Tried to Kill Myself but Failed!

[NW Dive Dawg]

That sounds like the best reason to go with a bungee necklace for your pony. One less dangly on your chest and you will always know where your pony reg is.

That right there is a solid recommendation!

 

[Stoo]

Nice story and one with a Happy Ending. We've all done the same and worse...

I've been wearing doubles with an isolator to dive solo for about 40 years. This configuration eliminates the OP's problem completely. I can stick either reg in my face and get the same result. In the event of a regulator issue, I can switch to the other in about 3 seconds.

 

[davehicks]

So I’ve been on the fence on whether or not to post this……because it’s really hard to openly and publicly admit when you do something totally stupid. But then I thought more about it last night and figure that if it might provide some productive and positive food for thought and discussion…..or maybe help someone else from making the same mistake….that I really do need to talk about it.

Day before yesterday we are out on our boat and I’m doing a nice easy dive to celebrate my 68th B-day and get us a nice Lingcod for my B-day dinner. (it's a tradition thing) I’m a solo diver (certified SDI/TDS) and have done this dive many times with no issues. Nice easy exchange with little current, descent vis of about 10 ft.. I dive an HP102 Steel with a back-mount 19cf pony and a Zeagle Ranger BC.

My wife snapped the pic below right before I donned my hood, mask, gloves, fins, speargun & stringer prior to back-roll entry over the side. In looking at the pic I have realized my mistake and what happened. The “yellow” circle is my primary Apeks 2nd stage. My pony second is kinda hidden just below and behind my right hand. The “green” circle is the clip that I normally route my pony hose through so that the pony 2nd is basically is right in front of me, always there and easily accessible. Once I finished kitting up with all my crap for the dive, I was in a rush to splash and inadvertently must have grabbed my pony 2nd rather than my primary, inserted the pony 2nd into my cake-hole, took a couple of hooves, then back-rolled into the Sound. All seemed good so I gave my wife the OK, swam forward, descended the anchor line to about 60ft and began my hunt.

About 10 minutes into the dive and after bagging and stringing a nice dinner Ling, I noticed my reg getting a bit stiff to breath….then the next breath where there was NO gas. I immediately went for my pony 2nd, but it wasn’t there in it’s normal spot because it was already in my mouth and not in it’s normal clip. My brain is spinning and totally telling me that my main gas supply is depleted for some reason and I NEED my pony 2nd. I have a moment of what I would call “high anxiety” and possibly first stage panic. My brain is saying WTF??? ESA??? so I go to my BC / Air 2 thinking that I can “re-breath” on the way to the surface if needed. The Air 2 immediately delivers blessed gas from my still full primary tank and I am some how able to calm down, settle to the bottom, re-group and access the situation.

I check my pony SPG and it’s zeroed out so I start to realize my mistake. I sweep and recover my primary 2nd, switch to that from my Air 2….and all is good. I check my primary computer and realize that I still have 3350psi of a 3500psi fill. The picture of what happened starts to clarify in my mind and I bet I spent a good full minute or two on my knees just breathing and slowing down my heart rate as I stare at my primary AI computer and see that I have LOTS of primary gas available and all is well.

Being solo and with my redundant gas now gone, I call my dive and nav back to the anchor line and my marker strobe…….make a nice slow ascent with SS and surface with plenty of primary gas remaining. Had a great Lingcod dinner and glad that I get to be a year older…

Anyway….. it’s not easy to post this because I’m totally embarrassed that I made such a stupid flipp’n mistake…. But hoping that we might be able to have some productive conversation about it.

My “personal” lessons learned.

• Confirm, crosscheck, double check and triple check all configurations and functions before splashing.
• Confirm, crosscheck, double check and triple check all configurations after splashing.
• Don’t be lazy about checking gauges early and often. If I had checked my primary gas PSI earlier I would have realized that I wasn’t using my primary gas.

That’s it. Sorry about the long post and thanks for listening….

Congrats on surviving the OOA incident!

The other lesson you should learn from this is too stop back mounting your point bottle, and to upgrade to a 40cf slung bottle.

This exact scenario has killed a number of divers. It is a common error sure to back mounting alternate air.

Lots of folks start back mounting with a pony and are reluctant to sling. But slinging it is easier, more flexible, and safer as your secondary can't be easily conflated with a primary. With a 40cf setup it is also nearly neutrally buoyant.

 

[RZomerman]

Scary to read - and indeed looking at your SPG (AI computer) could have indicated problems earlier - but a proper S-drill at 6m or at depth could have also sorted things out while still having plenty of gas in all systems

but I too managed to not fully open a bottle - which only gave problems after I inflated my SMB (orally) and wanted to take a really big breath - only to receive gas+50% water ....

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Congrats on surviving the OOA incident!

The other lesson you should learn from this is too stop back mounting your point bottle, and to upgrade to a 40cf slung bottle.

This exact scenario has killed a number of divers. It is a common error sure to back mounting alternate air.

How did this result in killing a number of divers? The reason I ask is that I've experienced this myself. Though I was on the backside of Molokini, group diving with a guide with everyone spread out (so solo). I used the same reg for my primary and my pony. I was at probably 80 feet when I noticed that my gas was out. I figured it out fairly quickly as I looked at my SPG and saw I had all my gas. I just switched and then stuck closer to the DM. The only thing I fixed after that was to make sure the regs were unique and to necklace my pony.

I like having my chest area clear, so I never slung a pony.

 

[davehicks]

How did this result in killing a number of divers? The reason I ask is that I've experienced this myself. Though I was on the backside of Molokini, group diving with a guide with everyone spread out (so solo). I used the same reg for my primary and my pony. I was at probably 80 feet when I noticed that my gas was out. I figured it out fairly quickly as I looked at my SPG and saw I had all my gas. I just switched and then stuck closer to the DM. The only thing I fixed after that was to make sure the regs were unique and to necklace my pony.

I like having my chest area clear, so I never slung a pony.

Because not everyone handles an ooa situation successfully.

I know many people who have told me this same story. +1 from you.

 

[lowwall]

Since this is posted in Basic, I'm going to focus on what this can tell us regular diving folk.

First thing is don't rush your set up. Second is have a real predive check. You don't want or need it to be elaborate, cause then you'll miss steps unless you want to go the full checklist route. IMO that's overkill for rec dives, but whatever works for you.

For me, the last check before splashing is reg in mouth, look at the SPG, and then take a deep breath. You want to see a quick wiggle on the needle. If it doesn't move, you've got the wrong second stage in your mouth. (If you aren't carrying a pony, then give the diver to your right his/her octo back.) If the needle drops noticeably, then your valve is not fully opened.

[Edit, the part with the strikethrough is probably wrong. See next post.]

As I mentioned above, I do another check at the end of the descent to make sure everything is squared away. This can be done while moving after you go through it a couple of times.

But the most important thing is doing what the OP did and keep your head together if you have a problem. That's what separates amusing anecdote from tragedy.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

For me, the last check before splashing is reg in mouth, look at the SPG, and then take a deep breath. You want to see a quick wiggle on the needle. If it doesn't move, you've got the wrong second stage in your mouth.

I can't get the needle to move. At least I don't perceive movement. And yes, was breathing off the short hose. I can't attach video here but am happy to provide it through other means.

 

[scubaozy]

There are a lot of similar cases in bsac incident reports as well, divers using the wrong gas source resulting oog, manageable with buddy diving but pretty scary for solo.
Using a significantly different mouthpiece for your secondary might hint you as well, I use jax for my main, so, I do notice if I bite a standard mouthpiece.

 

[happy-diver]

Fantastic post NW Dive Dawg you look great, good gear good hair I would ditch the suicide clip

As far as the methods every one else uses, with all the available unexpected surpises underwater
why can you not at least, get dressed right, the only thing where you actually have some control

​

I use identical seconds and having different regs only postpones future inevitable incompetence