Do you always follow your training?

[Jim Lapenta]

This may not be what you want in an answer, but I'll try.

My wife (my buddy) and I were on a live aboard in Belize. We were sitting on the bench putting our gear on getting ready for another dive. When out of no where my wife started to scream "WTF?" It turns out her valve in the inflator hose stuck in the open position and started to squeeze her. She immediatly ripped open her cumber bun (so she could breath) while I reached over and turned off her air. The boat crew responded immediatly but without the tools needed and a replacement valve there was nothing that we could do for the rest of the trip. (We borrowed another BCD from the crew and the trip was saved)

My point in this story was we were never taught what to do in this situation. (Luckily it happened on the boat) After getting home, taking the BCD to my LDS and asking many many questions, I believe I know what to do. I would release the inflator hose from the BCD and thumb the dive. Mouth air as needed.

Before you ask, I always rinse my gear (actually soak it for 8 to 12 hours) at the end of every trip.
I always inspect our gear at least a week or two before we leave on a trip. This type of equipment failure is just unforseen.

I believe I (we) did everything that we new what to do, but this emergency (stuck open inflator valve) just is not talked about or taught. At least not at my LDS! I'm not sure it should be discussed or taught in the OW.

I believe that with more reading (including this forum everyday), more interest and more general BS'ing with more divers will I learn how to react to those "once in a life time emergency" and learn what to do.

Today, I'm always asking myself "What if ..." ?

Actually it is supposed to be discussed and practiced in all the ow classes I am familiar with. Disconnecting and reconnecting the bc inflator hose is a required skill. Both at depth and on the surface. And just for the reason you described. A runaway ascent due to a stuck open inflator is a very serious and possibly life threatening event to a new diver who has not been taught to deal with it. It is one of those things that could create an immediate panic and, if the diver were to hold his or her breath, could result in an embolism in a worst case situation. So yeah, something so basic that can kill you needs to be covered in the ow class. Along with the buddy's response to just such an event. Things like using your other dump valves, finning down, and flaring out to slow the ascent. All ow class skills that should be covered.

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[Quero]

1. Have you ever reacted to an underwater situation in a way that was not in accordance with your training?
Yes.

2. Can you describe the situation, and explain why you reacted in the way you did?
I was on a dive to see mola-molas at site formed from a deep wall topped by a reef flat. We didn't come upon the molas until the very end of the dive when the other divers in the group were running low on air, and they all needed to go up for their safety stop. I had plenty of air (over 80 bar or about 1200 psi), so I signaled to the dive guide, my buddy, and the others that I was going to stay down to get a few pictures and would join them in a couple of minutes. The all went up to the reef flat, and I stuck around at depth to shoot. I thought I'd be okay--I was very experienced, a dive pro, right? I had plenty of air, and everybody was just 80 feet above me and knew where I was. I was complacent, no doubt about it.

I spent very little time at depth--maybe three minutes--but by the time I returned to the wall to ascend, a cascade of water was pouring off the reef flat down the wall in a tremendous down current. My bubbles were headed towards my feet, my mask was flooding from getting blown around, and my reg was breathing wet as if I had it in upside down. I had to climb the wall hand-over-hand and fin for all I was worth just to make minimal progress. It was very, very hard work. While this was going on, I was calculating my hugely increased air consumption and reviewing the procedures for a CESA, in case I went OOA with all the effort. Eventually I made it to the reef flat with just 150 psi of air left.

3. Do you, in hindsight, feel that your response was appropriate?
Yes, given the circumstances it was the best alternative. Another option would have been to surface further down the reef, seeking shelter and resting in overhangs while gradually ascending rather than going straight up the wall and gasping for breath, but my group mates were watching for me, and they would have had to initiate a search if I hadn't surfaced right there, and I would have put up my SMB in order to be found, but I judged that alternative to be second best. Also, I kept my head in a true emergency and reviewed my training. As it turned out, I didn't need to do the CESA, but it was a very close call.

4. What did you learn from it?
a) Some humility, for starters. Just because I have done a lot of diving, it doesn't follow that it's okay for me to spontaneously decide to do a solo excursion with no prior planning.
b) A lot about dealing with down currents.
c) That the Breathe, Think, Act training does work. While unlike some of the others who have told their stories here it would have been impossible for me to bolt to the surface, I never did enter a panic state precisely because I did follow the BTA mantra. I definitely knew that I was in mortal danger, though. I hope never to experience that feeling again.

5. Do you feel that your training could have prepared you better to handle it? And if so, how?
Maybe. These sorts of currents are really special situations, and when we discuss currents, we don't discuss much about how to deal with these sorts of dangers. Mostly what I was told about currents was "stick close to the wall or the bottom," which really is true. However, "special" current situations such as up or down currents or washing machine currents were never covered in any curriculum I was exposed to. I think diving in currents under water merits mention in the AOW course, just as there is mention in the OW course about how to deal with surface currents, and I do include it as additional information for my own students. I tell them about watching fish behavior, watching bubbles, how to evaluate a hand-hold if they have to drag themselves along, etc.

 

[ajduplessis]

1. No
2. Training addressed the issue
3. Yes
4. Life happens and you need to prepared for it. You need to maintain your skills whenever you have a chance
5. No

That said things outside of recreational diving cant always be done by the book because it just dont work

 

[fjpatrum]

1. Have you ever reacted to an underwater situation in a way that was not in accordance with your training?
Yes. I didn't end my dive...

2. Can you describe the situation, and explain why you reacted in the way you did?
Blown dump valve on my BC. Dump valve just pulled out of the bladder and bubbled air. This was a "test dive" for this particular piece of equipment and I knew the likelihood of something happening was reasonable. I also knew that I didn't need the BC for my dive so I just continued my dive and notified my buddy. He was a bit disturbed by it, when we got to the surface and he clearly understood what happened, but we dived for about 20 minutes after the incident. No big deal.

3. Do you, in hindsight, feel that your response was appropriate?
For me? Absolutely. For someone else, maybe not. It really depends upon a person's individual risk tolerance, I guess. If I had had a second issue, or felt I couldn't have swam up my rig, I would have aborted immediately. As it was, my buddy and I stayed close together and had a nice mellow dive at 30 feet in the local quarry.


4. What did you learn from it?
Be more careful and do more thorough "acceptance tests" when modifying gear. Other than that, I learned I might be a good candidate for minimalist (no BC) diving.

5. Do you feel that your training could have prepared you better to handle it? And if so, how?
I really don't know. I think my class was very basic but I read on here all the time about what OW classes don't offer these days and I got a lot of what people say isn't offered, though at a high or cursory level. A lot of what I got out of the class I think I got because of previous experience that allowed me to focus on the "diving" rather than all the other "scary" stuff that could happen. If you're not out of air, you're not in an emergency. Everything is easy if you remember that but I honestly don't think that came from my OW class. It should have, though.

 

[boulderjohn]

This one is really embarrassing.

The full details will take too much time to explain, so you will have to accept a shortened version of the setup.

I as with a group of instructors preparing for a kind of a "let's get everyone diving and having fun" day for customers, etc. at a local reservoir. We were setting up things to do out in the water (maximum depth = 35 feet), and that involved various floats, platforms, etc. Several of us were trying to set up one thing in particular that took a very long time. When we were almost done we surfaced, very near the end of our air supply. There were some minor things to do near the surface, and I volunteered to take care of them while the others went in to shore hurriedly to get ready for events.

When I got back on shore later, one of my friends said he thought he had seen me swimming around without my BCD for a while and wondered why.

I wished he hadn't seen that.

While finishing my task, to my annoyance I had to go back down a little bit on the rigging we were setting up to fix something that had not been done properly. I fixed it and went back of to the surface, only a few feet away. I was stopped, however, a few feet from the surface. My tank was entangled in a line. I was trying to move purposefully and slowly to free it, as taught, but no luck. It was at that point that I went out of air. In theory, I was about to drown 4 feet from the surface. I got out of the harness, surfaced, and did the free diving needed to get my gear. Fortunately the BCD I was wearing was actually a stainless steel BP/W (heavy), so I wasn't wearing enough weight to cause a problem.

The mistakes are pretty obvious. Because of my "I'm an instructor" pride, I saw no problem in sending my buddies to shore while I worked in what was really a dangerous environment. (That line was not supposed to be there--long story.) That same pride allowed me to descend, if only for about 15 feet, to fix a problem while just about totally OOA--and I knew it. The normal rules didn't apply to someone like me. (They didn't apply to my buddies, either, apparently.)

What I did right in following my training was threefold. First of all, I never panicked--the only emotion I felt, even when my regulator stopped giving me air, was embarrassment. I always knew--as I tell my students--that problems are solvable. The second thing I did right was get out of the BCD, just as students are taught to do in OW class. Finally, even though I had only a few feet to go to get to the surface, I remembered to exhale the whole way.

My training was fully adequate. The parts I intentionally ignored were the parts that got me into trouble; the parts I followed saved me.

 

[reddiver970]

John,
If you do this again let me know, I would like to watch

 

[boulderjohn]

John,
If you do this again let me know, I would like to watch

Maybe this summer. If we get some dives in together you can set something up to watch me screw up. Bring a camera.

 

[Darnold9999]

I spent very little time at depth--maybe three minutes--but by the time I returned to the wall to ascend, a cascade of water was pouring off the reef flat down the wall in a tremendous down current. My bubbles were headed towards my feet, my mask was flooding from getting blown around, and my reg was breathing wet as if I had it in upside down. I had to climb the wall hand-over-hand and fin for all I was worth just to make minimal progress. It was very, very hard work. While this was going on, I was calculating my hugely increased air consumption and reviewing the procedures for a CESA, in case I went OOA with all the effort. Eventually I made it to the reef flat with just 150 psi of air left.

3. Do you, in hindsight, feel that your response was appropriate?
Yes, given the circumstances it was the best alternative. Another option would have been to surface further down the reef, seeking shelter and resting in overhangs while gradually ascending rather than going straight up the wall and gasping for breath, but my group mates were watching for me, and they would have had to initiate a search if I hadn't surfaced right there, and I would have put up my SMB in order to be found, but I judged that alternative to be second best. Also, I kept my head in a true emergency and reviewed my training. As it turned out, I didn't need to do the CESA, but it was a very close call.

I am curious if you considered swimming back away from the reef into the blue and surfacing there. I ask because that would have been my first thought, thinking that the current would dissipate away from the top of the reef and the wall. I would not have thought of crawling up the reef as my first option unless I knew that the volume of the downcurrent was going to be huge based on the local topography.

Which perhaps answers my question, but I would like your thoughts. I have rarely had to deal with downcurrents and the ones I have been in were relatively mild and localized.

 

[WimW]

1. Have you ever reacted to an underwater situation in a way that was not in accordance with your training?
Yep. Did not immediately surface when low on air.

2. Can you describe the situation, and explain why you reacted in the way you did?

Drift dive in the Red Sea, negative entry. I was proud of myself that the negative entry and descent were going so well (it was only my 14th dive or so), until I noticed our guide making all kinds of signals to me. I did not understand what he was trying to say. It took a while for him to swim up to me, fumble with my equipment (at that time, I had no idea what he was doing) and show me my pressure gauge. Only 80 bar left, two minutes into the dive. I thought I had jumped with a used tnak (although I knew I had checked my pressure before jumping). As far as I knew, the boat was gone. Before anyone asks, my buddy was too far away and could not intervene before the guide did - not good, I know, but we learned from it.
Training response would be to ascend normally and end the dive.
What happened was that the guide handed me his octo, I did most of the dive on the guides octo, remaining quite shallow (10m or so), then the guide told me to switch to my buddy's octo, and in the end I made the safety stop and ascended on my own air when we had reached the boat. We all ended the dive with at least 40 bar in our tanks.

3. Do you, in hindsight, feel that your response was appropriate?
I do. I considered
- I did not feel like a long surface swim or waiting for the boat to pick me up (bad argument, I know)
- I knew my SAC was lower than most of our group, and our guides' even lower, so doing the dive staying a bit higher than the others should be possible
- I knew I had my buddy as another back up and I had enough air even if I would need to ascend sharing my air with my buddy
- We were not deep, so surfacing normally whenever we would really be low on air would always be possible


4. What did you learn from it?
- Always check whether your octo is turned downward before jumping in, especially when doing a negative entry (the cause of the air loss was a free-flowing octo).
- Free flows can cause air loss very quickly
- Stay close to your buddy
- I had an excellent exercise in air-sharing

5. Do you feel that your training could have prepared you better to handle it? And if so, how?
I don't think so. I still think the basic training response to ascend would be the safest, so you should carefully consider the situation before doing something else then what you were trained to do.

 

[Quero]

I am curious if you considered swimming back away from the reef into the blue and surfacing there. I ask because that would have been my first thought, thinking that the current would dissipate away from the top of the reef and the wall. I would not have thought of crawling up the reef as my first option unless I knew that the volume of the downcurrent was going to be huge based on the local topography.

Which perhaps answers my question, but I would like your thoughts. I have rarely had to deal with downcurrents and the ones I have been in were relatively mild and localized.

You are correct that down currents are often localized and it's sometimes possible to get out of their path by swimming away from the wall--in fact, sometimes it's enough to just swim out a short distance to go around the current and then return to the reef since the current is like a small stream. But you're also correct in thinking that in this particular case the local topography creates an enormous down current that can't be avoided by simply swimming out from the wall. The current at this dive site would push a diver down to the bottom before it would release her/him to allow for an ascent in blue water. The dive site is called Blue Corner on Nusa Lembongan in Indonesia, and unfortunately it does live up to its fame as a killer, literally.