What to do in this situation as a buddy?

[Garrobo]

Where was the DM all this time?

 

[RonFrank]

Unless you are very overweighted, there is nothing you are going to be able to do to prevent a diver from going to the surface.

In Rescue these types of scenarios are discussed, and practiced. The first thing you learn is that the only thing worst that one accident, is two!

If this happens, don't shoot up as suggested by another diver. Do a controlled ascent to your buddy. If he is panicked at the surface, then you are NOT trained to deal with this, but the DM should have been.

In every situation, you need to put your safety above that of your buddy. If you are not able to safely help your buddy, than don't try. As you gain more experience and training you will be able to safely help a diver in need. At your currently level, you need to be as good of a buddy as you can without putting yourself in a situation that may kill you both on his behalf.

I'm not suggesting this scenario was such an incident, but you asked what to do in future situations, and this is my response based on my training and diving experience.

Here is a buoyancy tip. When task loading, especially if it involves loosing a visual frame of reference, stop all movement first, and make sure you are hovering. What apparently happened to your buddy was that he had more air in his BC than needed. When he stopped kicking, and went to clear his mask, he started ascending, and the air started expanding. If you have too much air in the BC at 66feet it's going to be twice as bad at 33'. If possible one can find a sandy area, dump air, and kneel at the bottom. It's not an ideal method, but it's better than having a run away ascent. Buoyancy is a big part of what makes task loading difficult. When one takes their attention away from maintaining their depth, it's easy to sink or rise.

 

[Charlie99]

If this happens, don't shoot up as suggested by another diver. Do a controlled ascent to your buddy.

If you are referring to my post, 60fpm is a controlled ascent, just faster than normal. I don't understand why everyone is so afraid of doing a 60fpm ascent, when that was routinely done for years by recreational divers using the USN tables.

An emergency situation requires that you balance the risks. As I stated above, many divers have some sort of strange idea that a 60fpm ascent will cause DCS, when divers of 20 and 30 years ago routinely had a target rate of 60fpm but actually did greater than 100fpm.

Don't take unecessary risks, but don't abandon a buddy unecessarily because of the 30fpm bogeyman.

Charlie Allen

 

[Tigerman]

If my buddy shoot up to the surface, I would NEVER (given that Im thinking rationally in the situation) shoot up at a too high ascent rate to do something. Once (s)hes out of reach and going twice the recommended ascent rate its a matter of dealing with one possible emergency instead of making a second. Harsh? Sure it is, but its better with one bent diver in need of help and one healthy diver to help out than 2 bent divers in need of help and nobody to help out..

 

[Charlie99]

Unless you are very overweighted, there is nothing you are going to be able to do to prevent a diver from going to the surface.

Not at all true. If you are wearing a wetsuit and have descended, you will have available the buoyancy that your suit has lost, as well as the weight of gas in your tank.

I've stopped two runaway ascents. In one case, she had only gotten a foot or two into her ascent, and just doing a full exhale gave me the 5 pounds or so of negative buoyancy it took to arrest the ascent, then I was able to dump air from my BCD. After a few seconds, she and her buddy were able to dump her excess air and get things back under control.

In the other case it was someone in the group that wasn't my buddy, and by the time I chased them down they were 5 to 10 feet up. I had already dumped air from my BCD as I approached, so I was able to grab the persons ankle and pull down hard.

The key is prompt action. In the first case, I was not the diver's buddy, but saw her struggling a bit, so I just closed up the distance and was ready to instantly act when she started the out-of-control ascent. The only problem was that I grabbed her midriff and held on really tightly, thinking I had just grabbed a fold of wetsuit. In reality, I had grabbed a fold of skin also, and left a set of bruises from my fingers. Even so, she still appreciated the assistance.

Once a person gets well into an ascent they are gone, but if you catch them early, you can indeed stop them.

 

[RonFrank]

Not at all true.

Once a person gets well into an ascent they are gone, but if you catch them early, you can indeed stop them.

In this case the diver was 20 feet above his buddy before he noticed, or that is how I read it.

Sure, you can stop a run away ascent if they are within a body length away. Grabbing a fin may work. You can even dump their air if you can catch it early. However in this case the diver was well above his buddy, and we are discussing someone who has a very limited skill set and experience.

I've watched instructors attempt to stop students that freak out, and go to the surface. Most fail, and end up following the student up at a better than healthy rate. These are instructor's that dive overweighted for this exact reason, and in most cases they still fail.

 

[emcbride81]

I made the mistake of shooting up to help a buddy a while back, and I think I escaped getting bent by a hair. Everyone else is spot on, all of you work on bouyancy and practice practice practice! By the way, you are already a fantastic buddy...I would dive with you anytime!

 

[Scott from LongIsland]

hey thanks for the advice everyone.

As someone mentioned, my buddy was already out of striking distance before I could stop his ascent. I would have hesitated to grab his fin anyway at the time...for fear that just grabbing the fin would create a panic in a new diver.

At the time...the DM was right in front of us. Things just seemed to happen so quickly that I don't think he even noticed.

One thing to add...I am blind in my right eye, so seeing my buddy behind me is sometimes a challenge. For this reason, I normally try to stay behind my buddy.

I am interested in a rescue course, but I want to gain some more dive experience first so I get a little more out of it.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Where was the DM all this time?

Bonaire + shore dive = no DM

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[emcbride81]

Bonaire + shore dive = no DM

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Correction here...Bonaire+shore dive = heaven...