near-Fatality and divemaster pop up next. They board. Nobody says a word for the rest of the trip. That was almost a bad one.

DC

 

[DandyDon]

Jeeeeze, mrfixitchapman! Not the way you planned to break 160 ft huh? And people poke fun at my pony bottle. I think I would have handed my original buddy off to the DM and escorted her up myself, but not your job. Just an idea, and we never know what we'll do in an emergency until it happens. good save.