Spiegel Grove Incident

[TheRedHead]

Funny, my regular buddy dives with a Zeagle BC (Ranger, I beleive) which has two tank straps. My Dacor BC only has one. While I like his BC better in general, about 1 in every 5 dives his tank slips out (usually just before getting into the water). Mine has never had that problem.

Maybe he has bad technique? The velcro on a Zeagle is amazing. If you can get the strap tight enough, it would hold without a buckle.

 

[Taipeidiver]

I always check the tank strap as part of the standard buddy check under the "releases" section, it's got to be more important than the silly little chest strap thingy you get on some BC's these days, right?

 

[RJP]

I see tanks slipping all the time, and usually it's because people fail to wet their straps before tightening them. Simplest thing to do, but an awful lot of people don't do it.

 

[mike_s]

did the 1st stage crack or the 2nd stage crack? on the regulator?


sounds like that DM/guide was a waste. That's one of the problems in the dive industry. Shop/owners have no clue what's going on sometimes and hire people who are just like them.

 

[HowardE]

I see tanks slipping all the time, and usually it's because people fail to wet their straps before tightening them. Simplest thing to do, but an awful lot of people don't do it.

I never wet my tank strap, and I never lose my tank.

 

[dherbman]

I never wet my tank strap, and I never lose my tank.

Neither do I, but I also know how to tighten it properly. I've seen several loose tanks in the water in the last 12 months.

 

[double80s]

How come your insta-buddy had to pay for a guide with only 30 logged dives, but they let you go without one with only 25 dives?

Personally, I think wrecks like Speigal and Daune are better suited to experienced divers. The wreck isn't so much the problem, but the currents in these areas is usually ripping. I've seen many divers stressed just from pulling themselves to the mooring ball.

FWIW, I've dove with Conch Republic Divers and Ocean Divers. I prefer Ocean Divers boats and the travel distance to wrecks is shorter.

 

[anarekey2000]

Second stage on the bottom.

 

[herman]

Wetting the strap just makes it easier to close. A properly adjusted dry cam strap is pretty hard to close. The problem is if you make it easy to close dry, it stretches when it gets wet, the water acts as a lubricant and the tank falls out. The solution is to either wet it so it's easier to close when properly adjusted or learn to deal with it being harder to close dry.

 

[Charlie99]

Over in the Cozumel forum you will also find several posts that have key similarities to this incident. Common to them is someone assuming a DM or instructor is their buddy when they aren't. Usually, in Cozumel, it's clearly the customer/visitor that has it wrong, since the DM is leading an entire group and each diver should have their own buddy.

This incident is a bit different in that one guy that was paying for a guide (not you, but the guy that you buddied up with) was abandoned by the instructor.

I sounds like the instructor bit off more than he could handle --- with the current ripping and you and your buddy getting separated from the others, there is no way he could ride herd on 3 customers + you.

What did go right is that you and the guy with the tank problem had buddied up with each other.