Student decides buoyancy is best & “bolts”

[Shiprekd]

Student decides buoyancy is best & “bolts”…

I was working at a dive shop that owns its own quarry. It’s quite well known here in the Mid - Atlantic States (USA) for how it operates, it’s top of the line instructors, its shop, and awesome quarry diving. I was just ending up my shift for the day when one of the instructors asked me if I would be a buddy for a student of his, taking advanced dives. The weekends are always busy and I wasn’t able to get a dive in that weekend so I gladly agreed.

I had never been on a dive with this particular instructor before and while suiting up, I got him aside and found out “his rules” or the way he wants to do the dive. He stated we were going on the deep dive and wanted me somewhat behind the student while he led. After a few minutes of this he sat the student down and did the ritual teaching and dive plan.

We got into the water at a drop off where at about 18ft, the wall sloped downward sharply, through a thermocline (50 degree), and on to a natural rock flat at 65ft. Down to about 30ft there was a heavy algae bloom so vis was tops 10ft. When we hit the slope, I ducked in behind and just above the student. He kept reaching back to his left leg where his dive knife was attached and kept fiddling with it. It kept coming loose and dropping to his fin. When we hit the thermocline, the knife dropped again and that’s when I grabbed him, took off his knife and stuck it in my BC. I had enough of watching and figured that this guy needed to get his mind off of it.

We proceeded to the flat and settled in to do a nut-n-bolt test. He fumbled a little bit with it but with 49 degree water, and 7mm gloves, he did ok. With the instructor on the edge of the flat, me in behind and a tad high, we had the student covered. The Instructor motioned for me to come in close and pointed to his slate which read “Platform #7 – follow me” Just as he turned away, that telltale sound of an inflator being blasted open hit me. The student was headed for the surface…

By the time I was off the flat and kicking for all I was worth, there was almost a full body length between me and the student. I was dumping everything I had in my BC with one hand all the while latching a hold of the student’s leg with the other. My weight and pulling on him slowed him just barely enough for me to take a bear hug on him and weigh him down. I tried to wrestle the inflator from his hand but he had a hold of it and had the button full blast. Even my grip on the dump valve hose was still not enough.

My mind was racing on how I could stop this guy short of pulling his reg out of his mouth making him grab for it by letting go of the inflator. I didn’t want to resort to that in case the guy held his breath instead of opting for grabbing for his regulator. By this point, we were at 30ft and heading up fast. I knew at some point I had to let go because we were ascending fast. I broke my grip and unwrapped my legs; letting him go. No use in two of us being casualties. I watched him rise the rest of the way up and lost sight of him as he went though the algae bloom. I looked back to see where the instructor was and he was not far behind, looking up at me with wide eyes.

When I reached the surface, I found the student still breathing and coherent, quiet, but coherent. He never said a word. I asked if he was ok looking to see if there were any immediate health issues and he just shook his head yes. By that time the instructor had surfaced and we all headed back to shore.

The student never said a word. He geared down, changed, packed up and left. Later on, back at the shop, the instructor gets me aside with the owner and told me that I saved both myself and the student’s life. First, by slowing his ascent and myself by keeping a level head and letting go when the “rescue” was beyond that point.

In ten years, that was the only incident that I’ve really been scared. I try to think back what I may have been able to pick up on shore before the dive that might have given me an inkling of what he was going to do. But I just can’t think of anything.

You just never know. Any thoughts on this??

 

[Snowbear]

Did anyone ever talk (or try to talk) to the student about what happened? Why he bolted? Why he wouldn't stop? Find out if he was hurt?

 

[Shiprekd]

During the surface swim back to shore, the instructor asked the guy on two occasions what happened? but the student never answered. He only shrugged his shoulders. We also asked if he wanted to be checked out by the EMT's and again, he just shook his head no.

Never saw or heard from him again.

One thing we noticed before he left, when he was packing up, we noticed a pack a smokes in his bag and threw the idea around that it may have been a contributing factor.

 

[Snowbear]

Bummer. Too bad he wouldn't talk ~ at minimum it could give you some insight as to what happened or what was going through his mind at the time.

 

[Diver0001]

....snip....

I grabbed him, took off his knife and stuck it in my BC. I had enough of watching and figured that this guy needed to get his mind off of it.

Good call

....snip....
of it and had the button full blast. Even my grip on the dump valve hose was still not enough.

You could have tried to get on the inflator and hang on it. It will open the pull dump and you'll have a little more control. I would also have smacked his hand off the inflator. Twice, harder the second time if he wouldn't let go. Unclipping the inflator hose would be my third choice.

My mind was racing on how I could stop this guy short of pulling his reg out of his mouth

:11: You're kidding. You'll end up drowning someone like that.

You just never know. Any thoughts on this??

It doesn't sound like you could have seen this one coming. Your actions sound appropriate to me, but I'd worry about you having the thought of removing his reg. I think you need to see this as a non-option in the future. My suggestions about how to deal with the inflator are above. Personally, I also try to get to know the students before I assist with them on the check out dives. It's not always possible but it does help you to anticipate better if you've seen them in training first.

R..

 

[subaquaman]

Did the student show any signs of nervousness/apprehension before the dive? When he was doing the nut and bolt test did you notice his eyes and his body movement? Did he seem slightly panicked or was it completely out of the blue?

 

[jbd]

In ten years, that was the only incident that I’ve really been scared. I try to think back what I may have been able to pick up on shore before the dive that might have given me an inkling of what he was going to do. But I just can’t think of anything.

You just never know. Any thoughts on this??

What was the students dive history? When and where was he trained? How many dives overall and most importantly how many dives locally i.e. lakes and quarries.
Someone who was trained in warm clear waters and has not accumulated much experience is going to be quite apprehensive in the dive environment you describe. Couple that with an overall lack of experience and you may well be putting them in over their head so to speak. Learn all you can about their dive history before the dive and find out, to the extent you can, how comfortable they feel with the planned dive. If they seem uncomfortable with it, then it might be best to do some fun dives and mentoring until they feel more comfortable with the environment described.

Even if the instructor had done a couple of dives towards the AOW just prior to the dive you went on, it could be the guy finally had hit his stress limit.

As to the dive scenario itself, put yourself in the students position for a moment and think how you may feel. Your instructor is out in front of you leading the dive and you are haviing some difficulty following him due to the low viz. About all you can see is his fins. There is another guy with you somewhere but you never see him as he is above and behind you. This little voice starts softly whispering, "I'm all alone", "I'm all alone" "Its dark, its cold, I don't know where I'm at and I'm all alone" This builds until finally the little voice becomes a huge thundering roaring voice that is screamingI'm All ALONE!!!!

The instinct is to head for safety which in the inexperienced divers mind is always the surface. IMO, the instructor should have been swimming beside the student, like a buddy, and if an assistant is needed for navigational purposes then they(the assistant) should have lead the way to the destination.

 

[lamont]

i'd guess cold water paranoid narc started settling in. possibly exacerbated by breathing heavier and then taking a CO2 hit and really getting loopy. the cold and the low viz would be a contributing factor in any event.

a bunch of my early deeper dives (90-100 fsw) involved having to ignore that little paranoid voice in my head telling me all the things that could go wrong at that depth -- i used to look forwards to ascending to 70-80 fsw when i'd warm up and "de-narc" and everything would be cool. of course, i knew that the difference between 70-80 fsw and 90-100 fsw wasn't really that different in terms of what could go wrong, but it made a difference for that little voice.

 

[Shiprekd]

You could have tried to get on the inflator and hang on it. It will open the pull dump and you'll have a little more control. I would also have smacked his hand off the inflator. Twice, harder the second time if he wouldn't let go. Unclipping the inflator hose would be my third choice.

The student had a grip like you wouldn't believe on the inflator. It was one where the button is close to the hose and his hand was covering up the connector. There was no chance of getting it unhooked. The guy had it lifted way above his head, and you only have so many hands and little time to work with.

You're kidding. You'll end up drowning someone like that. .but I'd worry about you having the thought of removing his reg. I think you need to see this as a non-option in the future.

There's no way I would knock out someone's reg. That's just stupid. But when put into a situation like that, your mind races - Have you tried getting a-hold of someone kicking for all their worth? you have to darn near double your ascent rate to catch them, hang on, wrestle with them AND their unknown equipment, and save your own hide at the same time. Swatting this guy like a lil kid was not going to help.. Remember, this guy had 2 hands and not one. He wasn't a willing recipient of my attempts.

The instructor happened me as a crab on a handline. Workin for all I was worth tryin to keep the bait from going to the surface. The problem was, I didn't have 4 extra legs and arms.

 

[Diver0001]

The student had a grip like you wouldn't believe on the inflator. It was one where the button is close to the hose and his hand was covering up the connector. There was no chance of getting it unhooked. The guy had it lifted way above his head, and you only have so many hands and little time to work with.

I see. It doesn't sound like you had many options. It's a good thing he didn't start hitting you... It's not exactly what you imagine when you think about DM-ing is it....

There's no way I would knock out someone's reg. That's just stupid.

I'm glad we're on the same page about that.

But when put into a situation like that, your mind races - Have you tried getting a-hold of someone kicking for all their worth? you have to darn near double your ascent rate to catch them, hang on, wrestle with them AND their unknown equipment, and save your own hide at the same time. Swatting this guy like a lil kid was not going to help.. Remember, this guy had 2 hands and not one. He wasn't a willing recipient of my attempts.

I think the only thing you can do in these situations is try to slow the ascent as much as you can. Someone in a real panic is going to the surface. Period. You can only control *how*. Watch for bubbles. If he's making bubbles then just hang on and do what you can to slow him down. If he's not making bubbles then you need to *arrest* the ascent even if it means getting physical. An instructor I know uses a firm poke to the belly to break the breath holding. I'd break fingers to get them off of the inflator if I had to choose between that and letting him embolize.

In terms of gripping him, try to get ahold of the 1st stage with your right hand if you can. That gives you the most options to control the student's position in the water and the largest reach around his gear. It sounds to me in this case as if that would ahve been asking too much.

R..