Warning to new divers

[xjeslesx]

Near misses and learned lessons may be the appropriate forum for this info but I wanted it to be read by as many divers as possible.

While conducting an Advance Open Water class today we had an incident during the deep dive portion of the class. We had a student panick to the point of being non responsive at 70'. As it turned out the rescue was successful and she is ok.

While speaking with the student after the incident it was clear she had predive doubts about going to depth.

The point of this message is - Don't push yourself beyond your limits. If you don't feel comfortable, wait, do more shallow training dives. Your life is more important than a C-card, or a computer that reads three digits.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Any idea what actually triggered the panic? I understand the pre dive jitters perfectly. This is why I often do an in water assesment before allowing students to even begin the AOW class. What task was she performing when she panicked or was there one? Were conditions a factor? How may previous dives did she have? I aks these questions because I use incidents like this to reinforce or even alter portions of my AOW class to suit the student. No one is the same so if some task is too much for some I like to hear what other instructors use for task at depth. My standard is to arrive at say 90 feet, do a couple quick math problems to gauge reaction time on arrival, tie off reel and swim approx 25 yds to a ridge that sits right at 100. Then hand the reel off to the student who brings us back to the platform. They then secure it, hand it off to me and we begin to move to the ascent line. Somewhere between the reel secure and the actual ascent up the line I pull an OOA and we share air to 50 feet where we pick up the dropped stages and finish the dive on those as a multilevel. What drill was being done when she had her issue?

 

[xjeslesx]

It was an ocean deep dive (via boat), 15' viz. Cause of the panic due to 'feeling of not being able to breath, which lead to tunnel vision'. We were still decending, had not reached max depth, which is where the skills would have been performed. Only 2 minutes into dive.

 

[stakanak]

Good job xjeslesx saving her in the rescue!
I was just thinking about my AOW deep dive the other day. It could have lead to disaster.
My BCD was leaking air(the instructor checked it and gave the OK though I was still a little nervous about it).
The swim to the descent line was over 100 yards after a shore entry.
When we hit the bottom at 90' two of my classmates kicked up a torrent of sand leaving me in 0 vis kneeling on the bottom for at least 30 seconds.
I sat there waiting for the vis to clear when my instructors hand appeared out of no where and dragged me into the clear.
At that point in time I was kind of freaked out, but I somehow managed to keep my cool (although I was hearing things-definitely starting to narc out a bit).
We went through the skills and started our ascent.
The whole time (9 minutes) I had to concentrate on keeping calm and slowing my breathing rate.
I know this-if I was not used to high pressure situations I would have flipped out and rode the DCS death rocket to the surface!
I believe that if they are going to do the deep dive for the AOW, they should require at least 20 dives. Just my opinion.
Get Wet!

 

[FireInMyBones]

Good advice.

Everyone needs to be reminded from time to time that there is nothing underwater worth dying for and that any diver can call the dive at any time for any reason or no reason without fear of being ridiculed or embarrassed.

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

It was an ocean deep dive (via boat), 15' viz. Cause of the panic due to 'feeling of not being able to breath, which lead to tunnel vision'. We were still decending, had not reached max depth, which is where the skills would have been performed. Only 2 minutes into dive.

Scary stuff. Your post should be read by everyone. We also had an accident on our final day of AOW/Wreck/Deep course, many years ago. It wasn't due to improper training, but a diver doing something really stupid.

I think the training agencies do a really good job with advancing diver's training, which is very important to do with OW divers. It just takes someone like you described that didn't speak up about her concerns, and a problem develops for the whole dive team. Any quality instructor would certainly take extra time to help her if she informed them.

The student in our case drowned. And he almost killed his buddy in the process. But we were able to save the other guy. By your OP, she came close to getting very hurt or worse. I think about our incident every time I gear up, to learn from a tradgic decision.

On the other side, this is a safe sport. Just follow what your instructor(s) teach you and speak up if anything doesn't feel right.

Safe diving to you.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

What kind of dive experience did the student have? I'm curious about her number of dives, date of last dive, familiarity with cold water diving (exposure protection required), and history of deep diving (max depth recorded prior to AOW class).

I'm really not a fan of students going from OW to AOW training with very few experience dives in-between. When the AOW instructor takes the student down to 100 fsw for a class dive, it's not surprising that the student's comfort level just ain't going to be there. Before undertaking a dive to that depth, the student should have already done several dives in the 60-70-80-90 fsw range, effectively taking "baby steps" to the 100 fsw mark. Perhaps this should be part of the AOW curriculum. I'd advocate for an AOW class to begin with demonstration of mastery of the OW skills in confined water. This could then be followed by a series of gradually deeper open water dives accompanied by lectures on gas management, narcosis/CO2 retention, and how to be a good buddy.

Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[Lenaxia]

This is definitely food for thought. I'm actually signed up for my AOW and will only have 4 post-OW cert dives before I take the class. While I have full confidence to complete the class with no issues due to a very high comfort level under water, I would've liked to get more dives in before doing the class. Unfortunately due to timing, I need to take the AOW class now so I can get nitrox in too before a liveaboard trip later this year.

As with any sport I partake in, safety is first and foremost. Thankfully my instructor is the same excellent one from my OW class so she is more than familiar with my skill level and experience. I will definitely keep this thread in mind as I make my dives.

 

[gcs118]

The point of this message is - Don't push yourself beyond your limits. If you don't feel comfortable, wait, do more shallow training dives. Your life is more important than a C-card, or a computer that reads three digits.

I wanted to comment on this part, and I have been guilty of this before myself. When deciding to call a dive, if ANY of your reasons for wanting to continue the dive have anything to do with either impatience or money, you seriously need to re-evaluate whether or not to make the dive. Patience - you can and WILL get that cert or specialty card, even if you have to suck it up and wait until the next day, week or even a few months. Money - is the $150 bucks you paid for the charter or however much you paid in rental gear potentially worth a serious injury or even your life? This stuff happens and is more likely to happen if you start the dive stressed and uncomfortable. These should NEVER be reasons to persude you to make a dive, although they can be difficult to accept because statistics say you'll still be fine...

 

[Garrobo]

All this stuff is relative to the diver involved. I was on a dive with a couple, both of whom had over 200 dives, on a reef dive off Key Largo a couple years ago during which the female panicked at about 30 feet in calm, high-vis water. She went back up and sat out the dive. On the second dive she was alright and couldn't figure out why she panicked. $$it happens. As far as having a diver get in a certain amount of dives before he/she certs for AOW, that depends on the individual. I had over a hundred dives before I got mine but it was only because I needed it to dive the Orikany. Why? I don't know since I had many dives which were deeper than the 90 feet that the operator let us go down. I was a little peeved at this after spending a lot of money to get down to Alabama. Personally, I dove the Speigle Grove with only about a dozen ocean dives under my belt. Since I was in my 60's and only had some old, used equipment I got offf of my cousin's widow, I figure that the shop didn't know that I was a newbie and didn't check. Dumb me, I didn't question it either since they seemed to be satisfied, so off we went. I explained to the DM/insturctor the situation and he questioned me about a few things and decided that I'd be OK if I stuck with him and didn't let go of the buoy line and go off to Cuba, which I didn't. Down the rope we went and what a surprise. I was flying like a flag in a hurricane till we got to about fifty or sixty feet where it calmed down and by the time we were on the ship it was smooth as could be. Since I was an air hog at the time I was diving a 100AL which got me about twenty five minutes bottom time. The DM positioned me in just one area of the ship and told me to stay in that vicinity and buzz around a little while he did some stuff with a couple AOW students that he had nearby then he took us all inside a couple nearby compartment and then we all went back up. Same thing, flag time. I was exhiliarated and locked in to wreck diving from that day forward. Some will say that it was stupid of me and the DM to go ahead with the dive and I agree but, like I said before, it depends on the individual.