Switching gasses at depth?
- Thread starter Sonic04GT
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Rainer
Contributor
Reg Braithwaite
Contributor
Yes, but only as far as the anesthesia
Too bad, too bad. I get the sense that when you're up here diving some of the world's finest freshwater wrecks, you will wave off my offer of some Single Malt Scotch in favour of whatever your brought in your own pony flask. To each their own, but there are times when you want to rely on the team concept of liquid anesthesia.
p.s. Yes, I believe in primary donation: In an OOA emergency (Out Of Anesthesia), always offer the distressed diver whatever you are drinking!
Dtaine
Contributor
The two are not mutually exclusive. If you are not able to complete a self-rescue you are the weakest link of the dive team. If you are diving with a team where no one is abe to complete a self-rescue, you should be re-thinking the whole diving thing. Self-rescue is the cornerstone of team diving. If I can't rescue myself, how the hell can I rescue you. Running out of gas is a total failure of self-rescue because you haven't been monitoring your gas at depth for an extended length of time.
On a side note, being able to exact a self-rescue, OOG, valve shutdown, or anything else in a drill is a whole different matter than being able to do it in an actual situation. Ultimately the greatest skill or piece of equipment is your brain and you ability to use it.
Reg Braithwaite
Contributor
I think your argument confuses being able to self-rescue in some circumstances with being able to self-rescue from all circumstances. The discussion you are jumping into concerns whether a diver should ever plan for his team to take care of an OOG problem rather than always planning to self-rescue for that specific problem. Planning to rely on the team for OOG rescue under cirtain circumstances such as single-tank recreational diving is not the same thing as abrogating all responsibility for self-rescue under all circumstances.
You probably have much more knowledge and experience than I do, so help me out: Is inattention by the diver the only cause of OOG emergencies? If so, why do I see tech divers with thousands of dives carrying long hoses? Presumably their dive buddies would never make such an amateur error, so is the long hose strictly for pushing your rig through constrictions?
And why do all the tech agencies from GUE to TDI to IANTD to the cave folks all put so much emphasis on practicing the OOG and air sharing drills, even for divers carrying manifolded doubles? One would think that by the time someone is taking GUE Tech 1 they plan their dives such that even if they never look at their gauge they are in zero danger of running out of air. So what's up with the long hose drills??
Let's continue to but said brains to good use. Use 'em or lose 'em, folks!
Reg, going from having gas to being out of gas is not immediate. Ultimately if you run out of gas because you are not paying attention you should really consider diving. If you get OOG because of an equipment failure it is not instantaneous and really OOG is a bit of a misnomer because it takes a while to be OOG. In a failure scenario you have options like valve and manifold shutdowns, feathering the valve, breathing from a tank directly, or breathing from the inflator. To empty one's tanks at depth is quite something and a shutdown will isolate the issues. Further, one should be able to shut one's tank down in less than 1 minute. If you cant do that go to the pool and practice until you are able to do it. My tanks won't empty in less than 1 minute as I have spent some time in pools practising this.
I plan for team OOG before we enter the water. Its called rule of 1/3rds. If I'm not diving 1/3rds then there is a turn pressure with the contingency for on OOG built into it.
If you are diving singles these are things that you must consider. We are from the same part of the world and I have seen so many divers on deep "recreational" wrecks who are so wholly unprepared and unequipped for these dives that its just scarry.
I plan for team OOG before we enter the water. Its called rule of 1/3rds. If I'm not diving 1/3rds then there is a turn pressure with the contingency for on OOG built into it.
If you are diving singles these are things that you must consider. We are from the same part of the world and I have seen so many divers on deep "recreational" wrecks who are so wholly unprepared and unequipped for these dives that its just scarry.
Reg Braithwaite
Contributor
Cos, I know you are trying to be constructive here, and I will tell you that I (a) practice various self-rescue techniques in the pool every Monday night and (b) have made certain gear choices to facilitate self-rescue for certain circumstances, let's call them "unplanned deviations from the planned availability of gas."
But all that being said, my remarks were mostly an attempt to obtain clarification from someone who used the word "ridiculous" to describe relying on a buddy for air. There may be better things to do, or other things to do (be they gear choices or training) in addition to relying on a buddy, and I am doing so.
But with all that, the folks I know diving doubles still carry a long hose when diving with each other, and they still practice their S Drills once a week in Humber Bay, year-round. What's up with that?
And likewise while none of them are going to jump into a high-commitment overhead dive with a single tank, many of them dive a single AL-80 without a pony when vacationing. What's up with that?
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