Should I have done more?

[dumpsterDiver]

Well mostly very reasonable comments, but at the end of the day..she performed a dangerous ascent and I did not place myself in a position to prevent it. I had promised to watch her closely and I was not working as a DM or anything, but I was intending on being super attentive to her because I knew she was nervous.

I should not have been required to help her and to work her BC for her at depth, but once it became clear that she really needed me to do it for her (on the bottom)... then I should have just physically grabbed her for the ascent. Maybe somebody will think I am playing "the hero", being over bearing, etc. but if I was grabbing her, I would not have been as hesitant to also vent her BC when she needed it. Next time... hopefully it won't be for a long time... I'm going to try to remember to take full control of the situation until we reach the surface.

I've looked at the video several times, and now I think I was signaling to her to vent the BC by grunting and conspicuously venting my own BC (when she was just a little above me). I think she saw that and understood, but for some reason, I don't think she was in the frame of mind to even touch her inflator and then just decided to pop up to the surface.

It should also be emphasized that she did another similar dive with other people 1 hour later (drifting on a reef) and as far as I know, she did fine (although they did remove 2 of her 10 lbs of lead). So she apparently DID have the skills to do the dive, but for some reason.. on the dive with me, things got away from her.

If she would have come up spitting a bloody froth, I bet people would be a lot more critical of me. This reminds me why I gave up teaching scuba a long time ago... people scare me.

 

[Akimbo]

OK, so is the best course of action to make her stay onboard? It would be the safest. Should all nervous divers be grounded? Would it be any different if you tried to stay ahead of her but she bolted for the surface despite your best efforts? What do you do you plan to do in the future?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

OK, so is the best course of action to make her stay onboard? It would be the safest. Should all nervous divers be grounded? Would it be any different if you tried to stay ahead of her but she bolted for the surface despite your best efforts? What do you do you plan to do in the future?

Literally grab the person's BC...

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Well mostly very reasonable comments, but at the end of the day..she performed a dangerous ascent and I did not place myself in a position to prevent it. I had promised to watch her closely and I was not working as a DM or anything, but I was intending on being super attentive to her because I knew she was nervous.

I should not have been required to help her and to work her BC for her at depth, but once it became clear that she really needed me to do it for her (on the bottom)... then I should have just physically grabbed her for the ascent. Maybe somebody will think I am playing "the hero", being over bearing, etc. but if I was grabbing her, I would not have been as hesitant to also vent her BC when she needed it. Next time... hopefully it won't be for a long time... I'm going to try to remember to take full control of the situation until we reach the surface.

I've looked at the video several times, and now I think I was signaling to her to vent the BC by grunting and conspicuously venting my own BC (when she was just a little above me). I think she saw that and understood, but for some reason, I don't think she was in the frame of mind to even touch her inflator and then just decided to pop up to the surface.

It should also be emphasized that she did another similar dive with other people 1 hour later (drifting on a reef) and as far as I know, she did fine (although they did remove 2 of her 10 lbs of lead). So she apparently DID have the skills to do the dive, but for some reason.. on the dive with me, things got away from her.

If she would have come up spitting a bloody froth, I bet people would be a lot more critical of me. This reminds me why I gave up teaching scuba a long time ago... people scare me.

I don't think any of this is your fault.
Why is it your problem that she forgot her training and forgot to stay neutral throughout the dive including venting as she was going up?
Yes you could have been with her the whole time and grabbed her BC etc. but why was she out there if SHE knew she wasn't ready for this dive. That's kind of unfair to you don't you think.
Other peoples' lack of skills (or brain fart) is not your responsibility. It's also not the responsibility of a DM either BTW. Every diver out there needs to know how to dive and bare responsibility for themselves.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Well there is that, DD, but then panic could ensue and you'd have to control absolutely everything for two divers, plus the fight on your hands.

1) regardless the foregoing, I do understand the grabbing her bc as you said and I learned that in OW, IIRC, might have been AOW. So my comment is probably wrong.

2) when I watched your video, it certainly seemed you were signaling her to vent and showed her as well, just as you now say, that's what I believed I was seeing in the first place.

 

[KenGordon]

Literally grab the person's BC...

Tricky decision. Since you had been diving previously you risk a bend, and maybe an embolism if she remains buoyant.

Rather than trying to figure out what to do when it goes wrong, think about how to prevent it going wrong or mitigate the problem should it happen. Read a bunch of incident reports. Many, maybe most, start well before anyone gets into the water.

 

[Patoux01]

Literally grab the person's BC...

If someone wants to go up, you'll simply end up there with them.

 

[Russoft]

I gotta say that I've been nervous before dives. I've been overweighted. I've popped to the surface from a safety stop (underweighted). All these are almost inevitable parts of being a rookie diver. They were all learning experiences. Now I get to watch my wife learn all these lessons as she builds experience. No amount of review and talk above water can truly help these lessons sink in. It's why we're repeatedly told to "breath always". If we're diving within NDL I'm guessing the risk is minimal for DCS.

If making rookie mistakes discounts someone from diving, then new divers will miss out on important learning experiences. If I'd called every dive that didn't go smoothly, I wouldn't have learned some important lessons about diving.

This wasn't, in my mind, a particularly challenging dive. It's not like you were on a deep wreck dive in poor visibility. This is a pretty run of the mill drift dive that most OW divers should be able to handle quite easily. Seems like she just had a rough start for this particular dive.

 

[Bob DBF]

Literally grab the person's BC...

If you were a hired DM, perhaps you would have done it sooner rather than later. As an instabuddy, the question would be where is the line between letting the diver sort out their problems when they are not in eminent danger, and performing a rescue. It is hard to judge a divers intentions if you don't know them, is passing you on the line a bit of a difference in ascent rate or the start of a bolt.

As I said earlier, I doubt if the next problem diver gets by you.

I've seen divers have a bad start, I've had bad starts, sometimes you recover during the dive and sometimes you rue that dive, and thumb the next one that reminds you of that dive. If you are within NDL, keep your airway open, and head for the surface it is another learning experience. Fortunately that diver knew that much before she snuck by you.

Don't beat yourself up over it, that's what the posters on this thread will do.


Bob

 

[Nasser]

Ok I'll play Monday QB :

You've been diving for a while so you might have been able to see that an SS BP and steel tank and any additional ballast might have been a red flag that she could be overweighted given her frame and size. Any doubts and you could have done a quick buoyancy check on the surface to get a rough idea... which may have helped.

Watching the video and seeing her descend with mask problems from the get go might have also been another warning sign to play it close and watch out for any panic situation that could arise. Which you actually did seem to have noticed and acted upon early on.

Did you guys do a buddy check on the surface and did you know where her OPV was? ...not just her inflator. I know I've been in situations where an inexperienced buddy either hit the wrong button on their inflator or had the button stick and start with a run away ascent... it's pretty scary when buoyancy control is getting away from them and a quick tug at their OPV from you can make the difference.

If you promised to keep an eye on her and give her your full attention then leave the speargun and camera on deck and stay close by... they could have been a distraction for you (and her) and it's best to have your hands free if you are doing this with someone who is nervous, has questionable skills /experience, and you've never dived with before. Tighter formation - being closer and maybe even guiding her by holding her hand firmly and communicating with her on every step might have eased her nervousness and put you in a better position to act swiftly.

Having said that, it doesn't really look as bad in the video as you describe... frankly I was expecting to see her shoot to the surface much more dramatically. Calling the dive was probably the best thing and fortunately nothing bad happened. You did what you could given the circumstances so really my observations and suggestions are just possible things one can reassess for the future.