HalcyonDaze
Contributor
It's funny since I got out of it, but this really, really, really would have been an embarrassing way to check out on Dive # 700-something after a good 14 years. I've decided to post this to show that even an "experienced" diver can make a very basic mistake through sheer complacency.
Some time ago I went on a dive charter with a friend. We rented nitrox tanks from the boat at the dock and loaded them aboard; when we settled into our spots there was a fifth tank next to us in the racks (I'm not sure if it was between ours or at the end) that was presumably left over from the morning dive. One of the DM's came through and checked the O2 mixes on all five tanks while we watched the readouts, and off we went. First dive, no issues.
On the surface interval, we switched over tanks. One of my buddy's tanks had a bad o-ring, so rather than changing it out I told her to take the next tank over and I bumped down to the next tank in line. This is where I made my big mistake; I put my BC on the tank, hooked up my reg, turned it on, and did not check my pressure gauge. Not right after I changed the tank over, not as I was gearing up for the next dive, not before I got in the water. I just turned the tank on and jumped into 75-80 ft of water with the expectation that everything was in order.
Welp, about 15 minutes in at a depth of 75 ft I notice my reg is breathing a little hard. At this point I decide while I shouldn't be having air issues, I'll look at my gauge. Now, since I wear a wrist computer I just have a bare SPG on the end of my high-pressure hose, and when it's under pressure the swivel on the gauge is very stiff. When I grabbed it this time, the gauge spun freely in my hand. That was my second hint I was screwed.
My third hint was when I looked at the gauge. Zero. Zip. Nada. ****!
Now, I was fortunate at this point that my friend was a) someone I hadn't dove with before, b) someone I was taking on a checkout trip for a more demanding dive two weeks later, and c) really knew her stuff. So first off I actually had a buddy I was sticking to like molasses (something that's become less and less frequent in recent years) and second that person knew what to do when I swam over and showed her a flatlined gauge. I never actually pulled a Coke bottle on the tank, but after getting about 10 ft off the bottom I signaled to start a shared air ascent. There were no further problems, we took the time for a three-minute safety stop, and overall it was a very cool, calm, and collected affair. Needless to say, I paid for her dive trip after we got back to the dock - the "save your buddy, get a free dive trip" rule.
Afterwards, I tested my reg on the tank from the first dive (600 psi) and the one with the dodgy o-ring (3000+ psi). So in hindsight, what must have happened was that one of those five tanks was probably drained down to about 1000 psi or so at the time we left the dock. As stated, I'm not sure whether that tank was one of the ones we drew out of the equipment shed at the dock or the "spare" left over from the morning dives; however the end responsibility was mine to make sure the damn thing had gas in it before I jumped off the boat. I blew that responsibility off because I had gotten complacent; I assumed everything was in perfect order for a dive that in my book was something of a milk run. If I hadn't been sticking close to a buddy, I would have been profoundly ****ed with nobody to blame for it but myself.
Mark my words, I'm never doing that again.
Some time ago I went on a dive charter with a friend. We rented nitrox tanks from the boat at the dock and loaded them aboard; when we settled into our spots there was a fifth tank next to us in the racks (I'm not sure if it was between ours or at the end) that was presumably left over from the morning dive. One of the DM's came through and checked the O2 mixes on all five tanks while we watched the readouts, and off we went. First dive, no issues.
On the surface interval, we switched over tanks. One of my buddy's tanks had a bad o-ring, so rather than changing it out I told her to take the next tank over and I bumped down to the next tank in line. This is where I made my big mistake; I put my BC on the tank, hooked up my reg, turned it on, and did not check my pressure gauge. Not right after I changed the tank over, not as I was gearing up for the next dive, not before I got in the water. I just turned the tank on and jumped into 75-80 ft of water with the expectation that everything was in order.
Welp, about 15 minutes in at a depth of 75 ft I notice my reg is breathing a little hard. At this point I decide while I shouldn't be having air issues, I'll look at my gauge. Now, since I wear a wrist computer I just have a bare SPG on the end of my high-pressure hose, and when it's under pressure the swivel on the gauge is very stiff. When I grabbed it this time, the gauge spun freely in my hand. That was my second hint I was screwed.
My third hint was when I looked at the gauge. Zero. Zip. Nada. ****!
Now, I was fortunate at this point that my friend was a) someone I hadn't dove with before, b) someone I was taking on a checkout trip for a more demanding dive two weeks later, and c) really knew her stuff. So first off I actually had a buddy I was sticking to like molasses (something that's become less and less frequent in recent years) and second that person knew what to do when I swam over and showed her a flatlined gauge. I never actually pulled a Coke bottle on the tank, but after getting about 10 ft off the bottom I signaled to start a shared air ascent. There were no further problems, we took the time for a three-minute safety stop, and overall it was a very cool, calm, and collected affair. Needless to say, I paid for her dive trip after we got back to the dock - the "save your buddy, get a free dive trip" rule.
Afterwards, I tested my reg on the tank from the first dive (600 psi) and the one with the dodgy o-ring (3000+ psi). So in hindsight, what must have happened was that one of those five tanks was probably drained down to about 1000 psi or so at the time we left the dock. As stated, I'm not sure whether that tank was one of the ones we drew out of the equipment shed at the dock or the "spare" left over from the morning dives; however the end responsibility was mine to make sure the damn thing had gas in it before I jumped off the boat. I blew that responsibility off because I had gotten complacent; I assumed everything was in perfect order for a dive that in my book was something of a milk run. If I hadn't been sticking close to a buddy, I would have been profoundly ****ed with nobody to blame for it but myself.
Mark my words, I'm never doing that again.