What if...? Equipment Issues

[PatW]

1) Kicked Reg - I would put my reg back into my mouth and give the offending party a dirty look.
2) Lost Mask - I would try to find it and retrieve it. I could hold it in place and refill it, but it would be time to call the dive. I can ascend without a mask. It might be tricky figuring out the safety stop depth and the time elapsed (I bet I could not make out the numbers on my computer without the mask) If a safety stop was necessary, I would have to rely on my buddy for this. But I would think a strap would fail on entry. All that would take would be retrieving the mask, returning to the boat and replacing the strap (I carry a spare in my equipment bag).
3) Lost strap on fin - I would return to the boat with my fin and replace the strap (I carry a spare in my equipment bag). If it happened on entry, I could still do the dive. Otherwise, the dive is over.
4) Stuck dump valve. Well, I generally don't use my dump valve. But I have had a BC fail to hold air because of a leak at the hose/bc connection. It was inconvenient but I was able to dive with an uninflated BC. I did show the problem to the dive master and my buddy. They should know these things.
5) No light night dive - well you should have a back up light and a blinky. You should not lose everything but it can happen. If my buddy has a light, I would just show them mine was gone and stick to them. In my experience, night dives are not all that dark anyway. The main problem is being close to my buddy so they KNOW where I am. I was on one night dive and my buddy turned off her light and piggy backed on the dive master's light. That was very aggravating because I had to spend a considerable amount of effort keeping track of her.

Most of these things are not that serious. The thing is to not panic. The second thing is that if the "problem" whatever it is causes you more than just mild irritation, then you should call the dive. Dangerous situations often start with one small problem. A stressed diver has less capacity to cope with a second minor problem. A few minor problems can quickly add up to a fatal one. So if you get to the point where your coping mechanisms are at all taxed, it is time to call the dive.

 

[2 Big 2 Fail]

Equipment issues

* What would you do if your buddy kicked your reg out of your mouth?

Put it back. Keep a little more distance, unless I thought he did it on purpose, in which case I'd keep a LOT more distance.

* What would you do if your mask strap broke and you lost your mask?

Mask is long gone? And no backup mask? Start slowly up, using quick looks to try to judge speed/see gauge. If it can be done in the dark, it can be done without a mask. I'm actually pretty easy about open eyes in both fresh and salt water.

* What would you do if a fin strap broke during your dive?

End the dive in an orderly way. Might or might not go after the lost fin. Depends.

* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?

I read this to say I'm losing BC air pretty fast. If headed down beyond my ability to swim up, dump one side of weight, pull one side and dump part, or dump both, whatever seems to stop the descent without shooting up. Wouldn't swim against real hard just in order to avoid dropping weights. That's why they dump. (I doubt I'd really spend time experimenting with attitudes to try to save BC air, unless I was staying neutral and thought I could manage okay.)

* What would you do if your only light went out on a night dive?

Unless I had a very firm idea of my current heading and a proven ability to run a reciprocal without visual or compass (I don't), I suppose I would head slowly up with an arm out in case there was something above I couldn't see.

 

[cloudflint]

* What would you do if your buddy kicked your reg out of your mouth?
Stick it back in, try to maintain a bit more distance in future

* What would you do if your mask strap broke and you lost your mask?
Grab buddy and abort dive, ive done an abort from about 20 meters taking of the mask and making my way up to the surface and i found it wasn't to bad.

* What would you do if a fin strap broke during your dive?
Abort using one fin, ive found i can control myself alright with one fin so long as im not having to do anything to strenuous.

* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?
Manually inflate it by blowing into the hose and crimping it when not in use to stop air escaping, blow out any water that had gotten in if neccesary, abort to surface.

* What would you do if your only light went out on a night dive?
Take out my backup? Or grab my buddy and abort.

 

[Bubble_Boy]

* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?

How about sticking it back into place??
After all this is not an emergency situation where you start to ascend or descend rapidly...

 

[markmantei]

What would you do if your buddy kicked your reg out of your mouth?
Been practicing this one in the pool, what happens if your reg is kicked out AND it dislodges your mask at the same time. The key here is good placement of your octo. First deal with the lack of air (calmly grab octo, clear, and breath, then if mask is flooded but still on, then clear. If mask is lost see below

What would you do if your mask strap broke and you lost your mask?
Been thinking about this one lately too. In warm tropical water, open eyes, find buddy, problem should be obvious at this point, thumb the dive if the mask can not be easily located. In cold water that is a different animal. I would still try to find and signal buddy, or even better, they realize the problem and can help deal with it (locate mask, or at worst, help with the ascent). If that was not possible, I would try to ascend slowly, trying to see my computer as much as possible, the safety stop would almost surely be skipped.

What would you do if a fin strap broke during your dive?
Well, I have dove without using fin straps because I grabbed my wife's fins (same fins but a size smaller) by accident. It was a short, shallow dive, and while I needed to be careful, the fins stayed on throughout the dive. Unexpectedly on a dive, I would inform my buddy of the problem so they know to keep extra attention on me, but otherwise cautiously continue the dive if possible (considering an easy dive), or end the dive safely if it is not.

What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?
Again, this is somewhat situationally dependent. On a local cold water dive, I have a drysuit, so a redundent source of boyancy. Signal the issue to the buddy but continue the dive, I won't be using the bc anyway at depth. On a tropical dive, first signal buddy, then try and deal with the situation if possible (reattach) if not, thumb the dive and swim the rig up, attempt a safety stop using buddy and/or smb for bouyancy with a little help from finning.

What would you do if your only light went out on a night dive?
This one I am not sure of as I have not invested any time in learning what procedures are neccessary for a night dive, but first would probably be having a redundent light. That said, if I can locate my buddy by finding their light, I would probably do that, hopefully they have a redundent light they can pass off to me, and I will learn and have my own second light for next time , If I can't find my buddy, then I suppose I would need to surface, and my buddy should be doing the same shortly as per lost buddy procedure.

 

[Kenny13]

* What would you do if your buddy kicked your reg out of your mouth?

During OW class, regulator recovery was one of my most comfortable skills but it may be slightly different when the regulator has been unexpectedly kicked out of my mouth rather than casually tossed aside. I'm using an Atomic SS1 power inflator/alternate air source, which would be very easy to locate so I would put it in my mouth to breathe off of while locating my primary second stage. Before stopping to locate and switch regs, I would make sure my buddy is aware that I have to do this so we avoid getting separated. Would also make a point to get better separation between us afterward.

* What would you do if your mask strap broke and you lost your mask?

This one would be a little more difficult for me. Mask removal and replacement was not a problem, and I don't think I would have a problem making an ascent with my eyes closed but I would have to open my eyes, which could be difficult and uncomfortable in sea water, to make sure my buddy knows what is going on and that we need to ascend. I am in the market for a new mask, and once I get one I plan on sticking my current one in a BC pocket should such an occasion arise.

* What would you do if a fin strap broke during your dive?

I would immediately get the attention of my buddy and notify them of the problem. I would then get him to position himself close by should I need his assistance in making a safe ascent. I would also prepare myself to drop some of the ditchable weight in my BC weight pockets should it be necessary.

* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?

If I am properly weighted, I should be able to still kick myself to the surface. I would immediately alert my buddy that I need to make an emergency ascent. Although I should be able to kick to the surface, I need to prepare to drop weight in order to stay there. I would position myself as close as comfort & safety allows to my buddy during ascend in case he needs to help me drop weight, and so I can use him and his fully inflated BC for flotation. Hopefully I would have an SMB on hand to help with flotation as well.

* What would you do if your only light went out on a night dive?

Trick question??? I haven't had any night diving training, but I would never do a night dive with only 1 light. However, I guess I would have to plan with my buddy that if one of us has to resort to a backup light we should probably stay close enough to each other where we could share a light for an ascent should a backup light go out too. I think I could ascend in darkness and use the light on my computer for what little assistance it would provide, but I would be very concerned of overhead hazards.

 

[SoccerJeni]

Have not read anyone elses responses, I am testing myself...
Equipment issues

* What would you do if your buddy kicked your reg out of your mouth?

Reg recovery, sweep the arm to the right if it's not visible.

* What would you do if your mask strap broke and you lost your mask?

First, cuss through my reg. Seeing as sometimes sight without the mask is extremely blurry, if I can't find it soon, I would be ending the dive. This would really make communication with your buddy difficult too, because it may be hard to see them. But, I really don't know if this is the right thing to do.

* What would you do if a fin strap broke during your dive?

Hum...good question...never thought about it. In just thinking of it right now, I would notify my buddy, and I would assume the dive would be over? Unless I can somehow rig it up? Tie it or something?

* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?

Reattach it. I need to practice this, I forgot to last time I went to the pool.

* What would you do if your only light went out on a night dive?

Does my buddy have a back up? If not, then probably we would need to end the dive because if my buddies light goes out it would be bad news!

 

[Cave Diver]

Reattach it. I need to practice this, I forgot to last time I went to the pool.

In some instances this may not be possible. The plastic elbow can break, or it can actually pull out of the BC. Or you might simply not be able to reach it without taking your BC off.

I've also seen a dump valve failure where the two parts unscrewed and the outer part came off and the inner part fell far enough inside that it was unrecoverable in the water.

 

[SoccerJeni]

In some instances this may not be possible. The plastic elbow can break, or it can actually pull out of the BC. Or you might simply not be able to reach it without taking your BC off.

I've also seen a dump valve failure where the two parts unscrewed and the outer part came off and the inner part fell far enough inside that it was unrecoverable in the water.

Hum...okay, I could see these things could come up. So, is this a dive ending thing if your inflator hose won't attach? I'm not trying to be stupid, but there are some things that can happen that will be alright for you to stay down. If you can't reattach it without taking off your BC, then hopefully this is something you've practiced before and you can maintain good buoyancy while doing so, if that's the case, try it out. If you've not practiced it before...hum, I don't know if I would do it.

If you have a dump valve failure, does it mean that water will start getting into your BC? If not, you might have another dump and you can use that. My BC has a rear dump, and you can yank down on the inflator hose to dump at the top of it. But, in this case, I would want my buddy to be really close to me and assist me if I start having an uncontrolled ascent. If that happens that I start floating off, I will swim downward, then if I still have trouble I will grab and bear hug anything around me until my buddy can assist me. I have had to do this before, because I failed to get the air dumped. I think it's the right way, if not then let me know.

 

[kathydee]

b]*[/b] What would you do if your buddy kicked your reg out of your mouth?

First of all with proper situational awareness I wouldn't be diving close enough for this to happen. But if for some strange reason it did, I have a back up reg just under my chin on a bungie which is very easy to access - then I can sort the primary out & keep diving.


* What would you do if your mask strap broke and you lost your mask?

Well all equipment should be tested and inspected before dives, and I dive a cloth mask strap so can't see it braking. But if it was knocked off and lost, I keep a back-up mask in my right pocket which I have practiced deploying. So just put on the backup, take a look for the primary mask and in most situations keep diving - If we need another mask, my buddy now has another back up mask in their pocket

* What would you do if a fin strap broke during your dive?

Well again this would be difficult as we dive with spring straps and maintain our equipment. But the solution I see would be to signal my partner and end the dive. I do know a little one foot flutter which allows forward propulsion with only one fin if necessary. Also my partner could help with propulsion, if necessary to reach OW ascent.

* What would you do if your inflator/dump valve pulled out of your BC?

Signal my buddy while stabilizing position. Tip the body in the position that best conserves gas in the wing & buoyancy. I dive a Halcyon BP/W and have heard of friends simply finding the dump valve cover and rescrewing - or in a pinch, the screw dump valve on my Halcyon SMB is said to be interchangeable with the wing. You can also rescrew the inflator hose. If the problem is fixed - then continue the dive.

If my partner and I are unable to fix the problem, terminate the dive and stay close to my partner in case assistance is needed on ascent or at the surface.


* What would you do if your only light went out on a night dive?

I dive with three lights, a primary and two back ups, which makes loosing one light a non-issue.