Wife doesn't want to dive anymore due to botched freeflowing reg incident

[ktomlinson]

freaked divers go to the nearest place they feel safe.

so thats either the surface or their buddy.

is their any reason she did'nt come to you?

You sir are a troll. You sometimes disguise it well, but I've never saw you actually contribute anything worth a damn.

Sounds like she panicked...I'd like to hear from long time instructors if people that have panicked in the past are able to overcome their flight response through more training, or hear about their experiences with divers overcoming the urge to flee when panicked.

 

[BUDMANOK]

just wondering how do you pratice for a freeflow emergency? is there a way to make a reg freeflow on purpose?

 

[mala]

You sir are a troll. You sometimes disguise it well, but I've never saw you actually contribute anything worth a damn.

Sounds like she panicked...I'd like to hear from long time instructors if people that have panicked in the past are able to overcome their flight response through more training, or hear about their experiences with divers overcoming the urge to flee when panicked.

thank you sir.
i have had a couple of thanks during my time.

divers that are about to panic usually give off some pretty unforgetable signals.

holding hands works well.

x

 

[yarik83]

A lot of regulators come with a flow valve.. I think its called venturi? Essentially if you open it full way and depress your purge button often while looking down it tends to set wheels in motion. I have had that happen to me several times over the years. I can not say that I was particularly distraught. Just switched over to my backup and mitigated the problem while under water and then switched back. With my 2nd stage I would have to crank that valve all the way down.

 

[Cliffpiper]

Dropping weights at depth is only appropriate at one time. To let the body go to the surface quicker. You never want to drop weights at any depth. As for the free flowing regs I am wondering why regs that free flowed in the pool did not get checked before you let a loved one use them? And in her heightened state of anxiety she very well may have felt like she could not breath from your octo if it is not a high performance second equal to your primary. It sounds like she needs some one on one time with an instructor that will address her needs alone rather than in a group. And why did she not go for her own octo? She could have been on that while fixing her free flow or doing her ascent.

Don't know why she didn't use her own octo. That's why I gave her mine. The reason I let her dive the regs is because the dealer/tech I bought them from said they were fine and not to play with the knob or knock them around underwater. Like I said though, she didn't play with the knob or knock them around. This isn't the first time the guy has dismissed an issue with regs. I'm pretty sure I'm done buying from him. Wouldn't you be.

Yea, the octo isn't a high performance one. It was an oceanic alpha 8. That will be changed very soon. I'm getting a high performance octo for sure. Her and I have talked about it and she now knows what it's like and she knows to stay calm while down. She has decided not to give it up, but take it a little slower. Wise decision.

---------- Post Merged at 05:56 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 05:52 PM ----------

freaked divers go to the nearest place they feel safe.

so thats either the surface or their buddy.

is their any reason she did'nt come to you?

lol are you trying to say she doesn't feel safe with me or accuse me of being a bad diver? That's the vibe I'm feeling off that question. But anyways, actually she did come to me first and we were side by side the entire dive. It was after she felt she couldn't breathe that she decided to bolt for the surface. Nothing to do with me. But thanks for the concern.

 

[mdax]

You gave your wife your old crappy regs that free flowed in the pool, without service and then proceeded to point out all her errors...A better course of action would be to purchase your wife better gear than you own, go to more training with her until she was more comfortable and you'all worked better as a team. But that's just my opinion.

 

[Herb-alaska]

I mean what was I supposed to do? Hold her down there and force her to breathe from the octo when she clearly wasn't interested in that After I gave her my octo, she yanked it out and was gone. By the time I reacted, which was quite fast, her fins were at my head level.

I guess I'm just not understanding what else I could have done. She had no reg in her mouth, we were at 45', I offered my octo but she refused it, and I followed her to the surface to make sure she inflated her BCD and was OK (which she didn't do). What did I do wrong.

.

Just a couple of points

1. I would have handed her my regulator straight from my mouth as I was pushing purge for her so she received a purged ready to breath regulator that she saw you using and could know that it was good to go.

2, Yes I would have grabbed her fin and pulled her down or slowed her ascent so that I could stuff the regulator in her mouth and hold it there while she gets the confidence to know it is good to go.

3. Training as you said is always good but How about just buddy dives that are easy and less than her head depth so that if she feels uncomfortable she can stand up. Then practice the out of air share both ways and let her know that as you are above water, underwater you will always be there for her.

4. I hope she is not able to read this post because I would not want her to think that she screwed up . It did not go as well as we would like but we are all alive and no chamber rides so it wasn't terrible. Now lets talk about what we can do different. Build her confidence in herself and you as a buddy. I teach drivers ed to a lot of spouses because they could not get through the condescending education method. Focus on what went well and then interject what "WE" could have done differently.

Lastly new regulators are a must not because what she has are bad but because she has lost confidence in them . If money is the issue have hers serviced and use them while she now owns yours. Old serviced regulators should work as they are designed so they must need some attention. The IP may just be set to high and that is a simple adjustment.

encourage her positively and then make sure she never reads this thread. Because what I read sounded like it could be a little condescending and that is not the way to win her back to diving

Diving with someone you love is a lot of work I love diving with my Daughters but I am more relaxed with a non family member because if my buddy is my family and they aren't coming back then nether am I. Other buddy's get "I am going to do my best for you however we aren't gong to have 2 victims here."

Again just my thoughts,

 

[mala]

Don't know why she didn't use her own octo. That's why I gave her mine. The reason I let her dive the regs is because the dealer/tech I bought them from said they were fine and not to play with the knob or knock them around underwater. Like I said though, she didn't play with the knob or knock them around. This isn't the first time the guy has dismissed an issue with regs. I'm pretty sure I'm done buying from him. Wouldn't you be.

Yea, the octo isn't a high performance one. It was an oceanic alpha 8. That will be changed very soon. I'm getting a high performance octo for sure. Her and I have talked about it and she now knows what it's like and she knows to stay calm while down. She has decided not to give it up, but take it a little slower. Wise decision.

---------- Post Merged at 05:56 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 05:52 PM ----------



lol are you trying to say she doesn't feel safe with me or accuse me of being a bad diver? That's the vibe I'm feeling off that question. But anyways, actually she did come to me first and we were side by side the entire dive. It was after she felt she couldn't breathe that she decided to bolt for the surface. Nothing to do with me. But thanks for the concern.

nothing to do with you.?
her buddy.
i think if she tried to do that from a bit deeper you would be more concerned.

just as well you dont venture into the sea.

 

[Cliffpiper]

You gave your wife your old crappy regs that free flowed in the pool, without service and then proceeded to point out all her errors...A better course of action would be to purchase your wife better gear than you own, go to more training with her until she was more comfortable and you'all worked better as a team. But that's just my opinion.

I appreciate your rudeness. Not really, but whatever...

The regs are not old, so that made no sense. I wouldn't classify 4 month old regs as old. I wouldn't have bought them for myself if I thought they were crappy, but when I get handed a pair of Hollis regs for free (which were my first choice but I couldn't afford them) I am going to dive my first choice. Get a clue about what you obviously have no clue about before you start making assumptions on my motives with the regs. The Aeris regs were going to by my primary set of regs and she actually had a sherwood magnum set before those screwed up. I don't feel the need to spell out the whole story for you though.

I pointed out her errors so that other new divers and whoever cares can see what that issue sounds like when it happened. And hell, I just wanted to post if on SB. Why not...

I would like to make a point to you that I AM NOT A REGULATOR TECH! When a tech tells me the regs are fine, I assume he knows what he's talking about. I don't appreciate you making it sound like I'm irresponsible and out to cause a diving problem. If you read the posts in this thread you would see that I did say that I talked to the dealer/tech I bought them from about the issue and he said they were fine. Clearly that's not good enough though. I guess I should go to DEMA to learn how to tech the Aeris regs myself huh?

Also, I stated I am getting her the Zeagle Flathead 7's. Are those junk regs? I'd love to hear some opinions because from my experience, they are not. Zeagle has a pretty damn good reputation. And during that specific dive, she stated that she was comfortable until the reg freeflow. She just sat and read the thread when she got home from work. Everything was fine until she felt that she couldn't get a breath then she panicked. I don't appreciate you making me sound like a diver that give's my wife my so called "junk" so that I can dive really nice gear. That's not the case at all mdax.

Please don't make accusations that you know nothing about. And yes, I understand that's just your opinion.

 

[Bratface]

just wondering how do you pratice for a freeflow emergency? is there a way to make a reg freeflow on purpose?

Sure, press the purge button and you can practice breathing from a free flowing reg.