What I've learned from the Accidents/Incidents report forum

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kimbalabala

Contributor
Messages
432
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Location
St Louis
# of dives
200 - 499
Every time I read the Accidents/Incidents forum I'm frustrated by how many posts are spent on discussing a member's qualifications for their opinion or their reason for posting the incident. On a recent post someone posited the question 'what are we learning from this forum?' (paraphrased). So I started reflecting on what I have learned from reading these reports. Honestly, most of the stuff I've read about are things I was taught in my OW classes. I come here to see if there are new or unexpected events that I can learn from - and maybe to remind myself how to protect myself and my buddy from tragedy. We love our sport and sometimes feel invincible - so maybe this is one way to maintain respect for the very real risks we are taking and insure that we use the appropriate amount of caution. So here are some things I've learned - feel free to add to it - I'm sure I missed something obvious.

1. Don’t dive solo (obviously this is MY decision so don’t flame me for saying this please)
2. Keep an eye on your air
3. Dive within your limits – don’t push them - i.e., dive a less aggressive profile if you're tired from travelling.
4. Check your gear and then recheck it again
5. Keep your buddy close - close enough that if you are experiencing an emergency you can reach out and touch them to indicate you're in trouble. (ok, maybe that's just staying in MY personal comfort zone)
6. Stay hydrated
7. Understand the limits of diving in exotic places – i.e., there may not be a chamber or competent medical care
as close as you’d like.
8. Be honest about your medical conditions and let DAN or a doctor who is trained regarding scuba diving medical issues tell you if diving is a good idea for you - and then follow their advice.
9. Sometimes things happen that are outside of our control - medical and equipment issues for example (my Cobra died on a quarry dive - I never got an explanation about what happened to it, though I got a replacement - and now we travel with a backup SPG and use our Gekko's as backup).
10. If you have any question that you are experiencing symptoms of DCS tell your buddy or the captain of your boat. Don't ignore it.
11. Practice those skills that might be precursors to an incident - clearing your mask, CESA, what to do if you are OOA - it's one thing to know what to do, it's another to have the muscle memory and be clear headed in a genuine emergency situation and carry out the necessary action. (I don't do this enough)
 
The big one, to me, is your #11:

Practice those skills!!!!

So many things I read, lead back to panicking, because something happened, and the diver could not execute a smooth, practiced reaction -- like, dropping weights, dropping gear, CESA, etc.

I also learned - carry signalling devices in open water. No reason to be a not-found drifting diver.


 
I think the biggest one I have learned from all the accident threads I've read is that complacency can sneak up on anybody, and that it is not good if you no longer have a little thrill of apprehension before a dive, because that's what keeps you careful.

In the words of George Irvine, "Nothing underwater is worth dying for."
 
Planned, prepared solo does not seem to be the same problem as unplanned, unprepared, accidental solo. It seems to me that most divers who die alone were with a buddy when they started their dive.
 
1. Be trained and experienced for the diveplan; dive with the necessary equipment for the dive and only with that equipment which you have tested and dived; dive with competent and familiar buddies-- if you have an "insta-buddy", devise a more conservative dive plan.

2. Be healthy for every dive, if you "feel" bad physically of mentally, do not dive that day.

3. Take 50% more air/gas than you'll "need" for the dive.

4. Control your instinct to panic when encountering a problem underwater.

5. Abort the dive at the conclusion of handling your underwater problem.

6. After returning to the topside, rest, and then talk with your divemates about what happened. Write a detailed note in your logbook about your analysis of what happened. Later, review the dive with an instructor if you feel that you did not "handle" the incident as well as you would have thought you could. If there is equipment failure, have the equipment in question looked at by a certified technician.
 
Details ARE important. One or two seemingly small or inconsequential issues in the beginning can lead to a series of poor decisions & reactions that snow-ball into serious problems with tragic consequences.

Limit the amount of "new" on a dive: new dive site, new dive gear, new dive buddy, new UW activities (photo, hunting, etc.). Too many of these at one time can keep you from focusing on the dive plan and safety awareness.
 
go back to the notes you took from your OW class. How much of it do you actually remember? For me, that was 20+ years ago. I spent a summer of trying to get a LDS to to a "refresher" - and they , despite numerous inquiries, failed to ever get back to me. This spring - Rescue Diver class is #1 priority...... with another LDS.

The A/I Forum continues to humble me...................................................

No matter what I learned, it wasn't enough.
 
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Reactions: Jax
Oh -- I learned that "bounce dive" is a stupid as it sounds.
 

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