What should I know about your gear?

[101recon]

Aside from a diver in a BP/W using a simple harness and wearing a DS, you may run into a rebreather diver. But again their rig isn't that much different than a BP/W harness and a DS diver.

You may run into divers that don't have any form of ditchable weight.

You may run into a diver with a full facemask, which you can remove but don't forget to protect the airway.

Thank you .This is the sort of thing I'm asking about.I know my question is a bit broad to say the least.It's sort of like asking "what don't I know yet?".But I have learned that rescuing a drysuit diver is quite different than rescuing a wetsuit diver.If I had come across a drysuit diver in need of rescue on my last dive it probably would not have went very well.The points mentioned earlier about drysuits are great examples of things that would be good to know in an emergency.

Gear like rebreathers,full facemasks,etc are generally unfamiliar to a new diver.They are not familiar to me yet anyway.But there are other divers using this kind of gear in the places I dive.I intend to take a rescue course in the future.But in the meantime,I feel it would be good to know a few basics about how different gear would affect an emergency ascent.

 

[CoralSeaMan]

There are probably millions of equipment combinations. You are correct to think that some, like drysuits and integrated weight systems, are more important than others because you will come across them more often. Remember, equipment is only part of the equation. A rescue class will help you become familiar with more equipment but it will also help you evaluate problems and decide steps to take.

 

[H2O 70]

Rescue class is a lot of fun. My unconscious diver at depth was a DS diver in a hog harness wearing doubles. I learned the hard way about the floaty feet of DS divers.

The gear may change, but the rescue premises don't.

One debate that we had back and forth in the class was what to do with a non-breathing conscienceless diver at depth that didn't have a regulator in their mouth. Book says you bring them up by inflating their BC and controlling their ascent to the surface. Consensus of our group would be to hook a dive reel to them and if their BC inflated, shoot them to the surface. For all practical purposes they are dead anyway. Someone on the surface will hopefully get to them sooner with more life saving equipment or you're attached to them and you can make a safe ascent. If they were OOG, attach a lift bag to them, your dive reel and shoot them on up. Again these are scenarios you'll work through.

Most folks will agree that Rescue class was one of the funnest.

 

[Sas]

Being a new diver,I know little about drysuits,BP/W's,and countless other types of more advanced/tech gear.I realize that I should be familiar with the gear my buddy is using.This should be covered pre-dive.But what about all the other divers and gear configurations I may have never seen before?I dive the local quarries and often there are as many as 10 or 20 other divers besides me and my buddy.

Hopefully I will never have to bring an unconscious diver to the surface.But should the need arise,what basics should I know about drysuits OR OTHER GEAR that would complicate the ascent?

Start at the top and work your way down, with your buddy. Make sure that you know how your buddy's gear works. Here are just some examples (not exhaustive, just to give you an idea).

With regulators. Ask if they will donate their primary (i.e. the one in their mouth) or their backup if you run out of air. Note how the regs are stored. If they have an air2 (which is a reg integrated with the inflator hose of the BC) ask how that will work and how you will ascend. Check the hose length because say if someone has a long hose primary and a short backup in a necklace around their neck, if you grab their backup then you won't have a lot of room to manouver.

So with tanks. If they have a single tank, work out between you what your minimum turn around pressure is based on the size and how much you will consume. You both need to keep some aside for your buddy (or if you don't wish to do this make it very clear). If they have twin tanks: few different setups here. If they are independents (backmount or sidemount), ask how they will donate air, and just in general check out how it is set up and how they use them. For manifolds - even if you do not have one yourself you should learn the different failures that can occur and what you as a buddy can do to help if you are diving with someone with a manifold. Learn what effect turning off different valves will do. I.e. if your buddy has their BC inflation and their primary reg on the right post, it means that if this valve is turned off they won't be able to use the power inflate on their BC and they will be using their backup reg. I can't really give exact advice as people have their gear set up in all sorts of ways but just a list of things you might encounter and the stuff to ask.

For BCs. Heaps of different styles. If it is a standard BC, ask where all of the dump valves are located and how they operate. Some people can dump air by pulling their inflator hose, for example. Ask how to remove it, i.e the location of any quick releases. The harness on any BC tends to have quick releases. Look at where different straps are. If it is a BP/W same things still apply but some people use one piece harness (so no disconnection points on the BC) which you might have to cut off. Check that they have a device to allow you to cut it off though if your buddy has a one piece harness you should carry that as well.

Air monitoring - can be SPG or air integrated computer. Some air integrated computers are on the wrist and others are hosed ones (so like a console) There is some debate about whether you should monitor your buddy's air. I can usually see my buddy's SPG and will check it out now and again. It doesn't hurt to know how to read your buddy's air pressure.

Computer - if you have different computers one person might have different remaining time and so on. On the weekend I did a dive with a buddy with a Suunto computer and he went into deco and I did not even get close (Uwatec computer), so you can read that off your buddy's computer (or use hand signs, doesn't hurt to use both) Or might have another question under water that involves something about your computer. Some give different stops like doing a deeper stop as well as a shallower safety stop. This should be covered in the initial dive plan though.

Weighting - how to ditch someone's weight. If they have a weight belt how does it operate? Is it under a crotch strap? Most people who use crotch straps (and this is common in BP/W uses) tend to have their weight belt under it so you need to know to release the crotch strap first, then the weight. Also with weight integration there are numerous ways to ditch weight. Other people use weight harnesses which are different again. And other people don't have any ditchable weight. Often when I am diving with twins I have no ditchable weight but I have redundant lift so someone rescuing me can use both my drysuit inflation and my wing inflation to get me to the surface. Another thing with no ditchable weight is that some people have dual bladder wings. This means they have two bladders in their wings that they can inflate. If one fails there is another inflator hose that they can use to inflate the other bladder. Some people dive with the second one disconnected so learn where it is kept and how to connect it.

Exposure suit - with drysuit there are different dump valves to learn the location of, know where the inflate button is (should be easy to know but some aren't in the middle of the chest). Also learn how to disconnect their suit in case they have runaway inflation (just pull the hose from the inflate button). The dump valves can be in the shoulder (most common), ankles and wrist. They can be closed too, so ask how to close or open their dump valves (basically you twist them on and off) One thing to note is that if you are bringing up a drysuit diver from depth and you want to control their ascent by dumping some air, have the dump valve at the highest point and it will dump air that way. Some also have a button you can push to get the air out quicker.

Then there are other things like deco bottles. Ask what gas they have in them and the maximum operating depth of them. If a buddy is carrying say 50% and you're at 40m, and you run out of air, you should know that you can't grab their deco bottle and start breathing off it.

Then there is rebreathers, hmm no idea about these And they are all very different. But if you get buddied with a rebreather diver just go through this all with them.

That is about all I can think of at the moment.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

One debate that we had back and forth in the class was what to do with a non-breathing conscienceless diver at depth that didn't have a regulator in their mouth. Book says you bring them up by inflating their BC and controlling their ascent to the surface. Consensus of our group would be to hook a dive reel to them and if their BC inflated, shoot them to the surface. For all practical purposes they are dead anyway. Someone on the surface will hopefully get to them sooner with more life saving equipment or you're attached to them and you can make a safe ascent.

@H2O 70: I bold-faced the text that I find questionable. Hooking a dive reel to the non-breathing unconscious diver and shooting him to the surface by inflating his BCD gives you little or no control over the ascent phase of the rescue. It essentially turns the victim into a SMB! If you ascend with the victim, you can control the rate of ascent and keep the victim's neck in a neutral position to mitigate the possibility of pulmonary over-expansion. Also, consider what might happen to the victim if there is an overhead obstruction (boat hull) directly above. Adding a traumatic head injury to whatever else caused the incident is not a good idea. In any rescue scenario, you should assume that the victim can be rescued (if not, what's the point?) and make the best decisions to get him/her to the surface with the safest/most efficient method possible that does not place you in an unacceptable level of danger.

IMHO, shooting the victim by himself to the surface should be an act of last resort.

@101recon: With experience, you'll learn how other types of gear work. In rescue scenarios involving "stranger" divers (not your buddy), you can't be expected to be 100% familiar with the diver's gear. Simply do the best you can...given the circumstances. Be calm. Consider your rescue options. Be decisive. Act. Be quick but don't hurry.

As others have advised, take a rescue class. You'll be glad you did. Have fun and dive safely...

 

[vladimir]

One debate that we had back and forth in the class was what to do with a non-breathing conscienceless diver at depth that didn't have a regulator in their mouth. Book says you bring them up by inflating their BC and controlling their ascent to the surface. Consensus of our group would be to hook a dive reel to them and if their BC inflated, shoot them to the surface. For all practical purposes they are dead anyway. Someone on the surface will hopefully get to them sooner with more life saving equipment or you're attached to them and you can make a safe ascent. If they were OOG, attach a lift bag to them, your dive reel and shoot them on up. Again these are scenarios you'll work through.

This technique sounds like it was conceived by rescuers without a conscience rather than for victims who are unconscious. What added risk would the rescuer incur doing it by the book?

 

[rstofer]

This technique sounds like it was conceived by rescuers without a conscience rather than for victims who are unconscious. What added risk would the rescuer incur doing it by the book?

The rescuer doesn't incur any additional problems staying with the victim as long as the rescuers time table is satisfactory. However, in this scenario, you come across a diver with no regulator in their mouth, not breathing (obviously) and unconscious on the bottom. No doubt they are already dead. However, there is the thought that if you launch them to the surface, perhaps someone up there can do something while you can't take the risk of surfacing that fast. Perhaps you have a deco obligation.

Extending their time underwater isn't helping, rocketing them to the surface doesn't help either. This is a no-win situation.

The third alternative is to hook an SMB to the body and leave it for the experts to recover. This is probably not a popular option but there is a huge difference between rescuing a buddy who just got in trouble and finding a diver who may have been down there for a long time.

In any event, never allow yourself to become the second victim. All rescues are situational. One plan does not fit all!

Richard

 

[Bubbletrubble]

The rescuer doesn't incur any additional problems staying with the victim as long as the rescuers time table is satisfactory. However, in this scenario, you come across a diver with no regulator in their mouth, not breathing (obviously) and unconscious on the bottom. No doubt they are already dead. However, there is the thought that if you launch them to the surface, perhaps someone up there can do something while you can't take the risk of surfacing that fast. Perhaps you have a deco obligation.

@rstofer: I bold-faced the text that I disagree with. You don't know that. You cannot assume that the diver is already dead. In cold water, how long can someone be underwater without breathing and still be resuscitated? Furthermore, you don't know what the conditions are at the surface. There could be some impediment up there...or maybe there's no one to care for the victim and protect his airway/give rescue breaths. If the victim can be resuscitated, then you've just exposed him to the possibility of lung over-expansion.

If you have a deco obligation, then you have to decide whether you want to risk skipping your deco stop(s). You still have options after surfacing with a blown deco stop. Depending on the situation, that might be worth it.

Extending their time underwater isn't helping, rocketing them to the surface doesn't help either. This is a no-win situation.

I'd say that it's a difficult, possibly dire situation, but not a "no-win" situation. Understand that my comments relate to a true "rescue" situation. If the victim has been underwater for 4 hours with one AL80 tank at a depth of 165 fsw, then the operation can be characterized as a recovery mission, not a rescue.

 

[vladimir]

No doubt they are already dead.

If that is true,

the operation can be characterized as a recovery mission, not a rescue.

 

[rstofer]

If you have a deco obligation, then you have to decide whether you want to risk skipping your deco stop(s). You still have options after surfacing with a blown deco stop. Depending on the situation, that might be worth it.

That decision should already be made! My decision: I will not create a second victim unless the first victim is family. I have no idea what the options are for recovering from a blown deco stop. I do know that in-water recompression is not a recognized technique and I have been diving in many areas where the nearest recompression chamber was several hours away.

I'd say that it's a difficult, possibly dire situation, but not a "no-win" situation. Understand that my comments relate to a true "rescue" situation. If the victim has been underwater for 4 hours with one AL80 tank at a depth of 165 fsw, then the operation can be characterized as a recovery mission, not a rescue.

Perhaps 'no-win' is the wrong phrase. Maybe it should be something like 'unlikely to have a happy outcome'.

It's going to be pretty hard to make the distinction between rescue and recovery while the victim is underwater. If you saw the incident, it's probably a rescue. If you didn't see the incident and their buddy is nowhere to be found, it is more likely to be a recovery. In either event, unless it is family, it's a bad idea to create a second victim.

Furthermore, a second victim can't do much to help the first victim. The result of a too-rapid ascent won't be any less just because it happens to the rescuer.

Everyone draws a line beyond which they are unwilling to go. That line may be a little wavy in the area of family but the line should be drawn before it needs to be referenced.

Richard