If you are a new diver, please read this

[TSandM]

I'll certainly acknowledge that the diver didn't die of running out of gas. But I'm quite sure that, had she not run out of gas, the other problems wouldn't have occurred.

I think there are two bottom lines from this incident: One is that gas is life, and should be regarded with extreme respect. That means learning as much as possible about how to decide if you have enough gas for your dive, and being diligent about monitoring your gas DURING your dive, and maintaining enough reserve gas at all times to get you and your buddy to the surface, should anything untoward happen. Because sometimes it does.

The second thing is that we are taught emergency procedures because emergencies happen. And trying to remember what you learned five years ago in OW class and haven't practiced since, in the adrenaline rush of a real problem, isn't going to work very well. Life saving things like air-sharing and oral inflation should be practiced regularly

Proper weighting, familiarizing yourself with your buddy's gear, and things of that sort, are secondary but equally important issues.

 

[Thalassamania]

I'll certainly acknowledge that the diver didn't die of running out of gas. But I'm quite sure that, had she not run out of gas, the other problems wouldn't have occurred.

Back when I was working for the National Underwater Accident Data Center we always looked at both the proximate and the ultimate cause of the fatality, that always needs consideration.

I think there are two bottom lines from this incident: One is that gas is life, and should be regarded with extreme respect. That means learning as much as possible about how to decide if you have enough gas for your dive, and being diligent about monitoring your gas DURING your dive, and maintaining enough reserve gas at all times to get you and your buddy to the surface, should anything untoward happen. Because sometimes it does.

Seconded.

The second thing is that we are taught emergency procedures because emergencies happen. And trying to remember what you learned five years ago in OW class and haven't practiced since, in the adrenaline rush of a real problem, isn't going to work very well. Life saving things like air-sharing and oral inflation should be practiced regularly

That's why it's important to grossly over learn critical skills (the never forget how to ride a bike syndrome) as well as to learn (and stick with) a practice regime that keeps critical skills up.

Proper weighting, familiarizing yourself with your buddy's gear, and things of that sort, are secondary but equally important issues.

Naturally.

 

[gcbryan]

What's important and missing from these accidents is ...diving. No one who goes out and dives regularly runs out of gas or drowns at the surface even if they have never practiced one day after OW class.

 

[Thalassamania]

What's important and missing from these accidents is ...diving. No one who goes out and dives regularly runs out of gas or drowns at the surface even if they have never practiced one day after OW class.

While that's not completely true, it's not a bad "rule of thumb."

 

[Tom Smedley]

I agree with your philosophy about learning dive planning early in the game. However, the more important skill to overlearn in the open water class is simply "Look at your gauges." In the case that you present, the person probably did not realize that she was critically low on air until it was too late.

On at least one occasion we have found relatively new divers on the wrong anchor line with 500 psi and 7 minutes deco time.

I teach that the most frequent failure of a pressure gauge is failure to look at it.

 

[gcbryan]

What's important and missing from these accidents is ...diving. No one who goes out and dives regularly runs out of gas or drowns at the surface even if they have never practiced one day after OW class.

While that's not completely true, it's not a bad "rule of thumb."

Very little is completely true or every statement would have such a long list of qualifiers as to be impractical. However, in almost every case where a diver has died under similar circumstances up here it's usually been a case of an infrequent diver.

It's like learning to drive. Many/most of us had a driver's ed instructor and the training was nothing special. Whether you stayed alive or not after you started driving on your own had more to do with your own judgment and how quickly you gained actual driving experience. No one goes out and does training drives as apart from pleasure or work related drives.

Training and learning are great but they rarely have anything to do with scuba deaths. These deaths are usually just a good excuse to push causes that one believes in but that have nothing to do with what just happened.

Lack of experience or lack of good judgment is the proximate cause of most scuba deaths (if not health related). So, if anything, we should be encouraging everyone to go out and dive more and to think more. People can think even without specific training and practice.

 

[D_B]

I still don't understand how ... someone that was told how important it is to have air to breathe, to look at their gages often, to be aware of how much they have and they do not do so, for whatever reason, will be helped by knowing more about it if they dont even know how much air they have

TSandM .. wow .. that would surly unnerve me .. Sorry that happend

 

[rstofer]

I think it is time for a mod to change the thread title; new divers have no business reading this.

I realize these kinds of threads tend to wander but why shouldn't a new diver be exposed to all of the debate?'

From the outside, knowing almost nothing about what happened, it seems that running out of air (or low on air) started a chain of events that resulted in tragedy. If nothing else, it reinforces the idea that air is your life and your SPG indicates your life expectancy.

Then the inevitable training debate starts. Well, in the end, it is a training issue. Somewhere along the line, training failed. Running low on air, failure to ditch the weights, failure to inflate the BC; these are all training issues and training failures. Things that should have been automatic didn't seem to work. And where is the dive buddy in all of this?

I have never been very comfortable with the default safety plan where I just rely on my buddy when things go sideways. My buddy is NOT my backup plan. If I don't come up with a better plan than that, I am likely to wind up dead. Here we have an example of the buddy system failing. New divers need to know that they simply can not rely on this approach. They are personally responsible for their own safety.

New divers are also exposed in this thread to a couple of approaches to gas planning. Even if it is just "dive no deeper than your tank size in CF", the rule of thirds or watch your SPG, this informatiom can be helpful. Knowing that these concepts exist and that, for the most part, are not taught sufficiently in OW (other than reading the SPG) should cause a new diver to think "Gee, maybe I need to think about this stuff a little" and that is a good thing. This hobby isn't the cute and cuddly thing it is presented to be. If you mess up, you can die. Good to know!

The raging debate about what agencies teach and what they don't is something new divers need to know. How can they possibly know what they don't know if someone doesn't tell them. The passion that people bring to this thread shows just how important the information really is.

If reading the thread, in its entirety, causes discomfort for a new diver, so be it. It causes me discomfort. I have recently introduced my 10 year old grandson to this hobby and I know that his training is quite limited. This concerns my deeply!

Were it me, I would leave the thread intact. We're all adults here.

Richard

 

[Blackwood]

Well said, Richard.

 

[captndale]

air is your life and your SPG indicates your life expectancy.

Thanks for this quote. I intend to steal it and use it in my training. It says it all.