What is a known panic point for you while diving?

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

For me, I hate being on the surface in gear and breathing from the reg. I don't know why even with a glass flat lake that I feel like this. As soon as I put my face in the water, I am ok. If my face is out of the water, I don't feel like I am getting enough air and feel very very nervous. I know there is no really good reason to feel this way. I can float on my back without gear with great ease for long periods of time. I practice floating in the pool all the time and can float for 20-30 minutes without moving.

I feel very comfortable under the water line and can take off my gear and put it all back on, do all the skills and so forth. I can drop my mask and then search for it. Breath of the reg underwater with no mask underwater and am as cool as can be.

But when I am on the surface getting ready to go down or after the dive waiting to get back on the boat, I feel very nervous.

So what is the thing that sometimes sets you off? And what have you done or are you doing to overcome it?

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

When I was doing my drysuit dives, I got a suit-squeeze and couldn't breathe. That did it for me. I should have remembered to put air in the suit, but I had a case of the dumb-azz. From 45', I bolted for the surface. Not my finest moment.... Next time, I think/hope I will remember. *sigh* I've been in various other situations and haven't panicked. That was the only time.

As for overcoming it, I've since gone over and over what happened. First of all, I had an uncontrolled descent. I should have had more air in my BC. When I began to get squeezed, I should have immediately hit the chest inflator button and given a few puffs of air to the suit. Most of all, I should have kept a cool head. Stop, breathe, think, act. If this ever happens again, I'm confident in my ability to handle it without panicking.

 

[Doc]

So what is the thing that sometimes sets you off? And what have you done or are you doing to overcome it?

This is kind of a self defeating puzzle. If you know in advance "what sets you off" into a state of panic, why would you ever cross that line except to overcome it by facing it?

Look toward the unknown tipping points, most often influenced by outside and unexpected stimuli such as other divers in need of assistance or chemical issues including coffee buzz, low blood sugar and hypothyermia.

 

[Charlie99]

Just a wild guess Leah, but I've had a couple incidents when using rental regs with high cracking pressure where, because I didn't have a good seal around the mouthpiece with my lips, that the reg wouldn't deliver air and I was just breathing through the cracks between the reg and my lips. Once I submerge, everything works fine, although a bit wet.

 

[Walter]

Practice. Get used to it.

 

[PePaw]

Leah, not sure if I would call it panic, but like yourself, I seem to breathe harder and be more tense on the surface. Once i'm underwater i'm good.
I'm hoping that just doing a lot more diving will change this.

And this is just at the beginning of the dive. I don't have the same feeling after my ascent following the dive.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

I wonder if it has something to do with being tossed around by the waves, on the surface? I've been seasick while snorkeling before, and also, when I'm at the surface, I certainly feel a LOT less graceful than when I'm under. What works for me, is after surfacing, I inflate my BC, (not all the way) flip over onto my back, remove my mask and clip it onto my BC, and remove my reg. At that point, I'm just bobbing around as though I were wearing a life vest.

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

So what is the thing that sometimes sets you off? And what have you done or are you doing to overcome it?

Whole book on the topic...

Bachrach, Arthur J. Stress and performance in diving. San Pedro, Calif. : Best Pub. Co., 1987.

[FONT=Geneva,Helvetica,sans-serif]ISBN: 0941332063; 9780941332064
LCCN: 86-72103[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva,Helvetica,sans-serif]OCLC: 17636938[/FONT]

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Live drops, I'm terrified of propellers. Walter and I were diving in Ft. Lauderdale and it was a live drop. I was completely beside myself with fear before hitting the water and so terrified after getting in that I was hyperventilating and nearly aborted the dive. I gave myself 1 minute to get my breathing under control and descend because I was too spooked to approach the boat. Once I'm down I'm good but I want the boat turned off when I get on or off. A few years ago on the Nekton Pilot we did a drift dive where they pick you up by backing the BIG boat toward you. I think I climbed over 4 divers on the surface in a blind panic to get away from large props that were backing up but still nowhere near me.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[fire_diver]

For me, I hate being on the surface in gear and breathing from the reg. I don't know why even with a glass flat lake that I feel like this.

This is simple physics. Your reg is out of the water and adjusting 2nd stage pressure accordingly. Your lungs are underwater, and being acted upon the the pressure. YES there is a measureable pressure even a few inches below the surface. As soon as your face hits the water, either you're lying flat on the surface and reducing the workload, or your regs are now underwater and adjusting pressure.

My personal panic point? I hate it when I run out of air on those 200 foot single tank dives. :shakehead Gotta stop doing that.