Well they didn't train us this way.

[unwantedsn]

Sorry, yes air share. I was going to give him my primary and use my safe 2nd per our training, and predive plan.

 

[shurite7]

Unaware of those options he should have taken your second and shut down his tank. .

There is a good reason this was probably not done - they were not taught to do this during their BOW course. This goes back to other threads which discuss what and how skills should be taught in dive courses. During my DM days and early days of teaching I stuck with not teaching what you mentioned above because that is the way I learned and that is what everyone else was doing. After several years of diving in cold water high elevation mountains lakes I have learned the weakness of my training after witnessing several free flows.

I have since changed my procedure on how to deal with a free flowing reg. The vast majority of people, however, are never truly taught what you mentioned above. Therefore, it is not surprising the divers in the op did not do this.

 

[bullfroger]

In my experience kinking hose will not stop free flow from 1st stage freeze up.

 

[CuzzA]

In my experience kinking hose will not stop free flow from 1st stage freeze up.

Which is why I was carefully with my words. If you occlude the offending second stage and then the octo starts free flowing, you know you have a first stage problem. Preventing the first stage to vent will likely not end well.

 

[The Chairman]

So a few weekends ago I had my 1st "this dive didn't go the way we planned" moment.

Welcome. You are now a "real" Scuba diver. While everyone wants to tell you what you did wrong even though they weren't there, let me concentrate more on what you did right.

• You didn't panic
  • Even though you were blind sided in several ways
  • You can't train to not panic
  • Panic always causes and/or amplifies problems
  • Good job!
• You adapted
  • It always good to think outside the box
  • Training is important, but problem solving at depth is more important!
    
  • Good job!
• You reacted appropriately
  • You called the dive before it got really bad
  • You didn't add any danger
  • You appear to have remained calm
  • Good job!
• You set and honored your limits
  • I'm so impressed you called that dive so quickly!
  • Good job!
• Neither you or your buddy were injured
  • Never, ever become the second victim!
  • Good job!
• Neither you or your buddy died
  • Never, ever become the second victim!
  • Good job!
• You are now re-evaluating your performance
  • Add a real second and bungee it around your neck
  • Agree on hand signals and protocols before you dive
  • Expect the unexpected
  • Good job!

FWIW, I would dive with your buddy again after a discussion about how to handle situations. I would definitely dive with you.

In my experience kinking hose will not stop free flow from 1st stage freeze up.

Especially true for double braided hoses.

 

[Rooster59]

I don’t tell people on a boat I’ve been through a rescue course, or that I’m a good swimmer. I’ll help any way I can, but I don’t want people getting lax about themselves thinking someone else will bail them out.

 

[CuzzA]

While everyone wants to tell you what you did wrong even though they weren't there, let me concentrate more on what you did right.

I think we are pointing out what his buddy did wrong. I don't see any ridicule of the OP other than the advice to do a shakedown at a shallower depth with a new buddy at an unfamiliar site. Which is good advice.

Especially true for double braided hoses.

Have you confirmed this? I only use rubber so I can't confirm. If true, that would add to the list of reasons not to use braided hoses.

 

[kelemvor]

Especially true for double braided hoses.

Do you mean miflex type hoses? The ones I have (miflex branded) are very easy to kink enough to cut off airflow - even inadvertently in the right situation. If that is what you mean, and you have one, then try it on land with the hose pressurized.

I discovered the problem during air share drills in cave class (really the person I was sharing with did). The person I was sharing with proceeded to demonstrate the problem to me back on the bench.

 

[Gareth J]

Do you mean miflex type hoses? The ones I have (miflex branded) are very easy to kink enough to cut off airflow - even inadvertently in the right situation. If that is what you mean, and you have one, then try it on land with the hose pressurized.

I discovered the problem during air share drills in cave class (really the person I was sharing with did). The person I was sharing with proceeded to demonstrate the problem to me back on the bench.

Kelemvor, are you sure at 200bar? I can imagine, its potentially possible at 10bar, but at 200 ?

Gareth

 

[2airishuman]

So a few weekends ago I had my 1st "this dive didn't go the way we planned" moment.

Welcome to the real underwater world.

I have a few comments.

... 47deg water [...] We start our ascent and at 75' his reg starts to free flow.

Freeflows are common under those conditions.

Surprisingly once we make it to 15' he says that he's bypassing the safety stop.

This was probably a good call on his part. With a bad freeflow, you don't get much time.

We made our long surface swim back to shore, and he tells me that its a known issue with his reg to free flow at depth.. I was not pleased about that, but he said that he had just had it serviced and wanted to see how it would do at depth as it works fine in <50'

There may not have been anything wrong with his regulator. I would give him a pass on that. If it had been serviced by a qualified individual, and was OK at 50', there would have been no reason to believe there's anything wrong with it.

Things that I learned: Divers can be unpredictable [...]
Safe 2nds are nice, until you're trying to buddy breathe and control your buoyancy [...]

75' deep in 47 degree water and 2' viz are the sort of conditions where it is a good idea to have redundant air, e.g. a pony or twinset. The risk of buddy separation is high under those conditions, as is the risk of freeflow.

To be sure there are plenty of people who would make that dive with a buddy and without any further source of redundant air, but I wouldn't.