Thinking about the "what ifs"

[TSandM]

My mind sometimes resembles a bulldog -- It keeps chewing on something until it's satisfied it's been chewed enough

So I've still been thinking about this recreational/techreational/technical diving idea. And after this weekend's class, one of the things that hit me was the matter of the "what ifs".

We spent a little time over the weekend learning some basic procedures. We spent a LOT of time talking about and practicing what we would do if any number of problems arose while we were diving wrecks. And, during the Rec 2 class I took a few weeks back, which was designed to make us fit to do deeper recreational dives, we spent a LOT of time on planning and preparation, a little time on techniques, and the entire rest of the time on coping with emergencies and malfunctions.

In my open water class, we mostly learned techniques, and we did a little bit of "what if" stuff -- I mean, we did learn an air-sharing procedure. In AOW, it was mostly diving, and learning some techniques. Even in the deep dive, we didn't talk about any what ifs. In Rescue, we did talk about what ifs, but that's the whole focus of the class.

So I guess my rambling point is that, as one's diving evolves into more challenging and riskier places, more and more thought and time is spent on considering the possible things that go wrong, the planning to prevent them, and the procedures to mitigate them. This is the primary focus of advanced training. And spending some time thinking about what ifs would be very good for those of us who do purely recreational dives. What if your mask came off at 100 feet on a 600 foot wall? What ifyou can't find the anchor line to come up to the boat?

Thinking about risks, planning to avoid them and procedures to mitigate them might have made a difference in this weekend's Puget Sound fatality.

 

[do it easy]

The "what ifs" are an odd beast with me. They keep me up at night or running down to my garage to check my gear. But as soon as I start to gear up, it all disappears. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

For me, the "what ifs" are a line in the water about how I feel about the risk. It can change from day to day and from dive to dive. The "what ifs" are a good way to keep complacency in check, but we have to be objective and honest with ourselves. And I think they are especially important for new divers or divers in a new environment. I'm a little apprehensive about diving in Seattle- it's a new environment for me and I have no clue about shore entries, tides, or currents.

 

[sea nmf]

Maybe it would have. However, if the information the board is correct, these are very new divers. How can any class cover all of the what-ifs?

I mean, I learned in Open Water that 130' is the recreational limit and the reasons for that. It sounds like they chose to disregard that. Maybe if they had gone over the what-ifs, he would have been saved. Perhaps if they had limited the dive to 130' the tragedy would also have been avoided.

I like the idea of discussing the what-ifs. I generally do it mentally before I dive. But I know from this board that I miss much of what could happen and don't have a plan.

 

[ccohn2000]

You're right. The primary reason I've taken advanced training, and even become a Dive Con, is to plan and work on what if scenarios. Hopefully I will have enough practice dealing with them in a safer environment, that if something does happen for real I won't freeze in a duh moment for too long and will be able to appropriately deal with the problem. I have found that one of the hardest things for me to learn is to see when someone else is having an issue, so it can be dealt with immediately. The Dive Con experience helps because the whole time I'm functioning in that capacity I am constantly watching the students for problems and trouble shooting them when they occur. It's harder on regular recreational dives though. We don't always stay really close together, and I'm diving with experienced folks who I perceive as competent, so I don't watch them as closely. I know they're not watching me at all. As for your mask question above, I've worried about that too. I have a spare to keep in my pocket should the need arise. Hopefully I will remember to put it in my pocket on dives where lack of a mask could be potentially deadly.

 

[DivetheRock]

Excellent post. I find myself continuously thinking about the What ifs. I recently had a what if situation happen to me where I ran out of air (thankfully at a shallow depth), which was my fault due to neglecting to communicate effectively with my buddy, and ignore the rule of thirds (plus an array of other mistakes, most likely). I have since taken measures to make sure this does not happen again.
I believe you're 100% correct in saying that giving these situations some preventative thought and planning serves both recreational and more technical diving alike.
One of my thoughts is, if I were at the (as you said) 100ft. depth on a 600 ft. wall and my mask came off, what would I do?...How would I read my gauges to do my stop(s)?...etc, etc... You could say "I would do this or that...", but would you really be able to do it?
Once again, excellent post. Actually, I'm new to scuba, and am making it my plan to practice some techniques (such as mask retrieval) on my next dive.

 

[do it easy]

The other way I use the "what ifs" is a failure tool. I plan my dives and equipment so that any single failure or problem is survivable and has a solution or protocol for mitigating it.

Some examples-
lost mask- I keep a spare mask in my pocket
reg failure- I dive doubles, so I have a redundant regulator

Another example is where I put my whistle and SMB- I used to have them on my BP/W, but now I keep them in my drysuit pocket. This is specifically for the possibility that I am at the surface and have to ditch my tanks (maybe there is a hole in the BC and I can't float them at the surface). In this case, I want the whistle and SMB with me. Yes, I understand this is probably a rare event, but if it were to happen I would rather survive it than not. Besides, Murphy has a way of sneaking up on me. The one dive that I forgot my spool and reel was the one dive that I actually needed them. I left them on the boat and during the dive, the boat broke free of the mooring, so I had no upline, a little bit of deco, and no idea if I was drifting in a current or not once I left the bottom. That was the one dive that I was actually happy to be out of the water and back on the boat.

 

[DivetheRock]

The spare mask you and ccohn 2000 use, are they the folding type for easy storage (say, in a bc pocket)? I've never heard of this (as I'm a newbie), but sounds like a great preventative measure.
Oh, and when you say you dive double regs, what exactly does this imply? Could you use your own Octo as a "double reg" in an emergency situation? Please forgive my newbieness, but I'm interested in learning...and staying alive.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Maybe it would have. However, if the information the board is correct, these are very new divers. How can any class cover all of the what-ifs?

You can't, Becky ... what you can do is to try to impart a certain sense of mentality to how one approaches diving. It all starts with how you think about the dive.

As an example ... in Open Water class, you learn to "end the dive with 500 psi". That's a good starting point ... it teaches you to not run your gas gauge down to empty, so that you have some reserve in case something unplanned has to be dealt with. But it also encourages a mindset of thinking about how much gas you have after the dive. We also teach OW students to monitor their gas gauge regularly ... so that they know how much gas they have during the dive. But as we start to do more aggressive dives, it then becomes necessary to think about how much gas we have before the dive ... by asking ourselves two questions:

- Do I have enough gas to do this dive?
- If my buddy lost his gas RIGHT NOW, would I have enough to get us both safely to the surface?

In adopting this mindset, we are anticipating "what if" scenarios without getting into specifics. Quite honestly, there are too many possibilities of things that can go wrong to completely cover all scenarios. By adopting a mindset that encourages planning before, and awareness during the dive, we can assure ourselves that we've anticipated adequately to deal with most of them.

I mean, I learned in Open Water that 130' is the recreational limit and the reasons for that. It sounds like they chose to disregard that. Maybe if they had gone over the what-ifs, he would have been saved. Perhaps if they had limited the dive to 130' the tragedy would also have been avoided.

In this case it wouldn't have helped ... this dive "plan" had more fundamental issues.

I like the idea of discussing the what-ifs. I generally do it mentally before I dive. But I know from this board that I miss much of what could happen and don't have a plan.

Even with good planning, Murphy catches us all on a bad day. The trick is to know when to call the dive before you piss him off ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[do it easy]

The spare mask you and ccohn 2000 use, are they the folding type for easy storage (say, in a bc pocket)? I've never heard of this (as I'm a newbie), but sounds like a great preventative measure.
Oh, and when you say you dive double regs, what exactly does this imply? Could you use your own Octo as a "double reg" in an emergency situation? Please forgive my newbieness, but I'm interested in learning...and staying alive.

The spare mask is an old mask that I have.

I dive with two tanks on my back that each have a regulator on them, so if I had a free flowing regulator, I could shut off one tank and still breathe the gas in the other. So yes, I would use my own octo in this situation. Some people use a pony bottle instead- same idea, but with a smaller tank.

 

[TSandM]

There's no way any class or any planning could cover all the what ifs -- But the most likely issues, and often the most dangerous ones, can be catalogued, and if you have a vocabulary of coping strategies, you can combine them as needed. The most important thing is the mindset that proper planning and preparation and training for contingencies become bigger and bigger parts of the whole process of a dive, as the dives become more challenging.