Yesterday I feel I got lucky.

[yhike]

I was diving on our last open water test and we did a few things like flood the mask and etc and make the ahhh sound and etc. Right after that the Dive master waved for us to follow him. I was in a group of 6 but the visibility was very poor I could could barley see the guys fins in front of me. I did something dumb I check to see how far we were under it said 48' but I did not look at my Air pressure. I could feel the air getting harder to breath and I panic. I started swimming as fast I could to the surface hoping I was going to make it. I spit out my regulator about 15th, sucked in water and somehow I still managed to make it to the top.

I learned a lot things yesterday and everything I did was example of what not to do. I was going to dive today to get past fear but my lungs hurt like someone took a hammer to them. I am guessing it's because of me holding my breath.

 

[Ayisha]

You probably should get yourself checked out since you inhaled water as well as held your breath during your ascent.

Since during your last o/w training dive, you didn't monitor your air consumption, ran out of air, panicked, lost buddy contact, spit out your reg and inhaled water, ascended quickly, and held your breath, you haven't passed yet, right? I hope that you will have much more and better training and become a lot more comfortable and proficient before you get certified and dive with similarly trained buddies for your own protection and that of your buddies.

 

[msg]

Hopefully you have learned some valuable lessons from your experience. I am glad that you made it out safely, though.

I know it is 20/20 hindsight, but you really need to stay on top of how much air you have, especially when just learning how to dive. Your consumption will get better, but be in the habit of checking your pressure, the deeper you go, the quicker your air will go.

Good luck on finishing your class.

 

[spectrum]

yhike

Since you are still feeling discomfort I would get to the ER PDQ for an exam. I'm not a doctor but there may be some real damage that warrants treatment or at least educated observation. In any case that sort of discomfort probably means no diving until cleared by a doctor.

I agree that you were lucky. Before you go back in the water you need to think long and hard about how to replace exercising your lucky streak with skill and rational behavior. Since you now have a taste of the real deal spend time visualizing the dive, avoiding the problems as well as correctly responding to the difficulties.

A good 1:1 with your instructor to debrief and counsel is also appropriate.

Pete

 

[yhike]

Yes I got my OW card and my wife just corrected me it was our first dive of the AOW. I did not get that card because I did not want to do the 80 ft dive. I just didn't feel up to it because my lungs hurt when I breath. Though I did do one easy dive after all this last night and it was night dive that was lot fun but our max was 19' I am going to go see my doctor tomorrow morning and get checked out.

 

[matsat64]

I'm glade that you are OK.

This is why I do not think you should be able to do AOW class til after a minimum of 25 to 30 dives , this would give everyone time to get comfy with their gear and Buoyancy control under control. With this done you could really learn some AOW skills. This is just my opinion, but I see and hear of this all the time and eventually someone is going to get hurt bad...

Again I am glad you are safe and let us know how you feel later on.

 

[TSandM]

I have several reactions to this story.

The first one is, where was the DM when all this was going on? Where was the instructor? (Now, I realize the instructor does not necessarily have to be in the water for all the AOW dives.) But if there is a professional in the water with you, one of his responsibilities is to make sure you keep track of your gas, and that he knows what it is and can tailor the dive appropriately.

Second, were you actually out of gas? And why did you spit out your regulator? You should have been taught that, in the event of an out of air situation, you should keep your reg in place, because when you ascend, you may get another breath or two out of the reg as the ambient pressure falls.

And of all the lessons you learned in OW, the one about never holding your breath should have been the most deeply ingrained. That action is quite literally one of the few things a beginning diver can do that will kill them. If I were you, I'd go to an ER and get a chest x-ray -- chest pain after an uncontrolled, breath-holding ascent can be a symptom of a variety of rather important injuries.

I'm glad you got through this. I think you need to sit down and look very long and hard at the things this dive taught you, because you were in great peril here, and were truly lucky to be able to write this story for us.

 

[ScubaNurse758]

First, glad you made it out with as little damage as you did. Second, just a few thoughts from my open water training. Perhaps it was my instructor, my anal-retentiveness, or a combo of the two, but I remember almost constantly checking my pressure during my check-out dives and in routine dives/training for AOW, up until I had a good idea of what my air consumption was and how much air I used at greater depths. Third, I must ask, if you are uncomfortable with the 80 ft. dive, why the hurry to get the advanced cert?? If you aren't comfortable with deeper dive situations, why not take your open water cert and hone your skills in buoyancy control, comfort in the water and air management, then go and be ready to knock out the advanced course? Just my humble thoughts.

Jordan.

 

[Crush]

I was diving on our last open water test and we did a few things like flood the mask and etc and make the ahhh sound and etc. Right after that the Dive master waved for us to follow him. I was in a group of 6 but the visibility was very poor I could could barley see the guys fins in front of me. I did something dumb I check to see how far we were under it said 48' but I did not look at my Air pressure. I could feel the air getting harder to breath and I panic.

I assume that your skills were done in shallow water, and that they did not take overly long. This is purely conjecture, but there is a good chance that you had plenty of air, only you failed to open your tank valve fully (less 1/4 turn). If this is the case, your dive buddy failed to check your tank valve and/or you did not inhale sharply on the reg while looking for a pressure fluctuation on your SPG. As you descended you required larger volumes of air (relative to STP) to fill your lungs - your regulator could not deliver the air at that rate (since the tank was not fully open) and you found it hard to breathe.

I started swimming as fast I could to the surface hoping I was going to make it.

At this point you could still breathe, albeit with difficulty, and you bolted to the surface in an uncontrolled manner. I am a novice diver, but even I know that this is a very bad idea and points to a lack of training and discomfort in the water. Were you trained properly and failed to follow those lessons, or was your training lacking?

With respect to comfort in the water, in a multi-week OW cert course you would have had lots of pool training and time to get comfortable in the water. Did you do a proper OW course, or a weekend special? In my OW course we were required to swim the length of the pool (underwater) on a single breath wearing only our trunks and our fins. The swim terminated at the deep end where, without surfacing, we had to locate our personal gear (and not someone else's), turn on the tank, start breathing, and don our gear. The value in this training is that, at the end of the swim, human nature is to pop up to the surface. Instead, we were required to swim down and follow a procedure. This does wonders for your confidence in being able to resolve a problem and therefore avoid panic. Just swimming pool lengths underwater on a breath of air might help your confidence in the water. Swimming skills should not be under-valued when it comes to their calming effect on a diver.

Edit: One great lesson learned from a distance swim underwater is that you find out quickly that the key to traveling a distance on one breath is not to start swimming as fast as you can, but to swim steadily and deliberately.

I spit out my regulator about 15th, sucked in water and somehow I still managed to make it to the top.

Were you trained to do this? Even if you ran out of air at 58 ft, your tank will deliver gas at 15 ft as the pressure on your body drops.

I was going to dive today to get past fear but my lungs hurt like someone took a hammer to them. I am guessing it's because of me holding my breath.

Read TSandM's response to your post - you need to see a physician before you dive.

At very least, contact DAN (DAN Divers Alert Network) using the DAN Emergency Hotline: +1-919-684-9111 . They will likely advise you to see a physician ASAP.

 

[*dave*]

Hope it all works out.

I was diving on our last open water test and we did a few things like flood the mask and etc and make the ahhh sound and etc. Right after that the Dive master waved for us to follow him. I was in a group of 6 but the visibility was very poor I could could barley see the guys fins in front of me. I did something dumb I check to see how far we were under it said 48' but I did not look at my Air pressure. I could feel the air getting harder to breath and I panic. I started swimming as fast I could to the surface hoping I was going to make it. I spit out my regulator about 15th, sucked in water and somehow I still managed to make it to the top.

I learned a lot things yesterday and everything I did was example of what not to do. I was going to dive today to get past fear but my lungs hurt like someone took a hammer to them. I am guessing it's because of me holding my breath.