Cthippo
Contributor
Very interesting day today, and only partly due to the diving.
I got tapped to be a rescue diver for hydroplane races. The larger hydros use a capsule system, which is an enclosed cockpit designed to break away from the boat in the event of a crash. The driver is wearing a FFM and breathing off of a SCUBA tank during the race, so that if they do end up injured or unconscious they have the best bet of surviving until rescued. In this case, rescue divers are on the rescue boat(s) ready to go into the water and assist the driver in getting out of their capsule, and also have an extra hose on their regulator that can be connected to the driver's mask so the driver is breathing off the diver's tank and can be separated from the capsule. Today was my first time actually working on the rescue boat, and while we didn't have to use those skills, it was interesting.
After the capsule boats were done, I stuck around because they needed another EMT for the rescue boat, and we did end up rescuing two drivers who flipped their boats, one of whom was transported to the hospital.
During one of the later races, a boat powered by an outboard lost the cowling off their engine, which promptly sank. Apparently, cowlings for two stroke engines are rare as rocking horse poop and replacing one is very difficult and expensive. We saw approximately where it sank, and after the race I dove on it trying to locate it. Visibility wasn't horrible, probably 5-10 feet, but oh my god the COLD! This is the first time I have dove without a hood and it will be the last for a very long time. There were two distinct thermoclines in this little lake and at the bottom (32 FFW) I had to work hard to keep myself from bolting to the surface in search of warmer water. The bottom was pure muck, which my fins stirred up, and so my highly advanced search pattern was to keep circling the ever expanding cloud of muck until I happened across the cowling, more through luck than judgement. I figured as long as I could see the outside of the cloud I was just beyond the last place I had searched, and somehow it worked. The driver was thrilled to have his engine cowl back and paid $200 for it, which was funny because the competing team which runs the same outboards offered $250.
Lessons learned:
I got tapped to be a rescue diver for hydroplane races. The larger hydros use a capsule system, which is an enclosed cockpit designed to break away from the boat in the event of a crash. The driver is wearing a FFM and breathing off of a SCUBA tank during the race, so that if they do end up injured or unconscious they have the best bet of surviving until rescued. In this case, rescue divers are on the rescue boat(s) ready to go into the water and assist the driver in getting out of their capsule, and also have an extra hose on their regulator that can be connected to the driver's mask so the driver is breathing off the diver's tank and can be separated from the capsule. Today was my first time actually working on the rescue boat, and while we didn't have to use those skills, it was interesting.
After the capsule boats were done, I stuck around because they needed another EMT for the rescue boat, and we did end up rescuing two drivers who flipped their boats, one of whom was transported to the hospital.
During one of the later races, a boat powered by an outboard lost the cowling off their engine, which promptly sank. Apparently, cowlings for two stroke engines are rare as rocking horse poop and replacing one is very difficult and expensive. We saw approximately where it sank, and after the race I dove on it trying to locate it. Visibility wasn't horrible, probably 5-10 feet, but oh my god the COLD! This is the first time I have dove without a hood and it will be the last for a very long time. There were two distinct thermoclines in this little lake and at the bottom (32 FFW) I had to work hard to keep myself from bolting to the surface in search of warmer water. The bottom was pure muck, which my fins stirred up, and so my highly advanced search pattern was to keep circling the ever expanding cloud of muck until I happened across the cowling, more through luck than judgement. I figured as long as I could see the outside of the cloud I was just beyond the last place I had searched, and somehow it worked. The driver was thrilled to have his engine cowl back and paid $200 for it, which was funny because the competing team which runs the same outboards offered $250.
Lessons learned:
- Rescue diving is a whole other beast from recreational diving. There is no pausing to double check something, no calling the dive if something is off. If needed you GO RIGHT NOW, so you had better be ready.
- This is the second dive where I have been bringing up weighty objects from the bottom and it changes the experience. Getting the the surface is harder, as is staying there, with an extra 10+ pounds of whatever in your hands.
- Headspace matters. As I was preparing for this dive the boat operator and the guy on shore were yelling at one another about where the item might be and how to run the boat. This created anxiety for me, and I definitely felt more anxious descending into a green fog not knowing where the bottom was. I probably should have spent more time on the surface before descending getting comfortable.
- Cold can induce panic. I got it under control, but it took a LOT of effort.
- I've been having a thing where I get dizzy on ascent as my ears depressurize. Seems mostly to happen between my safety stop and the surface, and clears as soon as I surface. I can see how it would be scary for some people, but I'm able to watch my bubbles, recognize I am still moving in the right direction, and just enjoy the ride. Does anyone else get this?
