Adobo
Contributor
I've been out of gas on 2 occasions.
First check out dive, first time out of gas
On my first open water check out dive, I put my gear together as I was trained. I checked to make sure the regs were breathing properly and so on. I then set the gear aside while the instructor completed the dive briefing. I was afraid that the regulator would freeflow so I turned the tank valve off. After the dive briefing, we all donned our gear. As I was walking towards the water, I noticed that my SPG was reading less than 3000psi (200 bar). I thought, no biggie, just has a short fill. I inflate my bc and swim to about 6 or 7 feet of water. I put my reg in and descend, as I was descending, the reg went dry. Fortunately, I was not so overweighted that I was able to swim back to the surface and manually inflate my BC.
Root cause: tank valve was left on when I started the dive.
First time on a boat dive in a drysuit, second time out of gas
Took a short class on drysuits and then went boat diving. My buddy was a "DM". We descended to 85 feet. I sucked down all my gas so fast that within 15 minutes of the dive, I was below 1000psi. Having done the math for minimum gas, I knew I had to thumb the dive and fast. I gave my buddy the thumb but we did not ascend right away. Instead, he swam us to an area where there was some kelp so I could use that for a visual aid during the ascent. By the time we began our ascent, I was down to 300ish PSI. As we were ascending, I had an incredibly difficult time venting my drysuit. So much so that I was cling to kelp trying to not rocket to the surface. By the time we reached 30ft, I was out of gas.
My buddy gave me his primary reg. But I saw right away that he could not find his octo. So within 10 seconds of giving me his reg, he took it right back out of my mouth. I waited patiently for him to take a couple of breaths. Then I asked for his primary reg back. He gave it back and was subsequently able to locate his octo.
Root cause: Not proficient at drysuit usage, not checking gas soon enough, being in a dive that was well beyond my capabilities, with a buddy who did not recognize right away that he was diving with someone who was an accident waiting to happen.
Out of gas buddies
I've never been on a dive with a buddy who has run out of gas during a dive. I'd like to say that my dive buddies are that good. But also, I'd like to take the very tiniest bit of credit in that I try really hard not to let my buddies make the same mistakes I made (entering the water with valves turned off, diving in conditions that that are beyond their capabilities, etc.)
First check out dive, first time out of gas
On my first open water check out dive, I put my gear together as I was trained. I checked to make sure the regs were breathing properly and so on. I then set the gear aside while the instructor completed the dive briefing. I was afraid that the regulator would freeflow so I turned the tank valve off. After the dive briefing, we all donned our gear. As I was walking towards the water, I noticed that my SPG was reading less than 3000psi (200 bar). I thought, no biggie, just has a short fill. I inflate my bc and swim to about 6 or 7 feet of water. I put my reg in and descend, as I was descending, the reg went dry. Fortunately, I was not so overweighted that I was able to swim back to the surface and manually inflate my BC.
Root cause: tank valve was left on when I started the dive.
First time on a boat dive in a drysuit, second time out of gas
Took a short class on drysuits and then went boat diving. My buddy was a "DM". We descended to 85 feet. I sucked down all my gas so fast that within 15 minutes of the dive, I was below 1000psi. Having done the math for minimum gas, I knew I had to thumb the dive and fast. I gave my buddy the thumb but we did not ascend right away. Instead, he swam us to an area where there was some kelp so I could use that for a visual aid during the ascent. By the time we began our ascent, I was down to 300ish PSI. As we were ascending, I had an incredibly difficult time venting my drysuit. So much so that I was cling to kelp trying to not rocket to the surface. By the time we reached 30ft, I was out of gas.
My buddy gave me his primary reg. But I saw right away that he could not find his octo. So within 10 seconds of giving me his reg, he took it right back out of my mouth. I waited patiently for him to take a couple of breaths. Then I asked for his primary reg back. He gave it back and was subsequently able to locate his octo.
Root cause: Not proficient at drysuit usage, not checking gas soon enough, being in a dive that was well beyond my capabilities, with a buddy who did not recognize right away that he was diving with someone who was an accident waiting to happen.
Out of gas buddies
I've never been on a dive with a buddy who has run out of gas during a dive. I'd like to say that my dive buddies are that good. But also, I'd like to take the very tiniest bit of credit in that I try really hard not to let my buddies make the same mistakes I made (entering the water with valves turned off, diving in conditions that that are beyond their capabilities, etc.)