Do you always follow your training?

[FuzzyNutz]

OzGriffo, thanks for sharing your story (and through the following posts, the realization of the bungee catching the slide). I have not considered this to be a potential problem, now I'll be more aware!

I just wanted to add a few things to what already has been said:

A 32# wing doesn't actually require that much air to orally inflate. At least with my own 40# wing, I can fill it completely with 3 breaths - which would be WAY TOO MUCH to just get me to the surface (definitely an uncontrolled ascent waiting to happen). 1 breath would probably do the trick. (note: I have never orally inflated from depth - I am just assuming that a full bladder would be very bad and that probably not even one full breath will provide the necessary lift to (more) safely get you to the surface.)

I also wanted to share a trick I learned last summer: When you're starting your descent, only deflate your BC enough to start sinking (i.e.: Not all the way). Once your start sinking, stop dumping air - you're already negatively buoyant, there's no reason to be even MORE negative (unless you were rushing to the bottom due to currents/sharks/etc.) Then you won't slam into the ground before you get neutral or frantically try to adjust before hitting the reef, lol. One quick short little burst is all you'll need.

Also, since your method of bungeeing your inflator isn't quite doing the trick, I'll share mine with you: I put a piece of bungee (a hair tie, really) onto my right chest d-ring. I then loop the the bungee around the mouthpiece of the inflator, which holds it closely across my body. It comes off the bungee VERY easily when you need it, and it stays in place when you don't (I may have to re-attach it to the bungee once or twice during a dive, but that's way better than fighting to get it loose!). I like this method because I 'unhook' the inflator and I have free/unrestricted control over the motion of the inflator, then I simply just 'hook' it back into place when I'm done.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Thanks for that explanation. I've never seen it happen, so I guess my imagination is lacking. If it's a known failure point, it would seem to be something to avoid rather than to encourage.

... or to teach people how to do properly ... as well as with what type of equipment it's appropriate.

It's not "dodgy" ... I've been doing it for years, and have well over 2,000 dives using that approach without incident. I teach it to certain students ... those who have equipment this approach works well with.

What's missing ... perhaps pointing out one of the weaknesses of learning something over the internet ... is how to avoid the problem this poster described. All it takes is a simple check ... one which, if you're going to configure this way, should be part of your gearing up routine. Also, one does have to consider the location of the D-ring and length of the inflator hose. Even with BP/W, this technique doesn't always work well if the equipment is configured such that a bungee will interfere with the intended use of the inflator hose.

As with all equipment configurations, if you set it up incorrectly, you're likely to have problems ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Griffo]

I'm sure the poster practiced connecting and disconnecting the LP inflator hose in his OW class -- it is, at least, a required skill in PADI classes.

Actually no. The only time the inflator hose was mentioned was as part of the "tug on it to make sure it's on properly".

As far as oral inflation, i didn't even think about it as I felt I was completely in control and it was easier to just plug the hose in. If i'd pressed the button and nothing happened, I assume that would have been my next course of action.

Should I have defaulted to manual inflation first? In retrospect I can see that it would have allowed me to stabilise and have more time addressing the original problem, but in reality the situation just didn't stress me at all.

 

[Quero]

Should I have defaulted to manual inflation first? In retrospect I can see that it would have allowed me to stabilise and have more time addressing the original problem, but in reality the situation just didn't stress me at all.

I don't think that necessarily you should have selected any particular course of action, but you might have considered oral inflation and then chosen the 'fin up hard' alternative. My original question to you was

Did it occur to you to orally inflate your BCD rather than/in addition to finning up?

I asked because I was wondering what your thought process was.

As you might have noticed with some of the other stories here, the process of problem solving as we teach it involves thinking through alternatives for the solution to the problem rather than simply acting 'instinctively' (read 'unthinkingly') since our instincts have evolved centered on our lives as land-dwellers and may not be appropriate while we are pretending we are fish. My question to you was not meant as a critique at all--it was simply a way to explore your thought process. Having said all that, I find I agree with Thal's statement earlier in this thread when it comes to the question of 'defaulting' to a particular response:

The this is the proper approach to all underwater problems, attempting to train in automatic responses to specific situations is a waste of time, and possibly a dangerous approach.

Therefore, if on reflection you find that you did not think through your options however briefly and simply reacted instinctively (as opposed to acted consciously), I would say that your actions were not ideal. But again, I'm not attempting to critique you here, but rather simply help you reflect.

 

[Griffo]

In that case... no. I didn't consider it. I came up with a line of action I thought would solve the problem, and started the process of implementing it. However I do believe (rightly or wrongly) that if for some reason option A had not worked (could not reconnect, did not work after reconnection) that I would have then thought about option B which would have been manual inflation. At no point did I feel stressed about it, so I was thinking 'rationally' about solving the issue. But I will take away that the old knowledge of "stop, breath, think" also means that given the time I should consider the various options available, and not just the one that seems most obvious at the time.

And in the spirity of honesty, I had always thought of manual inflation in terms of OOA at surface (which I do practice occaisionally), or inflator failure, but had not mentally drawn the line to LPI coming off. It seems embarrasingly obvious now.

 

[CoasterFreak]

OzGriffo, thanks for sharing your story (and through the following posts, the realization of the bungee catching the slide). I have not considered this to be a potential problem, now I'll be more aware!

I just wanted to add a few things to what already has been said:

A 32# wing doesn't actually require that much air to orally inflate. At least with my own 40# wing, I can fill it completely with 3 breaths - which would be WAY TOO MUCH to just get me to the surface (definitely an uncontrolled ascent waiting to happen). 1 breath would probably do the trick. (note: I have never orally inflated from depth - I am just assuming that a full bladder would be very bad and that probably not even one full breath will provide the necessary lift to (more) safely get you to the surface.)

I also wanted to share a trick I learned last summer: When you're starting your descent, only deflate your BC enough to start sinking (i.e.: Not all the way). Once your start sinking, stop dumping air - you're already negatively buoyant, there's no reason to be even MORE negative (unless you were rushing to the bottom due to currents/sharks/etc.) Then you won't slam into the ground before you get neutral or frantically try to adjust before hitting the reef, lol. One quick short little burst is all you'll need.

Also, since your method of bungeeing your inflator isn't quite doing the trick, I'll share mine with you: I put a piece of bungee (a hair tie, really) onto my right chest d-ring. I then loop the the bungee around the mouthpiece of the inflator, which holds it closely across my body. It comes off the bungee VERY easily when you need it, and it stays in place when you don't (I may have to re-attach it to the bungee once or twice during a dive, but that's way better than fighting to get it loose!). I like this method because I 'unhook' the inflator and I have free/unrestricted control over the motion of the inflator, then I simply just 'hook' it back into place when I'm done.

I would love to see a picture of how this bungee setup looks when done, and how to setup the bungee to make it work. I know you described it, but I am really a visual learner.