Out of air under 20 meter after 30 mintues of 10 to 25 meter drift diving

[JerseyBoy]

I had a close call today when I was under 20 meters deep and realized I ran out of air. I admit I did not check my air for the last 10 minutes as I was too preoccupied with currents and following the rest of the group. I have a Padi Resuce and dived about 89 dives over the course of 14 months.

Here is the question I am interested in knowing the answer. What would have happened to me when I had to float to the surface immediately after taking the last air out of the tank while at the same time exhaling the air as I go toward the surface. This was a first dive of the day and this happened at a 30 min mark under 20 meters deep. The max depath in this dive was 25 m based on my dive computer.

Fortunately, the guide was close to me and he saw me that I was signaling I was out of air. He gave me his octopus and he and I floated upward at the safe speed (I could not really monitor this as I was following his lead); but, this is the hard core drift diving spot and his air also ran out shortly after as I was starting taking in water as I breath from his octopus. If he did not look back for for several more mintues, I would've been completly out of air and I could not imaging what I would have done.

The lesson learned in a hard way. Check my air gauge frequently. Especially when I am fin-kicking more than the normal non drift diving environment and am adjusting BCD frequently adding air or taking out air due to currents.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

WOW almost 100 dives and a certified rescue diver and you don't know how to make an ascent when a tank becomes low at depth? What does the PADI manual say?

 

[JerseyBoy]

Well, I know I had to go up exhaling air in such a time as that is also the only option available. My concern was what type of health risk if I had to go up rapidly practically speaking under that kind of circumstance.

 

[Beowulf]

I'm with dumpsterdiver, WOW!

I have little relative experience but this is a standard drill.

I also don't understand finning more on a drift dive. The point is to drift.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk

 

[JahJahwarrior]

At the surface, you might have been helped by a PADI certified rescue diver.

Certified rescue divers will know just what to do in such a situation. They will not only have been trained in the damages of embolism in their open water class, but further trained in their rescue class. They will likely ask you your depth and what happened, and take necessary basic first aid steps as their training dictates.

 

[DevonDiver]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Moved to Near Misses and Lesson Learnt. Please try to make this a learning experience for other readers - as the OP intends by bravely sharing his experiences.

By posting this report, the OP has stated that a lesson was learned - so there is no need to allocate blame or otherwise recriminate against the incident.

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[Dr Wu]

What would have happened to me when I had to float to the surface immediately after taking the last air out of the tank while at the same time exhaling the air as I go toward the surface.

If you were negative you would have sunk to the bottom.

If you were positive you probably would have drown before you finally floated to the surface.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

The lesson I see here is, the rescue training you received should have covered this. You should consider calling your instructor and asking if he or she can review this as it is a very important concept to understand, not only for your own safety but also if you intend to assist in an emergency situation.

It's ok, we all forget details. But, now that you know you have forgotten, go and revisit that topic with your instructor.

Sometimes, recognizing what you don't know is harder than using what you do know! Congratulations on admitting that you need to seek additional instructions, that's admirable.

 

[Jax]

Hiya, JerseyBoy;

You probably had a good chance, in doing an emergency ascent, in the too-fast ascent causing Decompression Sickness.

Here's a rhetorical question - would you have remembered to drop your weight belt and orally inflate your BCD at the surface?

(Don't answer that here, it'll attract snarks . . . )

 

[BKP]

+1 for 'wow.'

1- Why was there extra finning involved in a drift dive?
2- Why was there so much BC adjustment? Was there an up or down welling? Was your weighting not dialed in?
3- Why could you not monitor your ascent on your own dive computer, even if the 'guide' sharing air with you was leading?
4- What depth were you at when your air-share guide ran out, and did you not consider a CESA (doesn't sound like you incurred any deco)?
5- Were you diving in a guided group (doesn't sound like you had a designated buddy)?
6- Typically, when you reach the last few breaths available in a tank, you can feel added draw resistance, even with a high-end, great-breathing reg... was this not the case?

I apologize for all the questions, however, I recall most, if not all, of this being covered in my own PADI rescue (as well OW) course.

Glad it didn't turn into an unfortunate incident for you... and yes, not the best way to have SPG checks reinforced...

Dive safe...er...