Your reaction to this emergency situation.

[Tigerman]

I would likely be on 32% nitrox with a mod of 33,7 meters with a contingency depth of 40 meters.
Of course, given this is early in the dive I would have the air for a little time at 40 meters (131 feet) so I would go there to try arrest the descent and get the diver with me to the surface. If the decending diver are getting deeper than that, it would start getting a bit of a consideration what I would do.
I know 1,8 was considered to be "safe" back in the day and that would give me 46 meters (150 ft) but I really cant say without being there if I would push it that far. Narcosis is starting be a serious issue down there as well as high ppo2 so it would be a bit of consideration going beyond 130 feet and things like how fast the diver is going down would be a serious factor into that consideration.

I have unfortunately had to make the choice wether or not to pray a buddy is going to make it or if I should risk going after her and its no fun at all.
I did make the decision to let her have an UNcontrolled bouyant ascent of AT LEAST 4x recommended ascent rates from the end of a 120 ft square profile dive knowing that if shes bent and Im not my help will be delayed but available, while if we both get bent we'd pretty much risk being royally screwed..
She was actually able to grab a line and was hanging like a balloon at 5m when I got there though so she got lucky. That safety stop did last a lot longer than 3 minutes tho..

 

[gypsyjim]

If she lived to tell her story, then it sounds like both you and she were very lucky that day. And your 'gamble' paid off. Bravo

Hopefully very very few of us ever have to face such a choice.

 

[cloudflint]

Ive had to chase people down, though thankfully never on a dive that didnt have a bottom. My first reaction is generally to go head down and dump all my air then try to get into the path of the divers bubbles if there are any to speed myself down as fast as possible. One important thing ive found from doing this is to breathe out through your nose rather than your mouth, that was the only way i could keep enough air going into the mask to avoid squeeze though the deeper i went the less of a problem this was. Once i grab them give them a shake and inflate the BC and shoot up to the surface, DCS be dammed.

 

[Cave Diver]

Not much to add to Devon's response.

I'm going after them, period. I know my personal depth limits and I doubt they could sink below that faster than I could get negative and kick down to them.

 

[Tortuga68]

I would likely be on 32% nitrox with a mod of 33,7 meters with a contingency depth of 40 meters

Recreational dive, single bottle, air

.....

 

[Tigerman]

I wouldnt likely be on air Tortuga, and the question would be what "would you do" (you as in me, whos not likely on air)..

If she lived to tell her story, then it sounds like both you and she were very lucky that day. And your 'gamble' paid off. Bravo

Hopefully very very few of us ever have to face such a choice.

Her by far more than me. I would be atleast physically fine..
And I agree, peple should hope not to have to face that choice, cause its a grimm one.
If I where in a relationship with her, it would have been even worse and without having experienced it I can not be sure I would have made the "correct" 'never make yourself a second victim' choice..

 

[RonFrank]

We sure have a lot of calm cool divers out there. Then again they descended to 70' without having contact with their buddy.

This is not a valid scenario for me. I will meet a buddy on the bottom on a shallow dive, but not on anything over 50', and certainly not bottomless. BH may be the exception but the vis is good, I'm diving with friends, and it bottoms out at 85'. You can watch your buddies descend from the bottom. I would never get to 70' without buddy contact and chances are we would descend together likely not more than 10' apart.

Why? There are too many things that go wrong at the beginning of a dive. Mainly clearing or weight. It's the worst time to separate, so it's simple, I stay with my buddy and make sure the dive starts ok. Once down it kinda depends on the buddy. I have gotten separated when my insta-buddy is a spaz. I prefer a real buddy but sometimes I travel alone. Fortunately the hyper insta buddy is normally found only on shallow dives.

 

[Bratface]

I have to like you enough to kiss you on the lips to risk my life. I would do my best to rescue but I would not be the second victim.

 

[Reef_Haven]

I find it interesting that no one has mentioned dropping the diver's weights, neither at depth nor at the surface.

 

[fisheater]

I find it interesting that no one has mentioned dropping the diver's weights, neither at depth nor at the surface.

I took that to be included in the manage the victim's buoyancy category mentioned above.


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