Weekend OW class. Pool

[jeffreyd]

I cant really shorten this but basically a student panicked at 14' with a simulated OOA trying to use a buddy Octo.

This is a weekend OW class and today (4-2-2005) was the first day in the water. There is a couple, myself, and 2 others. The male in the couple was having difficulties such as dumping all the air in his BC, hitting the bottom, and fully inflating his BC corking back to the surface. Amusing to watch but still had me concerned. His mask was always full of water because he would blow as hard as possible through his nose trying to clear (like sneezing). Anyway he was having some trouble.

Where it got hairy was during OOA drills. The instructor was right next to the "buddys" while each pair did it separately, and everyone else just sat watching. Well it was the male in the couples turn to recieve air from his buddy (his GF). So he tossed his reg and waited, and waited, and waited, while his GF couldn't get her octo to him. So he waited until he was completly out of breath and struggled to surface from 14'. He didn't ditch any weight, didn't inflate his BC, didn't try to get either of his regulators, didn't grab the instructors octo which was about 6" from his face. I am suprised he made it to the top.

He came back down and "she" found her octo this time and got it to him without another incident.

Another interesting thing he did was purge his reg 2 times (phhh...phhh) before he stuck it in his mouth..... at the bottom of the pool.?.?.? (not once but everytime)

So I guess lesson learned is to not wait until the stuff hits the fan and your reacting rather than acting. And you have to help yourself too.

BTW, I am a student in the class.

 

[jbd]

I cant really shorten this but basically a student panicked at 14' with a simulated OOA trying to use a buddy Octo.

This is a weekend OW class and today (4-2-2005) was the first day in the water. There is a couple, myself, and 2 others. The male in the couple was having difficulties such as dumping all the air in his BC, hitting the bottom, and fully inflating his BC corking back to the surface. Amusing to watch but still had me concerned. His mask was always full of water because he would blow as hard as possible through his nose trying to clear (like sneezing). Anyway he was having some trouble.

Where it got hairy was during OOA drills. The instructor was right next to the "buddys" while each pair did it separately, and everyone else just sat watching. Well it was the male in the couples turn to recieve air from his buddy (his GF). So he tossed his reg and waited, and waited, and waited, while his GF couldn't get her octo to him. So he waited until he was completly out of breath and struggled to surface from 14'. He didn't ditch any weight, didn't inflate his BC, didn't try to get either of his regulators, didn't grab the instructors octo which was about 6" from his face. I am suprised he made it to the top.

He came back down and "she" found her octo this time and got it to him without another incident.

Another interesting thing he did was purge his reg 2 times (phhh...phhh) before he stuck it in his mouth..... at the bottom of the pool.?.?.? (not once but everytime)

So I guess lesson learned is to not wait until the stuff hits the fan and your reacting rather than acting. And you have to help yourself too.

BTW, I am a student in the class.

I'm wondering a couple of things.
1.) Why is the class doing OOA scenarios on the first day in the pool?
2.) Why didn't the instructor put his octo in the students mouth? Even gentle contact from the octo's mouth piece may have caused the guy to realize an air source was there, leading him to accept it instead of heading for the surface.

IMO all the problems the male student was having, lack of buoyancy control in general, being overweighted and not having the mask and regulator skills down pat, are things that should be squared away before ever moving on to OOA scenario's.

 

[jeffreyd]

I'm wondering a couple of things.
1.) Why is the class doing OOA scenarios on the first day in the pool?

This is a weekend class, 2 pool sessions, 3 classrooms, 2 confined dives, 2 open water. We were at the pool for 3-4 hours. We used up 1000psi at 14ffw (dont remember how long timewise) doing boyancy, mask clearing, reg recovery, swimming. before we went to OOA's

2.) Why didn't the instructor put his octo in the students mouth? Even gentle contact from the octo's mouth piece may have caused the guy to realize an air source was there, leading him to accept it instead of heading for the surface.

I dont think it would have made a difference. He waited at least 30 seconds before panicking and he was oblivious to everything but the surface at that point. He did get a hold of the octo once but it was in and out of his mouth in maybe 2 seconds, 2 seconds after that he was heading up.

IMO all the problems the male student was having, lack of buoyancy control in general, being overweighted and not having the mask and regulator skills down pat, are things that should be squared away before ever moving on to OOA scenario's.

He seemed "ok" after a little bit, and could clear his mask enough to see but there was still a little water in the bottom of his mask. He did his own Reg recovery fine and was cruizing around the pool before we went to OOAs, nobody had a problem but that once.

 

[GeekDiver]

Thats why it's a class, better to make mistakes and learn in the pool before you get to open water. The important thing is to talk with the instr and find out how/why the mistake occured and what the proper response is. Also, as you pointed out, anyone in reach can and will be your buddy durring an out of air. If someone is really out of air, chances are the first reg they see, they will grab, including the primary your breathing off of at the time.

By the way, you never want to use your BC to get to the surface and dumping weight underwater is always a last resort. If you use your BC as an elevator you'll end up hurt, same with dumping weight. The BC is used to control bouyancy for the depth your at, not to change depths and never for accents. As you get closer to the surface the air in the BC will expand and cause a rapid accent. This is why your hand should be holding the inflator, so you can dump air.

Have fun,

Geek

 

[RonFrank]

was the issue?

In a pool it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to die (although it can happen).

It sounds like this student needs some practice. That is the reason for pool sessions in the first place. No one can fault someone who is new to scuba, and not comfortable.

So, did YOU learn anything? I mean, you sure reported on the error's of other students in the class, but it's impossible to believe that your buoyancy as perfect, your breathing was flawless, and yor skillls were awesome, etc... so what LESSONS did YOU learn based on YOUR diving?? THAT is the key to being better, NOT focusing on what others did unless you doing DIR-F and they are linked to your passing...

 

[jeffreyd]

So, did YOU learn anything? ..

Absolutly,
I got to see first hand how a panicked buddy may react. I also got to see that some people make irrational decisions. Also if my buddy is having problems helping me then I will help him/her help me by not just waiting but getting the octo myself.

I never said I was perfect. I was hitting the bottom but got that undercontrol, bumped into a few people. Swallowed some water. What else...

 

[RonFrank]

and honesty is a big key to life. In this I mean looking honestly at areas for improvement.

If what you reported are the only issues you have discovered, you need to look deeper.

Granted, when you are new to something (and I'm rather new to scuba as well) it's difficult to evaluate ones self. However I'm betting there are a LOT of things you COULD do better, but you don't even realize it.

Rather than focus on others issues, you would be wise to focus on yours. Granted you may have felt very comfortable in the pool. I'm betting you could not sit at 10' motionless, so realize that knowone is a great diver after one pool session, and look at areas where you can improve.

 

[Scot M]

I got to see first hand how a panicked buddy may react. I also got to see that some people make irrational decisions. Also if my buddy is having problems helping me then I will help him/her help me by not just waiting but getting the octo myself. (emphasis added)

I'd say you learned plenty. Being aware of what can go wrong, such as a panicking diver bolting for the surface, often gets you more than halfway to preventing or correcting the problem. Being proactive when there's a problem, such as by helping your buddy get her octo loose, is a critical mindset.

Good job observing what happened and trying to work out the lessons to be learned. Keep it up!

Scot

P.S. Make sure you notice what GeekDiver posted about inflating your BCD or dumping your weights at depth.

 

[jeffreyd]

P.S. Make sure you notice what GeekDiver posted about inflating your BCD or dumping your weights at depth.

Yes, I read that and practiced it today actually. (pool day 2) At first I thought the BC was to help going up, but I only know now that it should get you neutral and you swim up. Also I know dumping weights is a last resort but I thought he would try something rather than struggle to the surface after being negative to stay on the bottom during drills.

Just a side note, there were 5 that started the class and 3 of us are going to finish. He is one of them. Today he did fine, even startled the instructor by rescuing the instructor in a simulated unconsious diver. (the instructor was going to have the instructor assistant do it but the male got there first).

 

[Stirling]

If what you reported are the only issues you have discovered, you need to look deeper.
....
Rather than focus on others issues, you would be wise to focus on yours. ...

I don't agree with the second statement, and I don't think the first is likely to be very helpful.

As to the first, it would be pretty amazing if a person in an OW class and the first time in the pool didn't have some issues with buoyancy control and the like. I don't think that's even an issue; nobody starts out as a master of all the skills required. I think you're reading this as if jeffreyd is being critical of another beginning diver because it makes him feel superior; I didn't read it that way.

As for paying attention to what is going on with other divers, I think it can very useful. If you actually get to see somebody else making a serious mistake - in this case, bolting for the surface in response to an *inconsequential* little problem - by all means pay close attention. If you can only learn from your own mistakes, what's the reason for studying what happened to divers who died as a result of their mistakes? And remember - you're going to be diving with other people, and sometimes what they do can make a difference to your safety just as much as what you do.

One of the things you can learn is that very little errors - fumbling the handoff of a regulator, passing it upside down, or whatever - can suddenly mushroom into "problems" for a person with marginal skills and/or high anxiety levels.

Why did the guy bolt for the surface even after he had the backup regulator ("octopus") in his mouth? Was it passed to him upside down and he took in water? Did either he or his girlfriend (or anybody else in the class) even know that was a possibility? Or what to do about it? Or had he just reached the tipping point where even having the regulator in his mouth was too little too late for him to restrain the urge to bolt? You can learn a lot from minor incidents, and studying them closely is how you avoid turning them into big problems.

Another lesson relevant to that one is that some people have a very low ability to multi-task when they are anxious or uncomfortable. If they have even a very small problem, they need to STOP and FIX IT - don't let other problems pile up until they are suddenly reinforcing each other and become overhwhelming. For some people, a small problem piled on top of a leaking mask is suddenly a crisis; they need to stop and fix the leaking mask as soon as it starts bothering them, rather than wait for another problem to compound their troubles.

Another is that, in the right circumstances, "they" could always turn out to be "you." So whatever you can learn from another person's mistakes, learn it. And by thinking about it, you prepare yourself to deal with the same situation before it ever happens to you.