How serious a screw-up was this?

[spectrum]

I agree ultimately it's the divers responsibility. If the crew was intervening in gear set-up they messed up too.

I'm surprised nobody (unless I missed it) mentioned how this underscores the need to be able to reach your own valves. At the end of the day we're all human and someday, somehow anyone can go over the side with the valve off. If you are not able to correct this yourself or have a very sharp buddy that can pick up on your peril you may be going down.

Pete

 

[beertiki]

This was not just one mistake - someone forgot to turn on the air.

The boat crew did not turn on the air 8/10
The diver did not check if his air was turned on at the valve 10/10
The diver did not check if his regulator was working properly 10/10
The diver did not check if he had enough pressure in the tank to make the dive 10/10
The diver did not check if his power inflator was working 3/10

Not checking the pressure in the tank is the most serious. The boat crew could have turned it on, the diver could have checked his regulator and inflator and still ended up on the bottom with an almost empty tank. The OOA situation would have endangered everyone involved.

 

[tstormdiver]

I agree ultimately it's the divers responsibility. If the crew was intervening in gear set-up they messed up too.

I'm surprised nobody no one (unless I missed it) mentioned how this underscores the need to be able to reach your own valves. At the end of the day we're all human and someday, somehow anyone can go over the side with the valve off. If you are not able to correct this yourself or have a very sharp buddy that can pick up on your peril you may be going down.

Pete

My tech instructor has turned off my valves enough times when I wasn't looking & I didn't check them, that I am now absolutely religous about checking them.

 

[fisheater]

My tech instructor has turned off my valves enough times when I wasn't looking & I didn't check them, that I am now absolutely religous about checking them.

The OWSI I DMC for does that to one of each buddy pair on day two of OW checkout dives. (We, of course, don't let them actually enter the water w/o confirming the tanks are, in fact, open.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FuzzyNutz]

If you strap weights to yourself and jump into water without first checking your airsource... you are the perfect candidate for a Darwin award!

 

[shake-and-bake]

I completely understand that it's the diver's responsibility to make sure everything's right before s/he hits the water, and I made damn sure I was good to go. I went in first, so I don't know what he did. But I gotta say, this boat crew seemed to take on the responsibility. It was like: "we're at the site, here's your rig, buckle up and go.". I went through my drill, but I felt under some pressure to hurry up and go. Is this common?

 

[Jaydubya]

The operator screwed up but It's the diver's resposnsibility. A full pre-dive safety check is called for and is even more important if someone else set up your gear. Until I learn to breath water I just can't imagine doing a backroll without at the very least breathing my regulators while watching the gauge for movement.

Almost every gear mistake I have made was when I allowed myself to feel rushed.

 

[shake-and-bake]

Well, it was an indelible lesson for this new diver. I can flat-out guarantee that will never happen to me.

 

[Frosty]

To me this is a total no brainer." hey thank you mr boatman for putting my gear together". saves me the trouble of the physical work. But There is no way I'd be dropping into the water without checking the setup. The DIVER and his buddy failed on two counts. 1) the diver diddn't check for flow from his primary second stage and octi or clearly his pressure gauge.2) there was no buddy check done

Holey cow I did just think of something--If the boat crew turned the valve on then the diver thinking the valve was off turned it back the other way. Gauge check would show 200psi -then a blip on primary and octi wound give air flow for a moment or two. -if its cracked open 1/2 turn then even a buddy check might show nothing wrong.

 

[Basscat]

I watch the crew if they set up my gear, in my experience most are diligent, but I can't imagine not sucking on the reg, checking the computer, or putting a shot in the BC to be sure the air is on. I'm the one that has to breathe when I hit the water, I'm going to check it.