Dive story told over the weekend

[DevonDiver]

We will agree to disagree then.

As is your right You may want to consider some Rescue training though...

I get that but panic can set in on anyone. No matter how experienced

Yes and no.

Everyone will panic - but the trigger of the panic...and level of stress needed to push someone beyond their threshold will develop approx proportionally to their experience.

I wouldn't expect a divemaster to bolt to the surface because they freaked out during a mask remove/replace - but I've seen many trainee divers struggling to control their psychological control under just those circumstances.

People are prone to panic whenever they feel that their life might be seriously threatened. An inexperienced diver might see that thread in a leaking mask, or a buoyancy problem. An experienced diver won't. Their experience tells them otherwise. However, they may feel more threatened if they suffer a freeflow at 140ft or get caught in a violent down current...depending on whether they are trained and previously experienced in dealing with that situation... A technical diver probably wouldn't panic in those scenarios - but put them 40 minutes into deco, take away their visibility inside a wreck/cave...and then snap their guideline... and that threshold is going to get close again...

Perceived threat causes stress. Perception of threat is entirely dictated by experience and confidence in knowing how to deal with it.

Of course, there are individual variations in psychological thresholds - some people have more self-control against panic reaction. I believe that some elements of this are transferable from experience in other (non-diving) activities. For example, a combat veteran, police officer, extreme free-climber, freefall parachutist etc might have more ingrained stress management skills, that apply in any perceived danger scenario. But still... the perception of danger/risk is something determined by experience.

In that sense, who is calmer... the special forces trooper who exerts determination to remain functional when, on a scuba course, they run low on air.... or the experienced diver who's been low on air dozens of times and knows that it is within their capabilities to easily CESA to the surface. I'd suggest the later... because they aren't at a panic threshold, wheras the former is...

 

[elmer fudd]

I think that both are at fault here, but especially the husband.

The way I see it, when I become someone's dive buddy, I'm responsible for doing everything within my power to save or assist them in their time of need short of actually killing myself,. This would include going far deeper than planned, resisting aggressive critters, going into deco or sharing air and making a risky ascent. The one exception would be for a negligent buddy who does his own thing with no regard for my own safety. Sorry, but if you choose to dart off to 200', I'll try to stop you, but past 120 you'll be diving solo.

When he saw his wife having buoyancy problems, unless his own life was in eminent danger, he should have descended and assisted her whether he was freaked out or not. I think almost every one here has been seriously freaked out under water at least once. Sure it's scary, but you deal with it anyway and a diver having real problems is more important than your own anxiety. It's one thing to leave her there if you're completely out of air or you're having a heart attack, but if you're just panicked, you need to man up and deal with the more serious issue.

As for the wife, she's got some serious buoyancy control issues that she needs to iron out. In all likelihood, all she needed to do was hit that small button and ascend with her husband.

 

[TSandM]

What is really sad about this story is that these folks were diving in a quarry, for heaven's sake. No adverse weather. No current. They could not manage a simple descent together through a thermocline, to the extent that one "freaked out" and surfaced, and the other lost control of her buoyancy, and they lost communication. Doesn't it strike anyone else as incredibly WRONG that certified divers with more than a few dives, should be so deficient in skills that this would happen? I would be incredibly chagrined if I were to hear that any of the students we have graduated had been in such a scenario -- I sure HOPE we prepare them better than that.

 

[farsidefan1]

Chain them together at the bottom of a pool with some sort of hookah rig where someone topside can alternatively turn off the air of one or the other with some sort of secondary rig where they can share air. Take turns shutting off the air of one then the other till they figure it out. If they won't learn the will drown. Darwin will make good divers out of bad ones.

 

[Chris Horn]

I'm certainly not an experienced enough diver to be giving any type of advanced advice. But this whole situation seems pretty basic with a lot of bad things going on. I think everyone has said everything to be said. however, I would think she had to be way overweighted. Because in a panic my first reaction would have been to breathe heavily, and stop exhaling completely....that alone should have brought her to the surface if weighted a bit more correctly. At least at a shallow depth which is what this appeared to be. Just a grain of salt, take what you want of it. -afterthought- He definitely should have waited with her and ascended together.