Uncontrolled free ascent

[Trwmodela]

Plan your dive and dive your plan......this is very important on deep dives! I used several guides in the Florida Keys to dive the deep wrecks. We did detailed dive plans and dove the plan. Also, I took my Deep Diver Course on the deep wrecks and learned about the rule of thirds. I have been lucky to build experience on Nekton Diving Cruises. Live-aboards are a great tool if you can afford them.

But take additional training and built experience slowly. If you are not comfortable with your instructor get another.

 

[DBailey]

First, I need to ask what depth the guide is planning on taking me before the dive and indicate to him that I am not comfortable diving to that depth.

Yes, every diver should be part of the dive planning. Ideally, the first steps of the diving planning should occur before you ever pay for the dive charter. You should have a basic idea of the dive plan (depth and time) when you are signing up for the dive. If the profile doesn't suit your experience or taste, then take your business elsewhere.

Second, I am starting to use my dump valve on my right shoulder to empty air out of the bc before ascending and will doing my safety stop.

Ideally, at any point during your ascent, you should be neutrally buoyant if you stop kicking. This will take some practice (in shallower water). I do not recommend dumping all of your air and kicking from there. Dump some of your air and kick gently. Dump more air as needed on your ascent. Being slightly negative (instead of neutral) is ok, but you are shooting for neutral buoyancy. By the way, being properly weighted will help with this also.

Third is instead of ascending all the way, I should try ascending a few feet to buy more bottom time and more time to assess my situation.

This will vary based on the dive site. It is a great practice to gradually ascend throughout your dive. Get into the practice of deep stops as well. You know what a safety stop is, but a deep stop is a one minute stop at half of your deepest depth. Do some searches on these boards about deep stops to learn more.

Always keep learning, and you'll go far.

 

[FATdiver]

Sorry for not responding. I have been busy. I wanted to thank all of you for your comments and I will take your comments to heart.

Thanks for your coments!!

 

[Doubles]

Greetings FATdiver - I know this post is a bit late in the game, but hey you might stop back by and read it

I think you have received a lot of good advice - know your equipment, plan your dive, don't do a trust me dive.

You and your buddy have responsibilities to each other. One of which is making sure you both have enough gas to get the other to the surface in the event of some catastrophic event. You should be able to calculate how much air you need to get you and your buddy to the surface from a given depth. The link below is a very good article on that topic.

http://www.scriptkiddie.org/diving/rockbottom.html

I recommend that you find someone who can teach you proper gas planning though. Ask around and get a good instructor who can teach that.

Some divers use air integrated dive computers that calculates how much air they have and when they have to ascend. The problem with those computers is that they don't calculate for the buddy....

The other suggestion I have is about when to vent air from the bc. If you are shallow its good to vent as you start to swim up, but if your not shallow -say deeper than 30' you might want to just start to swim up slowly first and then start to vent as you need too - keeping your ascent at the proper rate. If you are deep and vent before you swim, you may actually descend and if you find yourself short on air - you would not want to make your ascent longer than necessary - which can happen if you vent too soon.

It gets better with practice...

Thanks for posting

Cheers

Steve

 

[BarryNL]

DMs taking new divers way beyond sensible limits seems to be a recurring theme. It certainly happened to me too - my first post certification dive was with a dive shop in Greece. I'd told the DM that I'd only done the four OW dives (and that was a year previously); nevertheless he took me to 25m!

I don't think it's practical to expect new divers to question or otherwise criticise DMs who, at that stage in your SCUBA education, often seem like some sort of dive-gods. I think maybe the agencies need to tackle this in their training.

Firstly, more emphasis in the DM and further courses about staying within the recommended limits when leading dives. Perhaps pointing out to DMs that most courts will throw out the waiver form if they've been blatantly irresponsible might help too

Secondly, including something in the basic OW course about insisting on knowing a dive plan pre-dive and insisting that limits are adhered to.

 

[deppie]

What happened to you, as others pointed out, is not strange at all. I did the same thing- inflate my BC and quickly ascend- at my first OW lesson. From that day, EVERY time we went for a dive (even during my AOW dives) my instructor kept telling me again and again and again: 'every problem you have in the water is solved in the water. Stop, think, double- check you gear, communicate with your buddy, rationalise, react. Always do a safety stop. Empty all air from your BC and ascend slowly using your fins and only your fins. The ascend should be at a rate of 10meters per minute- always check your gauge as you ascend'.
I think there are more experienced divers than me, to give you advice here, but I think you should get more training and carefully choose your instructors. If you are an OW diver you shouldn't dive that deep. There should be a breefing before the dive explaining the diving plan: time, depth, direction, gas. If the plan is not within your expertise, don't do it.
As you get more training, experience and familiarise with your gear your dives should be enjoyable as well as safe.

 

[pwr2al4]

Blake, its good to see that you had to experience such a bad situation so early in your dive career and your still here analyzing what went wrong and what you could do differently in the future.
My first thought is that unless you signed up for this dive, that DM had absolutely no business whatsoever taking you down right to the edge of the rec. limits on one of your first real OW dives. Completely and totally unprofessional and just a real jackass move.

Was there any type of briefing or impromptu meeting on the deck of the boat that went over what the plan was going to be, the depths, safety precautions, how the captain wanted you to enter and exit the water?

As others have already said you should also have a somewhat detailed plan of your expected dive, this often varies between divers, but I always take a few minutes on the ride out to sit down with my buddy, pull out the tables and calculate and old school dive profile on my slate and slip it in my pocket just in case. This probably would of quickly alerted you to the 8 or so minutes u had at the bottom which im sure you never expected since this was yoru first time at such a depth.

During the ascent stage on a normal dive, I am usually thinking about three things: keeping my ascent rate nice and slow as not to upset my computer, always be slowly exhaling out of your lungs on the way up, and continuing to completely empty my bc with the inflator raised over my head while monitoring both my ascent rate with my other hand as well as looking up for potential obstacles (boats other divers etc.) as I approach the surface.

Finally dont forget that in the event of an uncontrolled ascent, you can slow you ascent way way down by simply flaring your body out and creating as much drag in the water as possible. This is kinda a hard technique to practice, but when its done correctly it does help slow you down quite a bit.

 

[pwr2al4]

The third lesson is that you don't understand decompression and "no-deco" limits very well, and that's not entirely your fault. Decompression is taught at a very primitive level in OW classes. The fact is that, if you exceed your no-deco limits on your computer, you may be just fine, especially if you are using a conservative computer and it's your first dive of the day. Or you may not be fine, but if you DO the deco that you incur, you most likely will be. The big issue is if you have enough gas. But my point is that seeing the clock tick down on your computer is a reason to signal your buddies and indicate a desire to ascend, but it is NOT a reason to panic and shoot for the surface. My husband's computer got mad at him on a repetitive dive in LA, and we sat in ten feet of warm, clear water and played "rock, paper, scissors" until his computer was happy. You don't turn into a pumpkin because you exceeded your no-deco limits.

Ts, I dont really agree with what your saying here at all. There is a reason that the no deco limits are pounded into the heads of OW divers, while deco is purposely only lightly described. A new diver has literally dozens of things to worry about, the thought of even approaching the nodeco limits, let alone actually having to worry about making a deco stop should not even begin to cross their mind. telling a new diver that they will most likely be fine if they just relax and make the deco stops, and that "you don't turn into a pumpkin because you exceeded your no-deco limits." is sending an entirely false and probably dangerous message to a new diver who has absolutely no experience. Getting caught in a decompression situation is the same as a pilot who accidentally wanders into instrument rated conditions, for someone whos been well trained in IFR it should be a walk in the park, but for a new pilot who can only fly using visual flight rules it often ends in a death sentence. A deco dive to you or I may just be another day in the water, for a rookie diver whos just getting the hang of buoyancy control, let alone tech diving skills, it can often leads to a nice long painful chamber ride.

 

[schmal]

I recently did 4 scuba dives on holiday in Croatia after not diving for a year since gaining my padi OW qualification.

I did my OW in Aberdeen using dry suits, and was unfamiliar with wetsuit diving and the different weights that would be required.

I only did one dive per day and the first 2 dives were trouble free and very enjoyable as the DM knew the reef well and where to find all of the local exotic creatures.

The third dive was an absolute nightmare; there was a very strong current and the waves made it difficult to enter the water and don the BCD. The current was moving away from the beach and I was fine until I signaled to the DM that I had 100 Bar left so that he could turn the dive around. I was struggling to make any headway against the current which was constant and as we approached 12M depth I began to rise uncontrollably despite holding the vent above my head and pressing the vent button. This is where being familiar with the (hired) equipment becomes so important. The DM was signing for me to pull the vent valve but I honestly couldn't remember where it was located and was in a state of mild panic. Because I was not upright in the water the vent valve was useless as the air had migrated to the back of the BCD. When I hit the surface (approx 500M offshore) I managed to vent all the air in the BCD and get back down to the bottom. The DM made me do a 5 min safety stop (probably to be on the safe side) and it was a real struggle to get out of the water due to the strength of the current and the size of the waves at the surface. I ended up with 40 Bar in my tank and that is the lowest pressure that I have ever exited the water with; as a beginner with very little experience I always like to have plenty of air left at the end of a dive in case of emergencies.
I went diving with the same guy the next day to make sure that the experience didn't put me off diving in future, this time I made sure I knew exactly where the dump valve was located before getting into the water, but fortunately I didn't need it and had a pleasurable dive like the first two.

I never had that problem with dry suits as venting was part of the dry suit orientation training, and we only ever used the BCD’s for buoyancy on the surface.

It is interesting to note BarryNL's comment about depth, as on my second dive I was taken down to 27M and spent at least 15 mins below the 20M mark. This may be due to the fact that some DM's are not familiar with the padi rules (i.e. no deeper than 18M for OW divers) although I must admit I was quite pleased to have such a depth recorded on my dive computer.

 

[b1gcountry]

You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottom, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur King, you and all your silly English k-nnnnniggets. Thpppppt! Thppt! Thppt!

I'm French! Why do think I have this outrageous accent, you silly king-a?!

...Sorry, I couldn't resist.