Equipment Some excitement on Sunday morning

[sunnyboy]

Back when I was teaching all students (including me & a dm as demo) had to do a complete equipment check with their buddy before we got in the water. The old acronym 'BWRAF' was used (which I always pronounced like the name of John Candy's character in Spaceballs), one important step being to take a couple of breaths off both regulators while watching the pressure guage.

 

[stretchthepenn]

But why did you need to manage her BCD?

My buddy was a bit freaked out and breathing hard for a while, so I figured it was safest if I kept in physical contact and managed the ascent.

 

[MB NZ]

Good buddying by the OP, well done!

When I used to dive with my wife in low visibility, we always used a buddy line. Annoying? A little bit. Necessary? No, but better than spending the whole dive with eyes on your buddy!

 

[stretchthepenn]

Can you please elaborate on what happened to your buddy’s air delivery system? One should not need a mouth piece to breathe from a regulator. Was her tank empty?

My buddy's tank wasn't empty. She was a relatively new diver, so due to her lack of experience, she didn't know it was possible to breathe from a second stage even without the soft mouthpiece. And she was not in the mood to try.

My buddy's octo was an Apeks (flat, supposedly accessible in any orientation). IIRC, it wouldn't deliver air when it was upside down (purge cover underneath). We later found out that the reg needed to be purged before it worked in that orientation.

Also you should not need to control her BCD unless it is a rescue scenario and/or the other diver is incapacitated.

My buddy seemed sufficiently shaken up -- at least at first -- and was new enough a diver that I judged it safest to keep close physical contact and manage both our ascents.

Also did your dive leader notice what was going on? Did you discuss a procedure in a pre-dive briefing on what to do if there is an emergency and how to communicate in low viz? Group control can be difficult for a DM in a low visibility with a lot of low experience divers. How many divers were in your group?

The dive leader wasn't really a "leader" in the normal sense. He was leading the way, but not officially; the rest of us (three buddy pairs) could follow if we wanted.

We did discuss a "what-if" plan in the briefing. Paraphrased, it was basically "if you lose the fins in front of you, feel free to go on your own dive." Given the dive site's layout -- a lake with an easy-to-follow upward slope -- it seemed reasonable.

 

[stretchthepenn]

How shook up was the buddy afterwards? "Taken in stride, lesson learned, I'll do better next time" or questioning her diving future?

She was fine by the next dive. We paired up again, and we made it to 75' and back with no problems.

 

[stretchthepenn]

Back when I was teaching all students (including me & a dm as demo) had to do a complete equipment check with their buddy before we got in the water. The old acronym 'BWRAF' was used (which I always pronounced like the name of John Candy's character in Spaceballs), one important step being to take a couple of breaths off both regulators while watching the pressure guage.

In retrospect, that's where I screwed up. I had done the three-breaths test while setting up my own gear, so I didn't repeat it during the buddy check, and because I didn't repeat it, I didn't ask my buddy to do it, either.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.