Slurkpppttttt!!! Shoot... forgot to turn on my tank

[Uncle Pug]

Some might remember the discussion about being able to reach your valves and some might not have read it yet... if you haven't click on the link.

Now I don't plan to forget... I plan to remember... but sometimes I forget to remember... especially when I let myself get hurried by circumstance.

I had been here before but this was Shane's first time. The wall on the north end of Steep goes straight down 100' and then undercuts about 15' before heading on down... deeeeeper. The wall is covered with purple tubeworms and is a stupendous dive.

On the ride out I had turned my tank on to check the pressure and then turned it back off... reminding myself to remember not to forget to turn it back on.

We were a little late getting to the site and it was already getting dark and the current was starting to reverse. I was in a hurry to get into the water.

Since Shane and I were dropping in on opposite sides of the boat we didn't check one another out... I did however specifically ask him if his tank was turned on. See, I remember some things

After entering the water I decided to go down and meet Shane on the wall. Unbeknown to me Shane was having a little problem of his own and so he didn't descend immediately.

His dry glove ring had not snap completely into the suit ring and was leaking. While he was at the surface dealing with that issue I was finding out about my own issue.

Remember... Steep Island is steep.... it is a wall dive.

As I let the air out of my wing and started descending the first breath came normally and my only concern was not seeing Shane's HID light descending from the otherside of the boat.

At 11 feet and picking up speed my second breath was...

 

[wb416]

How natural was your reaction to the situation? Was it like you'd practiced (or hoped it would be)?

Obviously you made it back....

wb

 

[Uncle Pug]

cwb once bubbled...
How natural was your reaction to the situation? Was it like you'd practiced (or hoped it would be)?

I just went back up to find out what was up with Shane... and I turned my tank on.

 

[WreckWriter]

for most its not critical as they aren't wearing too much weight and/or they have gas in their BC on entry. I do know of several incidents where folks have gone straight to the bottom, their next ascent was done clipped to a liftbag.

To avoid this issue I always take 3 full breaths off my primary before entry.

Tom

 

[Scubaroo]

WreckWriter once bubbled...
for most its not critical as they aren't wearing too much weight and/or they have gas in their BC on entry. I do know of several incidents where folks have gone straight to the bottom, their next ascent was done clipped to a liftbag.

To avoid this issue I always take 3 full breaths off my primary before entry.

Tom

A work colleague (former TDI instructor) lost a friend this way many years ago - stepped off the boat with a set of doubles and disappeared like a rock into the depths. His body was never recovered.

I also test breath the reg before entry - once found a buddy had turned my tank OFF during the buddy check. Said he assumed I had put my BC on with the tank off so he could turn it on for me. Guess he'd never heard of "lefty loosey, righty tighty". After that I decided I was better off not letting people touch my valves at all, and doing the breathing check instead.

 

[Aquamaniac]

S Drills........gotta love 'em

 

[Uncle Pug]

... it was a good thing that 1) I can reach my valves and 2) I could swim this rig up from 11' no problem. But it is a wake up call... you just have to get and keep your stuff together and not allow yourself to be rushed or complacent.

We usually have our little routine of doing things but we let circumstance interupt that.

There are several reasons that I posted this.

One is to share the reminder that I received to be very diligent in pre-dive checks.

Another is to be transparent with my own mistakes. Some folks are afraid to admit their mistakes... but I think that sharing learning experiences is the important thing here. If I can make a mistake like this... then so could you! Now let's all plan for this to never happen....

But if it did happen to you... what would you do?

Later I have some other things to share that were less than optimal on this dive.

 

[WreckWriter]

Uncle Pug once bubbled...
... Another is to be transparent with my own mistakes. Some folks are afraid to admit their mistakes... but I think that sharing learning experiences is the important thing here.

I agree with you on this. I think its most important, especially for experienced divers, to publically admit, own up to, and discuss mistakes made.

In this way we all learn to be better divers and to come home to our families one more time.

Tom

 

[Epinephelus]

There are divers who have jumped in with the air off... and divers who will someday jump in with the air off.
It has been a few years since I've done it myself, but the ability to reach and operate one's own tank valve is an absolute must in my mind. Hardly a year goes by that some poor soul doesn't drown simply because he couldn't reach the valve. What a senseless waste.
E. itajara

 

[Uncle Pug]

Shane's flooded glove had leaked through his wrist tube and his forearem was wet now as well. He removed the glove pulled the tube and put the glove back on using it as a wetglove.

I had surfaced to find him putzing with the glove and had turned my tank on.

As we descended Shane gave me the signal that my drysuit hose wasn't connected... SHOOT... I was just about to add gas too since we were at 30'! We were at 40 by the time I got it hooked up and relieved the squeeze.

Still descending we made it to the undercut but after a few minutes I realized that I was having blurred vision. Not a good sign since I was breathing gas somebody else mixed and I hadn't had an opportunity to analyze it myself. SHooooooT!

Then I figured out what was wrong with my vision. The little stick on magnifier lens that had drifted up from the bottom of my mask and was right in the center now.

So there I am with my head cocked sideways trying to see out over the top of that magnifier on a wall drift dive at night and I realized that my right ear was threatening a reverse squeeze.

Ah, fer cryin' out loud!!! Third dive of the day and my ears were messing with me now.

Squeeeeeeeaaaaaaaakkkkkkk..... shoot... so I signalled to Shane that we needed to move up to 60'. I didn't want to burn up all my gas and then try to get up! As we slowly moved up the pressure in my ear gradually squeaked out but it was squealing all the way.

This was the dive I had been looking forward to the most and here it was cut short... 31 minutes TBT. We surface with over half of our gas left and Shane was cold with a wet arm... but we managed to work through the problems that we had caused for ourselves.