I blew it - but it ended well... thankfully (longish)

[SteveDiver]

The Good News

You gotta be able to reach your valve(s).

For the second time in my diving (330-something dives) I entered the water, purged the BC, started my descent, took a breath and got nothing. Pretty scary.

I kicked up, was bobbing and caught about 4 or 5 breaths between swells, orally inflated the BC, reached back, turned on my gas, and continued the dive

In-Water Events

Diving this weekend on a dive boat in SoCal. Last dive of the day, and my frozen wet-diving buddy is going to sit it out. Over half of the boat was sitting it out. I chose to insta-buddy with some people I met on the boat.

I got geared up, hit the water, and drifted back to the stern line where the two were waiting for me. We gave the signal, and they started down the line. I was doing a free descent near the line and hadn't planned to pull down hand over hand.

I purged the BC, and started to sink. I hit the DS inflate valve on my chest - nothng. I look down, hose is connected. Hmmmm.... I take a breath - nothing. HMMMMMM.... I try again - zip. I'm sinking pretty fast (HP130, 10# lead, 3# light, 6# BP - you do the math) and I'm at about 15 - 20 feet or so (looked at gauge, I remember it saying 14 after first non-breath.) I realize I gotta get to the line (its about a kick away) and pull myself back up, or kick straight up. It was shorter to go straight up (line was angled pretty steep) so I kicked like a mofo.

I get to the surface, get a breath, and put a few puffs into the BC. I compose myself. Buddy pulls himself up the line and asks if I'm OK. I tell him my gas is off. He offers to come over and turn it on. I tell him I got it - I reach back, turn it on. He asks if I'm OK again. I'm all good. We do the dive.

What I think Happened

For this trip, I brought an HP100 tank for my buddy. All my tanks are DIN. On the boat, Buddy pulls out a Yoke reg and realizes its a no go. Best Options:

a) Give buddy my HP130 (just screw in the Yoke adapter and we're set.) Problem is buddy is small, diving wet and the HP130 waterheater is pretty scary for this little, wet person to dive.

b) Switch regs. I dive buddy's Yoke reg and gauges, buddy dives my DIN DIR rig. Not a great option, as I'm using wristmount, buddy uses brick and isn't real comfy with my long hose rig.

c) Switch first stages. So basically I pulled all of the hoses from our first stages, and re-build my rig on the Yoke (so I could dive the 130) and rebuilt buddy's rig on my DIN (so they could dive the HP100) This was the option we settled for.

Fast forward to last dive of the day

Frozen buddy is sitting this one out. I'm all "cool - I get my rig back." So I yank all hoses and re-assemble my DIN DIR rig, and once again dive my 130.

One of two thing probably happened:

a) After testing the rig right before the dive, I never turned the gas back on. so I probably got a strong puff into the BC at the gate, and thought everything was normal.

b) The DM, relaxing because it was a light load at the end of a very busy day, turned it off. But I can't remember if the DM was at the gate. I remember looking back after hitting the water to make my OK, and not seeing him at the gate, but at the transom with the fill guy. I remember calling out my number as I was walking to the gate, and him saying "I got ya"... but I can't remember if he was behind me, or already at the transom.


How I could have avoided this

So many things I could have done differently, in hindsite. I should have checked my gauge after filling the BC. I should have taken a draw off my reg before stepping over the side. I should have insisted the DM be at the gate when I went in, I should have gone to the gate with my insta-buddy so we could have checked each other. Once in the water, I should have taken a drag before descending, etc, etc, etc.

I blew it on this one. I'm not throwing this at the DM. I believe I am responsible for my own gas supply - and if I descended with it off, its my fault.

In rougher seas, this would have been pretty scary, and could have ended a lot differently. I'm pretty strong, so swimming up the rig from 15' or 20' wasn't a real issue, but treding water with it was no picnic. If swells were 5 - 8 feet instead of the 2 - 4 wind swells, I may have gasped a lot more water than air.

And my insta-buddy, albeit late, was there. If I was unable to reach my valve, he would have gotten it for me. In fact, I waved him off to do it myself. If I hadn't blown all the air out of my lungs I probably would have done this underwater. Its a lot easier in trim to do this than it is vertical on the surface. But I really didn't try to reach it underwater - I'm in a new DS (5th dive in it) and it fits snugger, and I wasn't confident I could do it - so I opted to bolt and not waste time under water. I should have done a valve drill when I got this suit to have the confidence I can do it as easily as I could with my last suit... another blow it on my part.

Oh well. I blew it. But it ended well. Its like when you get a ticket - I mean, I hate it when I get a citation - but it sure drive slower and safer for awhile. This has surely shaken me to the extent I'll be double and triple checking my gas and stuff before I drop.

---
Ken

Thanks for sharing. Glad to hear that you are ok. Everyone makes mistakes except for the "selected few GOD Like Divers" that posted here. You should be commended for your honesty and admittance of a mistake. We all make mistakes well... except for a selected few.. LOL

 

[MikeFerrara]

I think you underestimate the sensitivity of this test, Mike. At 100', the airflow is going to be 4 times greater than on the surface, but that's why the check should be a rapid inhale, or a purge.

I didn't mean to pick on your post but there were several that mentioned breathing on the reg while watching the gauge and I wanted to point out that this alone can be decieving.

I don't disagree but "rapid" as in "rapid inhale" is realative and your rapid might be rapid enough while mine might not be. A purge should draw enough volume but the needle will probably drop even when everything is ok and there are times like when it's cold that we don't want to use the purge. Of course checking the reg, gauge and valve is best and it can all be done in a couple of seconds.

BTW, I mastered reaching my valve on a dive when I got in with my air off (or at least not on enough. I had to undo the bc cumberbun to jack the tank to where I could reach it. How nice it would be to have some one teach you this stuff and not have to invent it all yourself huh? LOL

 

[Charlie99]

I didn't mean to pick on your post but there were several that mentioned breathing on the reg while watching the gauge and I wanted to point out that this alone can be decieving.

BTW, I mastered reaching my valve on a dive when I got in with my air off (or at least not on enough. I had to undo the bc cumberbun to jack the tank to where I could reach it. How nice it would be to have some one teach you this stuff and not have to invent it all yourself huh? LOL

It wasn't picking on my post. Those cases where opinions and experiences of people differ are the ones most likely to lead to new and useful information.

In my case, I first tried to reach my valve after doing a long hike to the edge of the ocean, not wanting to eiyther set down the tank or admit to my buddy that I'd forgotten to turn it on at the car Contortions worked that time, but several months later I had the big DUH! moment when someone recommended putting my elbow against my head instead of out over my shoulder. As often as "entered the water with air turned off" shows up in incident reports, valve manipulation would be a nice addition to OW classes.

 

[Mo2vation]

As often as "entered the water with air turned off" shows up in incident reports, valve manipulation would be a nice addition to OW classes.

I believe its that important. Christian mentioned it - we see it all the time in SoCal - people with their tank valves way too low to reach. The butt bangers. Until I came here and then took my DIR/F I had never even heard of reaching my valve, or ever considered it important.

Not that it was a big deal for me on this Dive - buddy was there, I was essentially a couple of kicks from the stern, etc. There were a lot of outs I could avail myself of.

But I knew that I could fix the situation because I knew I could reach the valve - this peace of mind, this knowing I could get out of this jam is surely what made the difference between a temporary elevation in my heart rate and a panic moment.

---
Ken

 

[Otter]

To be accurate, I teach my students to purge both second stages while watching the gauges and then take a breath as well. The primary reason WAS to avoid inhaling sand/water that might already be in the (rental) reg from the previous diver. In demonstrating the needle movement, I have never seen it NOT dip on a purge. There are times then the needle quivers on a fully open gauge, but there is a signficant difference (100 psi vs 800 psi) of the amount of movement.

That being said, I am sure that there is a point where the tank valve is open enough that at the surface all looks good, but at depth where air is denser that problems could occur. As I mentioned, when I screwed up, I felt no resistance in breating (on my ATX200) but the transducer in my computer was having fits.

 

[JasonH20]

Taking a few breaths off each reg may not always work...

Here is my scenario from this past weekend as well:

Dive #2 after a lovely 75 minute average 54' first dive started off like all my dives do without a hitch. Whilst I was diving with with a relatively inexperienced buddy who has not been DIRF'd he has dove with enough of us that many of his skills are solid. We do the head to toe buddy check including bubble check once in the water. I have breathed off both regs and inflated my wing. We drop down the line facing each other to the bottom at about 40' . Flash the o.k. with our HID's and proceed down towards our max of 105'. At 65' my primary is beginning to breath hard. I look at my SPG and and it's fluctuating wildly. My buddy is only about 4' away and looking at me wondering why I'm checking my SPG 3 minutes into the dive. My reg is still breathing albeit hard. I would have done a valve check if my shoulders would have allowed it (single 130 is harder than doubles). Instead I point to my valve and ask my buddy to open it up. He does so and thus ends my problem. I spend the rest of dive checking my SPG with more frequency than my last six dives combined. Dive ends in another 75 minute average 48' dive and all was well.

The only thing I'm sure of is that I only partially turned on my valve. Jason later told me that he felt like he had to spin it all the way open for me. Since I don't allow anyone to touch my valve it's my own fault. There was little concern when this happened as I could have easily done and OOA with my buddy and proceeded to the surface or I could have swum up 10' and would have gotten full breaths. As it was I was diving with an excellent buddy who is a member on this board.

Grateful Diver - you should be proud of your student JasonH20

I just saw your post on this and thanks for the kind words!

Thinking back, I have a couple comments. First OE2X actually first gave me the thumbs up. I returned the thumbs up, took in a deep breath, and began my ascent. Then OE2X twisted his hand in an "open my valve" type motion. I'm glad he had given the thumbs up first though becuase I knew there was something wrong and interpreted the open valve signal correctly. Otherwise, I think I could have been a bit unclear about what he wanted (or maybe not). But as it was, it was crystal clear to me he was having problems and he wanted me to open his valve.

As OE2X said I was right next to him, so I reached over turned his valve several turns (thankfully the right direction :11: ) and everything was OK. We both exchanged OK's, OE2X motioned to continue the dive, and all was good.

In hind sight I wonder if I should have offered my long hose as soon as I realized there was an issue with his air supply. What if I had accidently turned the valve the wrong direction, then there would have been a real OOA at 70 feet. Or what if the problem wasn't the valve being partially shut, but his first stage malfunctioning? It seems maybe the best course of action should have been donate my working primary, stop, think, act, and see if that fixed the problem. Luckly we figured out the problem and fixed it first try.

It's funny how we practice the OOA drills all the time, but when I have a real opportunity to donate, it doesn't dawn on me until after the situation. I just have it ingrained in my mind to wait for the OOA signal before donating. Hopefully in the future I will have learned from this and skip the formalities and offer my reg at the first hint of air supply problems.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[lamont]

In hind sight I wonder if I should have offered my long hose as soon as I realized there was an issue with his air supply.

My guess is that the better textbook answer to this would have been for OE2X to throw an OOA on you. Then you can donate, and resolve any CFage (free-flows, long hose traps, etc) while he had a semi-working air supply. Then communication starts, and if he has to he whips out the wetnotes to tell you to manipulate his valve unambiguously.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

It's funny how we practice the OOA drills all the time, but when I have a real opportunity to donate, it doesn't dawn on me until after the situation. I just have it ingrained in my mind to wait for the OOA signal before donating. Hopefully in the future I will have learned from this and skip the formalities and offer my reg at the first hint of air supply problems.

Thanks,
Jason

In light of some recent exchanges, I'm not sure I should reply to your question in the DIR forum ... but since I'm your most recent instructor I'll risk it ...

You should not wait for the OOA signal ... in some cases, the person needing air may not be thinking clearly enough to provide one. Ingrain in your mind that as soon as you perceive there's a problem, you should offer your reg ASAP. Attempt to assess the problem as you do so, and if OOA is not the issue it's easy enough to replace your reg and take a different course of action. An OOA situation can go from calm to chaos in a hurry ... and a couple of seconds could be the difference between taking a deliberate corrective action and dealing with a diver on the verge of panic. Be proactive. Assure the other diver is breathing ... if not on his own reg, then on yours. Once you've established that, you've got all the time you need to sort out any other difficulties in a calm, deliberate manner.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[RTodd]

Doing proper pre-dive checks has been beaten to death. I will just add that one of the best pre-dive "precautions" I have ever seen was taped on the inside of a scooter nose cone. (Where it would be seen right before getting in the water since the o-ring is put in at the last minute.) The message read "Relax, fix your S%&*, then go." People get in a hurry and make mistakes before they even get in the water and when in the water. Constantly remembering to slow down is key to properly doing everything right pre-dive.

 

[drbill]

I've posted several years ago about the time I did a backroll off a small dive boat in Tahiti and got down to 20' before I discovered my air had been turned off. I had turned it on well before I geared up, so the only answer I could come up with was that the DM turned it off thinking she was turning it on (either that, or she just wanted to kill me!). She tried to grab my treestump German legs as I rose, and got on my case for "bolting" to the surface. I had great difficulty explaining to her (I don't speak French) that what little air I had sucked in had been at surface pressure so there was no problem. Now I always check my gauge topside before I enter the water.

Sorry I'll miss you while you're out here Ken. A guy just has to leave the water and party sometime!