Darwin Awards of Diving

[Gombessa]

I have to wonder about some of the context here. I have to admit I don't know the detailed workings of a regulator (I know the general idea, but really not the nuts and bolts), and I imagine I still know more than 90% of certified divers out there. It seems this guy was fed a line by his LDS about how this super-reg they're selling him could be hot-swapped underwater. Maybe he should have done more research, but I don't know if it warrants making him an object or ridicule for what he did.

 

[Drewpy]

To quote comedian Ron White.."Cant fix Stupid!"

 

[Hoomi]

That's funny stuff!

Reminds me of the guy that came in to the local dive shop asking to replace his computer. Why? It would not stop beeping and flashing "To Fast" and then it would just stop and flash "DECO".

I guess before I ridiculed the guy much, I'd want to know the circumstances. What was he doing when the error occurred?

My computer went into error mode, beeping to warn me about ascending too fast and missing my deco stop, on our last dive trip. It did this on the first dive of the day, before I'd even managed to descend to 20'.

We tried to get the computer to reset later, by which time it said that I'd descended to around 300' and stayed down for 999 minutes. That would be a real good trick to accomplish in a bay with a maximum depth of about 35 feet, and on a single tank of regular air.

If someone didn't know the story, and just saw me turning it into the LDS, they might have thought I'd made a very dumb decision and blown off the deco stop after a deep dive.

By the way, even a week later, the LDS still couldn't get the comp to reset. Looks like there's a new computer in my future.

But only one at a time. I'm neither dumb enough nor rich enough to run around with a whole bag of computers.

 

[jjhill]

I once witnessed a new diver surface from a dive, as he gets back on the boat he lets the DM have it for giving him a faulty octopus on his regulator set-up. When the DM asked the diver to explain what happened he stated that after his primary regulator ran out of air on his safety stop he switched to his octopus only to find that it wasn't delivering air either, forcing him to do a CESA.

 

[InTheDrink]

This past weekend while diving at a local quarry, I watched a diver at the entry area come out of the water with a cylinder, place it on the ground, pick-up another cylinder and carry it into the water. My curiosity go the best of me when he put on his mask started wallowing in about 4 feet of water. He was wrestling with a partially inflated BC, the "new" tank, and his regulator. All of this with his gear submerged.

As soon as he had his regulator attached (underwater), he cracked the valve and took a couple of test breaths. After a couple of water laced breaths, he told his buddy that he was taking the *$^%#* thing back to the dive shop becuase they told him it was an environmentally sealed first stage and it was full of water! tr

I couldn't resist asking him about what he was doing and he insisted that he was told that he could swap-out his tank underwater so he was trying it out for the first time in shallow water.

Trying not to roll my eyes or laugh, I suggested that he go back to the shop that sold him the regulator and have them show him how to do it in the shop's pool.

Oh to be a fly on the wall of the LDS when he takes it back!

I'm struggling to find the mirth here? What part of this manoeuvre isn't feasible? I've discussed this very issue recently on a thread about blown o-rings (underwater) and taking your first stage off, sorting the o-ring and replacing first stage appears pretty standard. Why do you find this guy trying to learn to do this so funny???

J

 

[k374]

I once witnessed a new diver surface from a dive, as he gets back on the boat he lets the DM have it for giving him a faulty octopus on his regulator set-up. When the DM asked the diver to explain what happened he stated that after his primary regulator ran out of air on his safety stop he switched to his octopus only to find that it wasn't delivering air either, forcing him to do a CESA.

and this guy was certified? :shocked2:

btw, check out this girl

YouTube - How NOT to get into water from Boat
YouTube - Not good buoyancy

 

[Hank49]

I'm struggling to find the mirth here? What part of this manoeuvre isn't feasible? I've discussed this very issue recently on a thread about blown o-rings (underwater) and taking your first stage off, sorting the o-ring and replacing first stage appears pretty standard. Why do you find this guy trying to learn to do this so funny???

J

It could be done. But I can't picture a scenario where it would be necessary. If I blew an o ring, I would just let my buddy know and surface. Yes, we could both stay down, breath from his tank and replace my o ring....but...I'd still probably just surface.
We'd use up a lot more air (most likely it would blow early in the dive with more pressure in the tank) fixing it under water. If we both ascend on his tank, we could continue the dive after replacing the o ring.

 

[mikemill]

I'm struggling to find the mirth here? What part of this manoeuvre isn't feasible? I've discussed this very issue recently on a thread about blown o-rings (underwater) and taking your first stage off, sorting the o-ring and replacing first stage appears pretty standard. Why do you find this guy trying to learn to do this so funny???

J

Because he expected it to not be full of water.

 

[Gombessa]

It could be done. But I can't picture a scenario where it would be necessary.

If the regulator was used on a stage bottle or slung pony, it's definitely conceivable that the first stage could flood, or need to be reseated/swapped for one reason or another. This probably shouldn't be a huge consideration for recreational diving, but regulators are expensive, and many people buy them taking into account the possibility of future training (and salesmen won't hesitate in listing future-proofing as a benefit while selling something).

I certainly wouldn't want to flood a regulator just to test it, but I don't think I'd go around laughing at a guy who was told by his LDS that it was doable, and tried to test it in the safety of shallow water.

 

[RJP]

Needless to say, we finish up our stops, get on the boat. Said diver is on the boat, fine as can be, starting to change over his tank for dive 2. After switching tanks I see him grab a bag, take off his dive computer and pulls out another one. He must have had almost a dozen computers in the bag. So, feeling as if I'm going to explode if I don't ask, "wow that's a lot of computers, why so many?" Said diver responds "Well, I use them and when I surface they say violation or something like that and wont work on the second dive. So I just get a new one so I can keep diving"

Similar passenger on our boat. But he only had TWO computers. One for the first dive, one for the second dive. "The first one always starts beeping and flashing towards the end of the second dive, so I just swap computers between dives. Completely solves the problem."

Yeah - REDUNDANCY!