Panicked diver not exhaling during ascent?

[Ardy]

In reality, you probably aren't going to have time or opportunity to do much of anything other than hang on for the ride up, or let them go and follow more slowly. I've been in real life situations where a diver panicked and bolted. I didn't punch them in the gut or even think of it, probably because it was trained and ingrained. In the heat of the moment you are going to revert to your training, that's the whole point of rescue training.

The basic bit we all miss is ongoing training. If we were jet pilots we would have to practice on a simulator for hours what to do in an emergency. Then repeat it over and over again so that it is second nature.

Most of us are not instructors or involved in the diving industry professionally so we dont do this. In an emergency we hope our reactions are sensible enough to get us through. This may work and it may not.

That is the risk we take for not training to this level of expertise for something that most probably won't happen in our dive life.

 

[DaleC]

Reefhound,
I'm not worked up or hostile towards you and most of the time I let things go as I do believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion but... I just can't hack crazy statements like "punch them in the gut" or "if their reg is in their mouth they won't inhale".

Try your experiment yourself. Turn the valve off, put the reg in your mouth and plug your nose. Now exhale forcefully and see what happens... Now imagine you are panicking while that happens.
If you reply I'll know you inhaled.

What you suggested was that you could force someone who was OOA to forcefully exhale and control the source of their next breath (hand off your reg). I say you can't That's all. But later you go on to say you wouldn't ascribe to that course of action anyways so I don't know what we are debating exactly?

You are right that we won't have time to think things out in most situations which is why I am voicing my objection to the whole punch/knee to the gut thing. It should not be something that even comes up on the radar in such a situation.