Extinguishing the impulse to bolt

[iztok]

I only had the urge two times in my past 87 dives. First time was actually before the dive count started in my first pool dive when I was kneeling (yeah I know...) on the bottom observing others in my class doing some basic drills. Not a biggie, it was first dive and it was time to learn.

Second one was bit different. It wasn't and issue with air of any sort. I had enough air and my buddy was reliable in terms of he was close and that he had enough air and knowledgeable enough to help if there were more serious issues under water or on the surface.

We were on the bottom at around 95ft doing some work. There was initial misunderstanding as I thought we were to turn new deep platform around. I never worked under water before. Long story short my misunderstanding got me in bit of a trouble. Trying to lift the platform to turn it around and being at 95ft and cold water got me in a bit of a panic. I felt that my reg was not providing enough air and I was breathing deep. So here I am trying to calm myself down holding onto platform and trying to figure out what should I do while my buddy is exploring in the vicinity to see where platform should be moved. I try to signal and he initially didn't see it. So I swam bit towards him signaled something doesn't feel right and ascent. I slowly went up to around 60ft where I stopped for few minutes and managed to calm myself down then we continued to dive just fine. It helped knowing where my buddy was and what he could help me with that is for sure. However I must admit that I had to get there and wasn't sure he would have noticed I had issues on his own. I could have bolted and he wouldn't even know until a little later and then try to search for me.

What I've learned is that I want to be more self sufficient and able to resolve most of the issues on my own if possible.

 

[Dhboner]

I wonder if the urge to "bolt" in an emergency betrays a suppressed basic fear of diving.

As humans we instinctively seek out our "safe places" when we are under stress so I wonder if the diver who bolts has been struggling with his comfrot zone while diving for a while.

I know that when I skydived...despite nearly 100 jumps I was ALWAYS scared.

Just a thought.

Bob

 

[mudhole]

I'm wondering about people who bolt . . . although they can work on the specific stressor that caused the issue, is there any way that they can address the underlying problem, which is that their first choice is heading up?

I'd love to hear from instructors who have helped students through this, or from any diver who has worked through this issue. Since I'm working on my DM at present, having some ideas to help people with this would be very useful, I think.

From my experience, Panic and bolting for the surface, is a progressive shut down of awareness of where they are and how to get out of their perceived danger. While the excited diver perceives trouble, their thoughts turn inward. Their heads stop moving, examining their surroundings, and Their eyes lose focus. They retreat into their own minds, with panic close behind.

While diving with excitable beginners, quickly gain their attention, and keep the inexperienced diver thinking about how attentive you are. . . show them something outside themselves to hold their attention, small fish, sunken boats, interesting reefs, whatever will hold their interest and attention.

If your partner loses interest and is withdrawing into themselves. . . get into their face, don't grab them, just get in front of them and let them see a familiar face, within reach if needed. Now if you are an inexperienced diver, don't get close enough for them to grab you. . . but if you have experience and confidence in controlling your equipment, you might be able to avoid scaring your partner.

As a diver gets close to panic. . . Their attention is internal. . . you must distract that feeling of isolation, and give them confidence in your ability.

 

[NETim]

To me anyway, it's about attitude. Attitude is derived from confidence. Confidence is the product of training and practice.

 

[SelkieDVM]

Only once have I had a situation when the thought crossed my mind. I was in the Galapagos recently and had been having some issues with nosebleeds. These had started before the diving due to nasal irritation exacerbated by flying and altitude, but of course equalizing didn't help. It was mostly just an minor annoyance. However at some of the dive sites there you need to do a negative entry and get to the bottom quickly, so I was equalizing more aggressively than I normally do. One time as I reached the bottom, there was a sudden gush of blood that resulted in my mask being completely blacked out. This was when I felt the panic just starting to creep in. I was able to talk myself through it: You can breathe, you have hold of the bottom, your buddy is right here somewhere, just take a moment and try to clear your mask again. This all occured in just a couple of seconds. After that, no problems. I will say that had I not been accustomed to clearing and dealing with no viz situations, the outcome might well have been different. It brought home to me that there can be a big difference between training scenarios and real life situations that come up unexpectedly. But it was the training that got me through it.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Dealing with the urge to bolt goes back to how comfortable in the water one is. And how do they get comfortable. For our agency the answer is training that begins with diver comfort. That means watermanship skills. Snorkeling, freediving, and swimming skills are stressed right off the bat. If someone is not comfortable doing mask drills while on snorkel what makes one think they would be any more so on scuba. One skill we do before moving to scuba is a mask/snorkel recovery. The diver places them on the bottom in the deep end. Surfaces, backs off 25 feet, then freedives, swims the 25 feet to them, puts them on, clears mask, and as their snorkel breaks the surface clears it. When we get to scuba, mask skills are done every session (8 sessions). As the session go on they are performed under increasing task loading as are all basic skills. Combined with each other, done under different conditions, etc.
In the classroom we address the panic cycle and how to break it. The first step is recognizing what may start it. Then think it through. Stop, BREATHE, think, act. Maybe it should be BREATHE, STOP, BREATHE, THINK, ACT. If you can breath everything else is gravy. I stress this incessantly. If you have air or can get air from a buddy there is no need to panic. When it comes to bolting I also stress in very clear and graphic terms what the results can be. Sugarcoating an AGE does no one any good.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

My one experience that I can recall was due to a strenuous swim against a current. I was at about 15 feet clinging to a buoy line trying to catch my breath. The thought was brief, but it was there. I knew how to work myself through it and I did.

With students, my best success has been if I can maintain eye contact. If I can hold eye contact I seem to have the best success at keeping the student on the bottom and working through the issue. Naturally, this is hard to do when it's mask skills and the mask is flooded.

If I can't or when the student looks up, I normally figure I'm taking a ride.

We go over panic in class, but I do think some people are predisposed to the flight instinct.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

I believe teaching and training are the keys. Teaching being the act of explaining something and training being the act of demonstrating a procedure and having the student perform the procedure. If you can teach them that there may be situations that arise that could cause them anxiety, a heightened sense of fear, or panic. And then train them on how to deal with those situations. Then I believe they will have a better chance of dealing with the situation properly. Raw survival instinct often kicks in when the mind has no better options. Give their minds and bodies a better option.

 

[BabyDuck]

this is pure musing, not an instructor, take it with a pound of salt.

i wonder if part of the class could be brainstorming every possible action with outcomes in a few relatively common panic-starting scenarios? by this i mean set up a scenario (while dry in a classroom or otherwise not actually diving) like 'you notice you're not getting much gas when you try to take a breath. what could you do next?' then lots of suggestions from and to the class with a 'what do you think might happen then?' follow up. i think if going to the surface is an option presented with some non-desireable outcomes that the 'stop, breathe, think, act' thing makes more sense. in much shorter words, it's my opinion the 'think' in that phrase should be replaced with 'think of as many options and likely outcomes as you can in a short time & the next logical step for what seem to be the best choices'. yeah, not as catchy.

the reason i'm thinking this is that i've noticed that tweens/young teens seem to think of one thing to do to get out of whatever difficulty they're in and fail to think of multiple options or the next logical step in the one they've thought of. it seems like the first springboard to more mature logic, but one that needs to be quickly augmented, a stage to get past.

 

[boulderjohn]

I have never seen a diver bolt to the surface in the open water, and I have never been in a situation myself where I would have any reason to consider it.

Because I instruct in Colorado, we do mostly referrals, which means most of my instruction is academics and pool. When I do get to do OW dives, I have similarly never seen a diver even start a bolt to the surface. In theory I am supposed to be ready to prevent that from happening, but it has never been an issue.

In the deep end of the pool, I have only seen an issue twice. One was when I was an AI, and a severely learning disabled student kept going to the surface, but he was not in panic. He had somehow developed a need to spit phlegm from his mouth, and he could not figure out how to handle that under water. We worked long and hard on that one.

The other was more instructive for the purpose of this thread. He was a weak swimmer who was not really comfortable in the water. The first time he tried to do a skill in the deep end, he started to panic and bolt, but I stopped him. I signaled him to stop, and he immediately calmed down. I believe that is because I had already drilled into them the fact that bolting was not an option, and I had further drilled into them the idea that they had to learn to solve all their problems under water. I had emphasized the need to stop, breathe, think, and act in such a situation. He therefore knew why I had stopped him, and he knew he had to stop, breathe, think, and act.

BTW, with that student we finally agreed that he would be better off postponing the class until he took more swimming lessons.