I would say when I went on my second certification dive in open water would have to be my worst one to date. We dove down to the platform where evryone was meeting up to perform the tasks given for the 2nd open water dive. All of a sudden some bubbles started to come from my spare 2nd stage. I got one of the dive masters attention so he could see what was going on. First he tapped on it, then hit it, then pushed purge button. All of a sudden, WOOSH both of my 2nd stages started free flowing like all hell! The buddy 2nd stage whipped out of his hands and started slamming the hellout of me and I was biting down on the corner of my primary trying to keep it next to my mouth so I could breath from the bubbles. Meanwhile that divemaster FROZE I mean just dumb founded. I had to keep signaling to share his air but he was temporarily froze. Then I signalled that I was surfacing no matter what...running the hell out of air fast! When I started to ascend he finaly gave me his other 2nd stage and we started to surface. But when I started using his air, it allowed my reg. to whip around and wham wham.. both hitting me. Slowly surfaced, whole time both my regulators smacking me. When we get to the surface, everyone was looking on to see what they called "a HUGE surge of bubbles" from the water. Man was that a little embarrassing and quite scary. I was so glad I payed attention during the pool dives. Come to find out, the ceramic valve thingy(I ain't no expert at the terms) in the 1st stage shattered. Man those reg.'s got like jet propulsion when they free flow on their own. Well thats my bad experience so for! What a time for something like that to happen, during certification, SCARY!! Didn't deter me though, I actually got more dives in than anyone else in the class cause the instructor felt horrible(was his equip. that I everyone was using) Anyone else gone through this experience??
Worst exper. when cert.
- Thread starter deep1
- Start date
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Spoon
Contributor
deep1:
what brand was the reg? its funny that you reacted to the situation better than the DM, seemed you were more prepared. ncie to know that you paid attention in class and reacted calmly as you did. most people would have panicked and would have brought serious injury to themselves. your dm is really lucky that you handled it ok, if not hed be in real trouble.
Military pretty much prepared me for hairy situations. The 1st stage was a Dacor, not sure what model. Yeah, I was wishing I was next to the instructor when this happened, he would have responded better. DM scared me more by freezing up than the actual emergency at hand. What kept me calm the whole time was thinking, I can always surface fast because we had just started the dive. Oh yeah, if anyone was wondering, we were at 40ft when this happened.
DennisW
Contributor
A 1st stage failure is pretty rare. No matter what menufacturer. You were OK, though and could have ascended safely breathing off of the freeflowing regulater. It would have taken a while to lose all of your air.
However, this kind of failure for a new diver has to be disconcerting. It would have scared the bejeezus out of me, but I think though that my training would have been adequate to handle it. The DM should have been more helpful, but no one knows exactly how they will react in an emergency situation until one occurs. Although, this could have been a dire emergency if you had panicked, it was not a dire emergency, just an emergency.
You did very well and should be commended for the way you handled yourself.
However, this kind of failure for a new diver has to be disconcerting. It would have scared the bejeezus out of me, but I think though that my training would have been adequate to handle it. The DM should have been more helpful, but no one knows exactly how they will react in an emergency situation until one occurs. Although, this could have been a dire emergency if you had panicked, it was not a dire emergency, just an emergency.
You did very well and should be commended for the way you handled yourself.
lord1234
Contributor
you need to calm down a little bit. A bad experience with one DM should not deter you from diving again.
cmalinowski
Contributor
deep1:
I still wouldn't surface fast. Lung pop would be worse than DCS...
You did fine and remained calm. Hopefully, that will be the worst thing that ever happens to you diving. Knowing that you handled it just fine should give you major confidence for future diving.
Even though it was a bad experience and couldn't have happened at a wrose time(during OWC), I did learn alot from it. Never fully trust your equip. no matter how new it is that way you're always prepared for something when it happens, 1st stages do go out no matter how rare it happens(I was also told it almost never happens before it hapened to me and afterwards talking to atleast 20 experienced divers,most DM's, none had ever actually seen it happen or met someone it happened to), I was glad it happened to me afterwards because I relized how serious it was and that the others certifying wouldn't have been able to handle it and it could have turned out horrible or even deadly, I can understand how hard it is to hold back that urge to just fill your BCD with air and blast to the surface(I never planned on doing this the whole time but wanted to), Don't fully count on DM's no matter how experienced they may be because when I sufaced I had very very little air left in the tank(I couldn't have waited any longer for the DM) people react in different ways to things, and a host of other things I got out of this but most important, If you can remain calm while diving then IT'S ALL GOOD!
lamont
Contributor
deep1:
bingo. nice work.
ClevelandDiver
Contributor
Sounds like you handle the situation better than many experienced divers would have. Like yourself, I am always thankful for the experience when something goes bad and I am able to handle it safely. It helps build confidence in your abilities and training. No one can truly say what they would have done in your experience unless it actually happened to them. Maybe it was the possessed flailing second stage that spooked your DM.
That said......I apologize, but I must admit I chuckled when I pictured you ascending while being attacked by your second stages. It is only funny to me because everything came out ok and I have a weird sense of humor. Very impressed with the way you handled yourself, I doubt I would have been that calm in my open water check out dives.
That said......I apologize, but I must admit I chuckled when I pictured you ascending while being attacked by your second stages. It is only funny to me because everything came out ok and I have a weird sense of humor. Very impressed with the way you handled yourself, I doubt I would have been that calm in my open water check out dives.
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