bortolani
Registered
Happened to me this spring to find myself entangled 1m. from the surface in an anchor chain ... pretty scaring =-) .
I had just lead a group of divers (I run a diving center) and while they were surfacing along the rock I spent few minutes alone to check the anchor.
Then, while I was reaching the surface swimming close to the anchor chain, I felt like a weight on my shoulders.
I understood that it was the chain trapped in my first stages but I was just 3 meters from the surface... ... so I continued ascending and that was a BIG, BIG mistake.
The chain pulled me down and, as I tried to hold the chain with my hands, it pulled the reg out of my mouth.
I was able to reach the surface and put the mouth out of water but the chain was pulling harder bringing me down again.
I took the other reg but it could hardly reach my mouth and I started drinking some sea water while breathing.
The guy on my rubber boat did not understand what was happening and was just telling me to move to the back of the boat.
Luckily enough, a boat nearby caught the scene and a guy came to my rescue. In the meantime half breathing and half drinking seawater I was taking my BC off with one hand while with the other I was holding the chain to stay close to the surface.
Everything was difficult because of the dry suit and the increasing panic.
However the rescue guy arrived and helped me to get rid of the BC and surface.
After that all my friends are still pulling my leg
Several lessons learnt:
1) Never dive solo, even for 5 minutes
2) Don't believe you won't panic
3) It doesn't matter if you are just 1 meter deep: if you cannot breath you die.
4) If anything goes wrong UW, always apply the rule: stop, breath and think
5) Accidents happen in stupid ways!
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Bruno
I had just lead a group of divers (I run a diving center) and while they were surfacing along the rock I spent few minutes alone to check the anchor.
Then, while I was reaching the surface swimming close to the anchor chain, I felt like a weight on my shoulders.
I understood that it was the chain trapped in my first stages but I was just 3 meters from the surface... ... so I continued ascending and that was a BIG, BIG mistake.
The chain pulled me down and, as I tried to hold the chain with my hands, it pulled the reg out of my mouth.
I was able to reach the surface and put the mouth out of water but the chain was pulling harder bringing me down again.
I took the other reg but it could hardly reach my mouth and I started drinking some sea water while breathing.
The guy on my rubber boat did not understand what was happening and was just telling me to move to the back of the boat.
Luckily enough, a boat nearby caught the scene and a guy came to my rescue. In the meantime half breathing and half drinking seawater I was taking my BC off with one hand while with the other I was holding the chain to stay close to the surface.
Everything was difficult because of the dry suit and the increasing panic.
However the rescue guy arrived and helped me to get rid of the BC and surface.
After that all my friends are still pulling my leg
Several lessons learnt:
1) Never dive solo, even for 5 minutes
2) Don't believe you won't panic
3) It doesn't matter if you are just 1 meter deep: if you cannot breath you die.
4) If anything goes wrong UW, always apply the rule: stop, breath and think
5) Accidents happen in stupid ways!
----------------------
Bruno