Surelyshirly
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What would you do?
- Thread starter imasinker
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Once everyone has a working reg and is breathing, there is no more emergency -- it is merely "an inconvenience."
So in this case, once the diver with the free flow had a working reg, I think everyone should have counted to 10 and then taken stock of the situation.
1. Reg still free flowing -- OK -- buddy, turn it off to save whatever gas is left IN CASE one of us needs it later. (Gas put in the water does neither diver any good.)
2. Now that we are both calm, lets go up in a normal ascent. The PADI "normal ascent" is vertical, swimming up (why I don't know but that's what it is) -- and if that's what you wanted to do -- fine. Me, I'll try for a more horizontal posture for both of us and since we are now calm and breathing normally, no problem.
3. We are now at the surface, BD is inflated for both of us (orally OR I turn air back on) and we are good to go.
Once you have air, the emergency is over.
So in this case, once the diver with the free flow had a working reg, I think everyone should have counted to 10 and then taken stock of the situation.
1. Reg still free flowing -- OK -- buddy, turn it off to save whatever gas is left IN CASE one of us needs it later. (Gas put in the water does neither diver any good.)
2. Now that we are both calm, lets go up in a normal ascent. The PADI "normal ascent" is vertical, swimming up (why I don't know but that's what it is) -- and if that's what you wanted to do -- fine. Me, I'll try for a more horizontal posture for both of us and since we are now calm and breathing normally, no problem.
3. We are now at the surface, BD is inflated for both of us (orally OR I turn air back on) and we are good to go.
Once you have air, the emergency is over.
AbyssalPlains
Contributor
What can I say? I have a feeling you are looking for either one of two answers: Stay with the OOA buddy and ascend too fast, or rip the octo out of his mouth and ascend slowly. Both options are unacceptable. If you guys rocketed to the surface, you obviously didn't control your buoyancy right. you should have deflated your own BC and if necessary that of your buddy also. You may want to practice air sharing ascents in the pool or on your next open water dive.
OP
imasinker
Contributor
Sorry you probably didn't see my post saying I emptied my bc and drysuit, so I can see how you may have come to your conclusion.
Thanks but I wasn't looking for an answer. I just wanted to see what people would do in that situation. I was intrested in hearing individual ideas and possibly other simular incidents people may have faced and how they dealt with it. Not just people from who think it may never happen to them or recite from a book what to do. Sometimes you don't have time to react with all possible procedures sometimes you have to improvise. What I was really hoping to get is that if a new diver, fresh out of the course reads this, hopefully they can use this as something that could happen to them and if it does maybe they can react differently. We are not taugh with scenarios, so these are good learning tools. Maybe if they are ever faced with this situation they will handle it better than I. Not to sit and write down what the book says, anyone can do that. Maybe they would take a minute and say damn, it can happen that fast. I didn't need an answer, I already have it. I handled it as best as I could for the experience I had at the time. If I can take a shot from others to make an example it's all worth it. So your post yes it is tight and true, but not everyone facing this will have your experience. They may only have seconds to react, maybe they will think about this thread and remember next time they dive because trust me I do. Thats all I wanted. As for air sharing, yes practice is great but everyones different and you can't quarantee they all will react the same in a situation as this.
Thanks
OP
imasinker
Contributor
It wasn't untill a week later I actually came to find out what happened.
When my buddy and I got settled with his free flow, we both agreed to ascend. He was calm and what I thought s relaxed, I was impressed. We both were neutral at this point I checked my computer, air pressure then I started to deflated my bcd and we started to ascend. Around 70 feet I checked my computer and knew there was a problem we were ascending to fast. I was still holding my inflator up and deflating so I dropped it reached up and pulled my neck seal wide open on my drysuit to release all the air thinking my suit was the problem and we are really starting to fly, while still holding my buddy. I looked at him and didn't see a problem and noted we were at 27 feet so I just heald on looked up and breathed out.
What I found out later was that my buddy, had one hand on my octo in his mouth and one hand holding me. He didn't dump his air. He I think was just in hazed passive kind of panic and just didn't dump any air. I was thinking I was the problem some how being the new diver, he was experienced. I did one thing I know not to do again assume. Being I hadn't had the rescue course certy I didn't know what to look for in a hazed panic diver, he seemed to have it together.
Thats what happened.....
I will add one more thing... This dive buddy had a bad dive. i will dive with him again because we both learned something. if this were to happen to us again, if he was to act the same way, I will know what to look for with him or any other diver.
msg
Contributor
Well, at least you guys figured it out. If it were to happen again, you will know what to look for. When things go a rye sometimes it is hard to get your head around the problem. Thanks for the post.
Good learning moment there. You're obviously lucky that you didn't get any symptoms of DCS but I'm sure you knew that.
If it's any consolation, forgetting to hold the inflator and dump air during the AAS ascent is a very common mistake for beginners (I don't know how many dives your buddy had at the time) and something that I even see fairly regularly from experienced divers who come for scuba reviews and haven't done the OOA drill for a while. Given a bit of stress--it doesn't even need to be panic--a lot of people could have had that same problem; even ones who had been properly drilled.
A lot of people forget to hold on to their buddy too so even though your ascent wasn't pretty you did accomplish the main thing which was to make sure you didn't get separated during the ascent.
You were wearing drysuits.... was the exhaust valve screwed open or closed?
R..
OP
imasinker
Contributor
I always dive with my exhaust fully open. I rarely use enought air to lose while diving, but just enough air to take off the squeeze. Thats a reason why I pulled my neck seal open, I wanted to make sure my suit was totally empty fast.
And your buddy...?
It may be a good idea to know how your buddy does his or to at *least* remind him to open it before you start the ascent..... Just having this thought might be enough to cue everyone into the "controlled ascent" mindframe..... Just a thought for the next time.
R..
It may be a good idea to know how your buddy does his or to at *least* remind him to open it before you start the ascent..... Just having this thought might be enough to cue everyone into the "controlled ascent" mindframe..... Just a thought for the next time.
R..
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