R
Went to the local quarry for a dive today and had an issue
- Thread starter scottb27
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
First off, thank you for posting this. It takes courage to tell stories of dives that go sideways here.
I'm with awap, though . . . I think the basic issue here is that you had a mask flood that wasn't handled properly, and resulted in choking and near panic and a poorly controlled ascent. This is what's called the "incident pit". A flooded mask, handled neatly, is not a big issue at all. A flooded mask that results in choking is a much bigger issue, but if you know you can cough the water out and you remain calm, it's still not a big deal. A flooded mask and choking that results in a feeling of needing to head urgently to the surface is a MUCH bigger issue, and a relatively novice diver can almost be predicted to lose control of such an ascent. All you needed was to hold your breath a bit as you went up, and your dive buddy would have written the story . . .
I'd say you should spend some time in shallow water, working on mask skills, until you can take your mask off and put it on again without turning a hair. Then, if you put on a hood or do something else that makes your mask leak, it will be a non-event.
BTW, a buddy who let a novice diver in distress ascend from 30 feet alone is not a buddy in my book. As I said in the first paragraph, all it would have taken was a brief breath-hold to turn this incident into an accident, and in that case, having someone with you on the surface might have made the difference in survival.
I'm with awap, though . . . I think the basic issue here is that you had a mask flood that wasn't handled properly, and resulted in choking and near panic and a poorly controlled ascent. This is what's called the "incident pit". A flooded mask, handled neatly, is not a big issue at all. A flooded mask that results in choking is a much bigger issue, but if you know you can cough the water out and you remain calm, it's still not a big deal. A flooded mask and choking that results in a feeling of needing to head urgently to the surface is a MUCH bigger issue, and a relatively novice diver can almost be predicted to lose control of such an ascent. All you needed was to hold your breath a bit as you went up, and your dive buddy would have written the story . . .
I'd say you should spend some time in shallow water, working on mask skills, until you can take your mask off and put it on again without turning a hair. Then, if you put on a hood or do something else that makes your mask leak, it will be a non-event.
BTW, a buddy who let a novice diver in distress ascend from 30 feet alone is not a buddy in my book. As I said in the first paragraph, all it would have taken was a brief breath-hold to turn this incident into an accident, and in that case, having someone with you on the surface might have made the difference in survival.
Millbrook actually is a great quarry to learn in. You actually have to be able to navigate. The water is cold, the plane, the Winnebago especially. I also have had mask issues on descent to the plane! I worked through them and continued the dive, but I think I had a little more experience at the time than the OP. Millbrook has a weird, awesome feeling as you drop through the visocline, very dark and vis is usually pretty limited. I like diving Brooklyn , try the winter dives there, the vis gets a little better but the water is still cold
RonFrank
Contributor
I'm not sure how a query in VA could be 38F this time of year?
In any event TS hit it on the head, you must be able to EASLY remove your mask, and even dive without it if necessary. It is something the tech guy practice all the time for good reason. There are plenty of divers out there who have not done mask drills since ow. A woman died a while back because she lost her mask at four corners at depth..
Seems like such a trivial thing, but mask removal and clearing is a critical skill. I wear contacts yet I still practice mask flooding skills because they are important. More important than loosing a contact!
In any event TS hit it on the head, you must be able to EASLY remove your mask, and even dive without it if necessary. It is something the tech guy practice all the time for good reason. There are plenty of divers out there who have not done mask drills since ow. A woman died a while back because she lost her mask at four corners at depth..
Seems like such a trivial thing, but mask removal and clearing is a critical skill. I wear contacts yet I still practice mask flooding skills because they are important. More important than loosing a contact!
Looking in my log quickly, I see a 6 jun 10 dive to 92' with a temp of 39. 22 Aug 10 to the winnebago 38 logged as temp. 19 DEC 10 34temp. that's just looking at last few dives in Millbrook. She is a good quarry for advanced training and practice.
Similar threads
