OOA during valve drill... on purpose... sort of...

[Adobo]

I took a cave course with my girlfriend recently and it was her first time using doubles (AL 80's). She had done partial valve drills on them during the previous 2 days, but I think it was the first time she did the full drill. It was just the two of us (we remained in the water after the others had gotten out) at about 4m depth.

As discussed on surfaced I signaled to her to watch me as I did a full valve drill i.e. turn right post off, breathe down primary, switch to backup, clip off primary, turn right post back on, close isolator, open isolator, turn left post off and unclip primary, breathe down backup, switch to primary, turn left post back on... This is how I was taught to do it (including a buddy watching with ready longhose). After I did it and she returned my okay signal I signaled her to do it while I watched.

As she was doing it I noticed that she didn't turn her right post back on, but I decided not to say anything... The result was predictable. She went on with the drill until she had breathed down her backup and switched to primary but couldn't get anything from it because the right post was still closed. She grabbed her backup again but realized that she had just finished closing off her left post. With both her tanks closed off she looked up at me in mild shock and started to signal OOA but my longhose was right there in her mouth before she even finished. Of course we were only at 4m depth in open water, but rapid ascents can be killers...

I decided to let her switch to the empty primary so that she would better remember to turn it back on next time, but maybe I was an a-hole... Anyway, we practiced some reel work and kicks after and then called the dive because were over the approximate planned time already.

Just curious whether people here would let their buddies proceed with the valve drill if they noticed the same mistake?

Also, for what it's worth, my gf adjusted very well to the doubles, though she did have a tough time carrying them back to the truck from the cenote entrances, and during the last few days I did it for her. Also, she's thinking of switching to a smaller backplate. Overall we saw some great caves.

The way I learned to do valve drills is to do purges to make sure that I remembered to turn each post back on. Also, I unclip my primary before I shut down the left post. You never now when you might struggle with a bolt snap.

I've had two somewhat similar situations. One time, I did forget to turn the right post back on and forgot to check by purging. I went on to the isolator. Then when I reached to the left post (forgetting again to purge the primary), I saw my buddy switch to his back up and begin to deploy his long hose. Then, I stopped to think about why he was deploying the long hose....

In a class I took recently, the instructor simulated a CF. He had my buddy go OOA. Then, as we were ascending through our stops, the instructor simulated a right post gas leak. (He wanted to see if I would shut down the post I was donating to my buddy.)

In under very well controlled drill situations, my buddies and I let each other make mistakes and allow each other the opportunity to self correct. Once on to a fun dive, we generally correct minor issues right away.

 

[*Floater*]

Did you guys do Temple of Doom? That's a nice little hike.

No. We spent about 12 hours of BT at the following cenotes: Chicken Ha, Chac Mool, Mayan Blue, Taj Mahal and Dos Ojos. But I hope to go back and see some of the others one day.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Marci--all I can say is that once she gets some more experience and is a bit more comfortable in the water, she's going to have to keep her eyes on me at all times or she might have some interesting equipment malfunctions... I can already see her giving me the finger underwater...

 

[GreenDiverDown]

No. We spent about 12 hours of BT at the following cenotes: Chicken Ha, Chac Mool, Mayan Blue, Taj Mahal and Dos Ojos. But I hope to go back and see some of the others one day.

Sounds like a great time. Who was your instructor?

What did you end up doing in Coz?

 

[terrasmak]

My instructer would do the same stuff to me and my buddy. He even went as far as giving us OOG on one of us as a "leak " developed on the other . Me and DB1981 got really good with valve work and air sharing .

 

[*Floater*]

Sounds like a great time. Who was your instructor?

What did you end up doing in Coz?

The instructor was Steve Gerrard (great guy).

We just spent 3 nights in Coz doing rec Div[ing] with Martin. I was happy with them too and would use them again.