If you've been reading up on accidents, you must have learned that most fatalities are found with their weights on. *** Usually everyone is left shaking their heads wondering why you didn't drop your weights. I'm so glad you're still around so we can ask the question.
I understand a lot better now how divers are found at the bottom with their weights, air in their tank, and drowned nonetheless. Panic at any depth is much more dangerous than I ever realized. I really thought I was immune to panic, but I was (very) wrong.
All that I can say is that it is very hard to make decisions in the midst of hyperventilating and real panic. Believe me, I tried very hard to control my breathing and lower my anxiety so I could think more clearly, but huge boost of adrenaline that surged through me, the choking and coughing up water, the constriction of the thick suit and hoodie around my chest and neck, and the near black outs made it impossible for me to recover my senses fully.
I remember that I had to use every ounce of my remaining will power just to focus on (1) keeping my reg in my mouth and breathing at all costs, through coughing fits and the horrible feeling of not getting enough air, and (2) executing on the plan I had to get to the anchor line and climb up it. My brain just did not have enough rational thought left for me to even think about other possibilities, even though in retrospect I can see other options clearly.
I did consider dumping my weights very briefly, right after I inhaled water. I rejected the idea of dumping all my weights, only because I was choking and hyperventilating and I really did not think I would make it without inhaling too much air while ascending too quickly...and I saw the anchor line as an alternative that didn't involve the risk of an embolism. But to be clear, my decision to pursue the anchor line and not dump weights was made in a matter of a couple of seconds, and I did not take a lot of time to think it through because I had to focus on keeping the reg in my mouth which was very hard to do both because i was coughing up water and hyperventilating and because I had this insane urge to rip the reg out of my mouth. By the time I reached the anchor line and started climbing up, I was in survival mode and very narrowly focused on the limited tasks I had assigned to myself - you probably could have drained all the water from Lake Michigan, and I still would have finished my climb up that rope!!
Even so, I still think that if I had dumped all of my weights and tried to make an emergency ascent in the condition I was in, I would have died (drowned at the surface, or from embolism) or at the very least ended up in the hospital.
I'll leave many other significant points of this "near miss" accident analysis to dissection of others. (At least until I notice no one else mention the other elephant in the room.
There is an elephant that no one has noticed yet?!
---------- Post added September 17th, 2015 at 03:34 PM ----------
I dumped the camera as soon as I started descending too fast. I had it on a bungee so I had no concern about letting go of it, but believe me I did not think one bit about the camera. Somehow it got off the bungee too. My "buddy" was good enough to go back down and retrieve it for me.
I also understand the points about the mistakes my buddy made. I agree I may have let him off the hook too easily, but I also am trying to be pragmatic and focus on what I can learn from this. What good does it do to point out what my buddy did wrong? He isn't here to explain his perspective (AFAIK), and he can't benefit from the assessment. I could also point out the boat captain's role - he certainly was aware of the inflator issue and agreed with the plan (which was first proposed by my buddy, not me) to go without the inflator. He did not monitor my descent at all and arguably should have been aware that something was wrong from the fact that our bubbles were so far separated, and mine had not moved from my descent point. So blame to go around, but I guess I don't see the point of focusing on the conduct of the folks who are not on this board.
If the point is that I did not do enough research in choosing a mentor to teach me fresh water/wreck diving (or maybe I should have engaged in a formal class rather than trying to find a stranger to mentor me), then I would agree and I have already resolved that before I try anything like that again, I will be taking classes.
