Failed PADI Rescue....now what?

[nldiver1984]

In my AOW course I panicked when I became dangerously low on air during a deep dive. We were exploring a shipwreck that was 100ft to the bottom and my problem began when the hull of the ship was directly above me, and I couldn't see the surface because of this. I had to make a CESA and was at the surface by the time my air had depleted to 0. Where was my buddy? Not all AOW students stick to that rule. Long story short my instructor didn't think I handled the situation properly and I had to do that part of the course again.

 

[Dhboner]

I really hope you continue your scuba journey but I have to say that if you found yourself that low on air on a dive to that depth you DO have a lot remaining to learn. Monitoring your air and calling the dive with enough air to surface safely is a very basic element of safe diving. Perhaps your instructor is doing you a favour by keeping you from advancing further until you are more comfortable and better equipped to advance. I don't in any way want to discourage you from continuing to pursue your love of diving but it sounds like you do need to slow down, regroup and take a few steps back. Good luck and don't give up.

 

[nldiver1984]

I have a lot of trouble with the amount of gear required to do extremely cold water dives on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. By the time I have my drysuit on and weights the swimming on the surface part is exhausting. I need a specific gear setup and will allow me to dive comfortably in cold water, and the rentals at the dive shop just don't cut it.

 

[RJP]

In my AOW course I panicked when I became dangerously low on air during a deep dive. We were exploring a shipwreck that was 100ft to the bottom and my problem began when the hull of the ship was directly above me, and I couldn't see the surface because of this. I had to make a CESA and was at the surface by the time my air had depleted to 0. Where was my buddy? Not all AOW students stick to that rule. Long story short my instructor didn't think I handled the situation properly and I had to do that part of the course again.

You didn't handle the situation properly. In fact, you never should have been in the situation in the first place. Your "problem began" long before you looked up and couldn't see the surface.

AIR
How did you get so "dangerously low on air" at 100ft? If you were SO LOW that you panicked you must not have been monitoring your air during the course of the dive.

OVERHEAD ENVIRONMENT
What were you doing in a situation where you did not have direct access to the surface? As a diver who is untrained in overhead diving you had no business being in such a location.

BUDDY
Your observation that "Not all AOW students stick to that rule" is right. In your case, there were TWO students who didn't stick to the buddy rule. Did you lose your buddy, or did your buddy lose you? If you were 50% of the buddy team, you have 50% of the responsibility for staying together. When was the last time you checked in with your buddy? As often as you were checking your air? Possible that your buddy didn't want to follow you into an unsafe overhead environment?

So, to sum things up for you:

If you were so "dangerously low on air" at 100ft that you were "out of air" after a panicked swim to the surface you were within ~60sec of being...

• COMPLETELY OUT OF AIR
• IN AN OVERHEAD ENVIRONMENT
• WITH NO BUDDY

I hope you realize - and I don't mean to be melodramatic here - that it's a miracle that you're still alive. Seriously.

 

[nldiver1984]

Yes I've had many close calls in my lifetime

 

[Hawkwood]

I have a lot of trouble with the amount of gear required to do extremely cold water dives on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. By the time I have my drysuit on and weights the swimming on the surface part is exhausting. I need a specific gear setup and will allow me to dive comfortably in cold water, and the rentals at the dive shop just don't cut it.

They don't rent gear appropriate for the local diving environment?

 

[nldiver1984]

They don't rent gear appropriate for the local diving environment?

26lbs of lead in a jacket BC isn't very comfortable nor good for your back. I have just enough lead on the belt so that it doesn't fall off me. I have no idea why I have to use ridiculous amounts of weight to sink. Maybe because it's a neoprene suit that's extremely buoyant.

 

[RJP]

26lbs of lead in a jacket BC isn't very comfortable nor good for your back. I have just enough lead on the belt so that it doesn't fall off me. I have no idea why I have to use ridiculous amounts of weight to sink. Maybe because it's a neoprene suit that's extremely buoyant.

What kind of tank were you diving? What size/bodytype are you? 26lbs of lead on someone wearing a thick neoprene wetsuit, hood, gloves, and a jacket BCD with an AL80 doesn't sound "ridiculous" unless you tell us that you are 5ft2in, weigh 95lbs, and were diving a steel 119 tank.

 

[TSandM]

nldiver, it is a sad fact of life that diving in cold water requires heavy gear. 26 pounds of lead is not unusual for our students in Puget Sound, which I assume has similar water temperatures. It may be possible to arrange the weights in such a fashion that they don't give you a backache, but you may just have to deal with that much lead.

Forgive me for the following, because I don't know you, but in reading what you have written, I have developed a mental picture of a student who is marginally safe to dive in the conditions in which he or she is diving. You're stressed by the exposure protection and the gear. You're distracted and task loaded and not managing the most basic safety precautions for simple diving, like monitoring your gas and keeping track of your buddy. If I'm reading correctly between the lines, you sound very tentative and uncertain, and very passive.

I think it may be a wonderful thing that your instructor did not automatically pass you from these classes. I think he is trying to send you a message that you need to go back to the beginning to shore up skills and confidence that simply aren't what they should be.

 

[nldiver1984]

Yes maybe but unfortunately it's only deterred me from doing any more cold water dives in the indefinite future, which for me means diving in general.