Things that make you appreciate the team.

[rjack321]

I know the context in which you wrote this but that statement bothers me a bit. Having a functional team is one thing but not being able to salvage a situation independantly is a risk that scares me. In the report above I could easily see someone fumbling for the backup as it drops and losing the line (reg in one hand, light in the other). With a bit of current they could then be drifting without lights or reference point and the others might not notice it in time.

The 2nd backup light was not required for the dive at all and there are still more ways the deco could have been salvaged - solo even.
grab the anchor line
shoot a bag and count knots
hang in midwater best you can on backgas for a generous time
I really don't see the tangled backup light as critical here.

Deploying backups for non-overhead boat dives and checking them in the water is probably not done more than its done. Maybe not by people who've had "interesting" times like Blackwood. But the reality is that most people, myself included, check that their lights seem ok on the boat and that's as far as it goes. Low value, high hassles for in-water deloying on the surface esp. once you're talking about dropping in current. Will my lack of complete thoroughness come back to bite me? Probably, but I can live with that small risk in non-overhead situations. If you can't, then you'll need some different ways of checking/deploying them in the water.

 

[HenrikBP]

That's a great story to - hopefully - learn from Thanks for sharing.

Henrik

 

[TSandM]

I can certainly see not deploying lights in the water if you're splashing into high current; everything has to be checked on the boat in that case, and you just take a risk that something will turn up not to function once it's actually in the water. I'm still very new to staged decompression diving, and in my brain, a night deco dive would mandate two working backup lights, simply because the risk of dropping one is there and it may not be possible to retrieve it during the dive.

I've been in the situation of being off the line in midwater in the dark with no ability to read my gauge, and it isn't fun. Being in such low viz that you can't identify your teammates would just add to the issue. This may well have been one of those times when just grossly grabbing the upline was the best option -- was it a shot, or an anchor?

Thank you for posting this, and I hope you don't think I sound overly critical. It's always easy to armchair quarterback stuff. But this did remind me to take a good, careful look at my buddy's gear when we do the gear check and the bubble check, to pick up things that are twisted or caught or otherwise not fully functional.

 

[Rainer]

This may well have been one of those times when just grossly grabbing the upline was the best option -- was it a shot, or an anchor?

Shot line, with another team (Nick, Maciek, Jamie) still on the wreck.

 

[rjack321]

I can certainly see not deploying lights in the water if you're splashing into high current; everything has to be checked on the boat in that case, and you just take a risk that something will turn up not to function once it's actually in the water. I'm still very new to staged decompression diving, and in my brain, a night deco dive would mandate two working backup lights, simply because the risk of dropping one is there and it may not be possible to retrieve it during the dive.

I've been in the situation of being off the line in midwater in the dark with no ability to read my gauge, and it isn't fun. Being in such low viz that you can't identify your teammates would just add to the issue. This may well have been one of those times when just grossly grabbing the upline was the best option -- was it a shot, or an anchor?

Thank you for posting this, and I hope you don't think I sound overly critical. It's always easy to armchair quarterback stuff. But this did remind me to take a good, careful look at my buddy's gear when we do the gear check and the bubble check, to pick up things that are twisted or caught or otherwise not fully functional.

I'm glad Blackwood posted this as well. You seem to get pretty worked up about all possible issues though. There really isn't an algorithm on how to deal with a krill blackout, at night, in midwater, after losing a primary light, and dropping a backup light. Marc did well just "dealing" until a little help came along to make it easier - good job all around. And more interesting to talk about than work

I do agree with grabbing the line here though. Staying on that was more important than the backup light in the near term. Around here, even on just a simple weighted line with no hook/anchor/grapple, I always use enough lead (8+lbs) and a large enough float (50+lbs of lift) placed as vertical as possible to serve as a potential backup to stuff like dropped weights, failed wings or partially incapacitated buddy etc. Diving underneath a tinsy crab pot buoy just doesn't provide anything besides the visual reference in a pinch.

 

[jenth]

It does sound like even with all the difficulties and issues, you guys managed to deal with the situation. It's a great testament to the way we dive and to all the practice dives we do.

For me, it also reiterates the importance of taking it one step at a time and really having a solid foundation (yeah, I'm definitely not ready for any tech diving!). I know I can get a bit complacent (since nothing *really* bad has happened and I haven't been put to the test)...and your dive is a great reminder to not let our skills get rusty.

BTW, I have had to use a backup light on a few dives and I do what Chris said...clip the light to my left compass bungee. That way, I can also just let go of my light temporarily if I need to use my left hand. The only really annoying thing about it is that when it's too dark, you have to unclip it to read your spg and compass.

Thanks for sharing the story and allowing all of us to learn from it!

 

[TSandM]

Well, Richard, I'm not sure I'm getting worked up about anything. But it is my trained habit, from my work as much or more than from my diving, to look at any situation that ended up uncomfortable or undesirable, and see if there are any lessons to be used to avoid or ameliorate the situation in the future.

A dead primary is something that happens. A dropped backup light is something we can think about, whether there was some way to make it less likely -- but anything we hand-hold in the water we can lose. An inaccessible backup light seems to me to be something that could have been prevented very easily. An unreadable gauge in the dark is something avoidable, too; either by having a gauge that glows all the time, or knowing how to activate the backlight, which Marc has already said was a lesson from the dive.

Maintaining buoyancy and depth at a gas switch with no gauge information is another issue. We typically don't carry backup gauges, and the argument is that your team is your backup, but here we have a situation where the visibility was apparently so bad that the team had a hard time functioning as a backup, because the other team members couldn't even see that Marc had a problem, or understand what the problem was. This is something worth thinking about, and it reminds me of trying to start the ascent off the Harpoon the other day. When the viz is really bad, you really have to close a team up in order to communicate effectively at all, anything beyond what light signals can do.

And then the final thing is the upline. My UTD Tech 1 class taught me a lot about the lack of utility of an upline you can't touch. A shot is never going to hold you against current, but if it's too fragile to grab for a momentarily balancing device, I think it's too flimsy a shot line. But that's me. Like you, I have a good weight on mine.

So, anyway, since I always try to take something that's useful for me away from any of these stories, what I will do is to be more diligent about gear checks before deco dives; look at my buddies better to see if they're shipshape, and the bubble check is a great time to do that; close the team up around the line when the viz is poor (got that from the Harpoon dive, too), and consider clipping a backup light off to the compass bungie to prevent dropping it (something I do with my camera, when I use it). I've already fixed the "reading the gauge in the dark" problem

 

[ucfdiver]

I'll admit I don't check my backup lights in the water. Never seen anyone else I've dove with do it, either. I do check them when gearing up, and when throwing them in the gear bag, every time. I also mark them with the date and swap them every 6mo.

 

[Blackwood]

With all those little buggers was the backup light doing anything? Could you even see the line with it? Not having krill quite "that bad" I'm kinda wondering why bother?

I could *just* see the line, and later I could see Tim's spool. But really I wanted it for signaling purposes and to read my gauges.

Curious, what do you think will change in your pre-dive routine, if anything?

Good question, and one I've not really come up with an answer to yet. I'll get back to ya

The 2nd backup light was not required for the dive at all and there are still more ways the deco could have been salvaged - solo even.
grab the anchor line
shoot a bag and count knots
hang in midwater best you can on backgas for a generous time
I really don't see the tangled backup light as critical here.

Yah. It could have been salvaged, but not without a lot of headache. Backgas deco would have been really long. The way the fog rolled in, that could have been a life-ending decision.

I've been in the situation of being off the line in midwater in the dark with no ability to read my gauge, and it isn't fun.

No... no it really isn't.

This may well have been one of those times when just grossly grabbing the upline was the best option -- was it a shot, or an anchor?

As Chris mentioned, it was shot. I did have my hand around it for a while, but lost it at the same time I lost my light (gas switch).

Thank you for posting this, and I hope you don't think I sound overly critical

Certainly not. I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't think there was something to learn from the responses.

I always use enough lead (8+lbs) and a large enough float (50+lbs of lift) placed as vertical as possible to serve as a potential backup to stuff like dropped weights, failed wings or partially incapacitated buddy etc.

I think this one may have been a little too long. It certainly wasn't hanging vertically. At the 50 or 40 foot stop, I had to swim horizontally along it for a while before it went up again. Wrong tool for this wreck.

but here we have a situation where the visibility was apparently so bad that the team had a hard time functioning as a backup, because the other team members couldn't even see that Marc had a problem, or understand what the problem was.

I think it was more that we had all just overshot 20', so we were kicking down and then wanting to get on the O2 so while I was switching and Tim was switching, Christian had his attention divided. My light dropping meant I'm as good as invisible.

 

[Blackwood]

Couple things:

Per Chris, I only lost about 5 feet, but since I had to equalize I was pretty stressing (knew I was descending). I assumed I hit them at their next stop, but they were actually coming up.

Biggest issue, as mentioned, is the loss of the line. Everyone was breathing, it was just a bit of CF.

I wish there was a good way to check the battery connectors. To Nicole's question above: maybe I'll shake the canister a bit and make sure the light fires continuously. And really, I've done tons of maskless/eyed closed/blind ascents. It shouldn't have been a big deal.

It's weird reading that first post. It was pretty much just a memory dump. I've written less to describe entire classes... this was probably 30 seconds (haven't checked the log yet). It wasn't the end of the world... it just felt like it.