Task Overload

[diverrobs]

My buddy and I did a quarry dive (Innerkip, Ontario) last week. At this quarry there are a couple of planes, buses, trucks, etc on bottom. I spent the $5.00 and got a map showing locations of all the stuff on bottom. We geared up and went out. After getting down to the 25' max depth we discovered 2 things, the whole quarry was silted up and there was a thermocline at about 22'. This meant we could only see about 6 feet when at the bottom. I set my bouyancy at 25' and started out on the correct heading. With no visual references and paying attention to my compass for direction (we were heading to a bus), I quickly found my self at 18' and rising quickly, I dumped air from by BC by dumping from the sholder and got my arm up to dump air from my dry suit. By the time I stopped the ascent I was at 8'. We surfaced and decided to try again. This time, I paid more attention to my depth, watching my computer for the depth. Everytime I adjusted my bouyancy, I would loose my heading and would spend 30 seconds finding it again (no visual reference for depth or direction). Doing this, I had a hard time maintiaining direction. By the end of the dive, I finally manage to keep a heading and maintain my depth but I lost my dive buddy, and we ended up 200 feet appart when we both surfaced because I wasn't checking where he was (but I maganage to maintain my heading and depth perfectly). He even used his noise maker but due to the wet suit hood, I couldn't hear it. We never did find the bus, just to low vis.

I know a long story but I shows how complicated I found trying to manage all these things at once. My buddy only had to follow me and watch his buoyancy and even he lost me once.

I am a relatively new diver, this was my 18th dive and only the second in poor vis. Diving in the carribean in warm water with lots of vis. is simple and easy, the biggest issue there is remembering to check your air and depth frequently. In the cold quarry, in low vis., trying to mainatian a headding with no reference, trying to maintain depth with no reference, maintaining bouyancy with the dry suit and bcd, checking on my buddy and air supply is an awful lot to do very few seconds. Is there a system or some other way to deal with everything you have to do in this situation. We could have aborted the dive but I really learned alot about diving in the 40 minutes we were in the water. I really hate to abort dives because they are all learning experiences.

 

[mfalco]

My advice is to just keep practicing. You will get use to low visibility fairly quickly. Try swimming side by side, instead of having your buddy follow you. In a quarry with no current it should be easy. Also slow down. I'm guessing you were swimming fast if you lost your buddy. The slower you go, the less air you will use.

 

[BGF]

I'm still pretty new (40 dives logged, 6 in my DS) so take this as nothing more than MHO, but the key that I have learned to dealing with task loading in cold low vis waters is nailing static buoyancy. It shouldn't matter where you are depth wise, as long as you have 1' of vis to see your wrists you should be able to stop, take a bearing, adjust course if needed and then continue forward. Obviously this is said more easily than done, but I think it's the solid answer.

 

[fisheater]

I like to think of learning diving as being a bit like learning driving.

I'm totally comfortable (now) bobbing and weaving through commute traffic, with my radio on, my cell phone going and operating a clutch and 5 speed manual transmission. However, there's NO WAY a 16 year-old new driver could do that.

Take your time. Add only one new task at a time. Concentrate and relax. It'll come with time and effort.

 

[TSandM]

Wow, 18th dive and you were tackling that? I'm impressed (and that's NOT sarcasm). NWGratefulDiver has a dive like that in his AOW class, except he splits the responsibilities. One buddy keeps track of time and depth, the other monitors heading. I did that exercise with about 70 dives under my belt and failed miserably at it. I'm not entirely sure how well I'd do at it TODAY. Keeping track of all that information in the absence of any visual reference is a very difficult task, and kudos to you for working patiently at it. That kind of diligence will pay off in spades, with increased confidence and skill when you get the chance to go back to the warm, clear water.

 

[Guba]

Okay, I'm just a new diver, too, but I think mfalco and TSandM hit it. Slow down, break the tasks down into parts, and relax a bit. I have a feeling that anxiety (or just putting too much emphasis on the goal) played a part. For now, let the leader (you) tackle the navigation and depth. The partner maintains contact, perhaps with one hand on the leader's tank or leg (the leg provides feedback by touch, and you know he/she is still there).
For some reason, it sounds like buoyancy control is still an issue. If your trim and buoyancy are right on, then you shouldn't be bobbing to extremes even with your attention focused on the compass. Getting your weighting and buoyancy square might go a long way in solving your problem, particularly at relatively shallow depths and in very limited vis. (I say this from experience, by the way.)
Now, before the flaming starts...1) sure, this should have been squared away in OW training, and some agencies are obviously at fault, blah blah blah...we don't need to rehash that here. 2) I'm no expert...but I did have similar experiences in the not-too-distant past, so someone like me might be "qualified" to respond in a thread such as this. 3) Yes, the poster should be able to do all these things at once, and he WILL as he gets more experience at task loading.
So please, be kind. We're all just trying to help.

 

[diverrobs]

I did 3 pool dives with the dry suit and got good at bouyancy control. I think the issue with bouyancy is that I had no idea if I was horizontal in the water because of the lack of reference. I made sure I was neutrally bouyant (took my time at it to get it right) but still found my self heading up. Holding the compass infront of me and looking at it probably had me "planing" up a bit. I could probably work on the trimming a bit more with the gear. The bubble in the dry suit tends to be near my sholders and the wieght in my belt keeps my waist low (I will try moving my HP100 tank up a little higher (not to the point where it hits my head though). Everything is easy in a pool where there is lots of visibility and reference points to see.

I really like the idea of my buddy keeping hold of my arm and swimming beside me. I think this is key. He will provide a visual refernece as to my depth (i.e. we will use each other as a reference for the depth as odds are we both won't be heading up or down at the sime time). This way I can focus on where I am going. My buddy can look after watching depth and air (in 25' of water with HP100 tanks we have alot of bottom time). Also we won't get separated.

I did my OW and AOW training in Jamaica with 60' visibility. I did my advanced open water navigation dive (a joke really, not appropaiate advanced training) in 60' visibility. I now reallize that inadvertently I was doing as much navigation by using visual references as I was using the compass. It is alot different when you cannot choose an object 60' away and swim to it and then take anouther compass bearing, choose anouther object and swim to it.

Thanks for the posts. Having my buddy beside me will help a great deal!

 

[Guba]

I now reallize that inadvertently I was doing as much navigation by using visual references as I was using the compass. It is alot different when you cannot choose an object 60' away and swim to it and then take anouther compass bearing, choose anouther object and swim to it.

Very true. As for the dive that gave you problems (6 foot vis)---welcome to my world. The "Texas Swamp Divers" forum here on SB isn't named that for nothing. We dive in short vis MOST of the time around these parts, so we can truly empathize!

 

[Rick Inman]

For at minute, I though I was reading one of my old posts. Things change, but not that much. Last Saturday, in a team of 3, we lost a buddy, and when we surfaced we were about 200 feet apart (we were on scooters).

Nice post, thanks!

 

[dbulmer]

Rob,

A couple of things for you to try.

1) You lead the dive and after let's say 15 mins your buddy has to lead the dive. Agree this before your dive. Now when 15 mins is on your timer/computer both of you stop. This will get you both looking at time and the stop will give you instant feedback on your buoyancy control.

Instead of time you might agree to swap at a particular PSI - this will get you actively monitoring your gas and seeing what gas your buddy has - show each other your gauges ie stop and communicate your gas either by showing your gauge or indicating it by number - again buoyancy control gets practiced as does communincation with your buddy.

- if you know what SAC rate is good for you - if not - try doing a few searches on SAC rate.
(if you know what someone's SAC rate is and the target depth you can calculate how long it will take before one or both of you runs out of gas or in point 1 when you swap roles).

After the dive you can ask your buddy what your trim was like (unless you already carry wetnotes or a slate - if you do stop and write it down) - finning can often mask issues in fine buoyancy control.

BGF above is spot on in his observation.


2) When you get to your target depth keep your hand off the LP inflator - try breathing a little deeper or shallower to alter your depth and stay as horizontal as you can - if you start sinking or rising too quickly then re-adjust your buoyancy with the inflator but do this in small amounts and keep practicing.

3) Invest in some decent torches and ask some questions here or elsewhere on light communications - lights can be used to keep in contact with buddies.

Just a few tips that might be useful.

I find the trick with low vis is to keep my mind focussed on my buddy - is he breathing ok, is he doing anything odd , has he found anything interesting etc and one other thing if you find that you're not enjoying the dive just thumb it - sometimes you just get days when you get down there and think why did I bother!