Running low on air and failed safety stop

[Peter69_56]

Diving a local dive spot off NSW Australia. I run a petrel and an Oceanic Pro Plus. The Pro Plus has a more aggressive algorithm, so normally it shows no decompression time required when the Petrel is showing maybe 2 min at 6 metres. I had about 2 minutes left at 6 m when an inexperienced diver came shooting up the line and stopped in front of me showing the out of air signal. I handed over my occy and he then took off for the surface before I could do anything else. I had 2 choices, try and stay ay 6m to complete my deco obligation while he was clawing for the surface, or go with him. I decided to go with him given the circumstances (one pc showing no deco) and given he was clearly in panic. Once on the surfacing and ensuring he was stable and ok, I then went back down to complete my deco.

Although I did not get time to check his air pressure, clearly he had air at 6m as he was still breathing his regulator, and had sufficient air to get to the surface whether nearly out of air or not (at 6 ), however his panic was preventing him from realising that. Also he indicated out of air when clearly he was low. Anyway it all ended well for everyone.


What would you have done in the same circumstances.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Same thing.. But I would not have been able to bite my tongue on the boat.

 

[DaleC]

Same.
Your small deco obligation (safety stop?) would not equate to the danger posed by trying to keep the panicking diver at depth or making them surface without your octo. Go up, pass off the diver, and go down. Perhaps the OOA was really just their SPG dipping below 500psi, as we all know you NEVER surface with less than that! Funny, but I know someone who got bent bolting for just that reason.

 

[Dhboner]

He damn well would have thought he was bent when I got through with him. You did the right thing and it is just unfortunate that some poorly trained newbie dragged you into his crisis.

 

[tbone1004]

same thing, may have gotten to surface then gone back down to 12m for 2 minutes and then followed whatever the Petrel said. If your petrel is reading difference than the Oceanic, you can change your gradient factors to get closer to matching.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I would have done the same, of course the diver would have gotten an earful back on the boat. Like Tbone said, tweak the gradient factor on your computers so that they closely match your NDL/deco obligations.

 

[Steve_C]

I would have done the same, of course the diver would have gotten an earful back on the boat. Like Tbone said, tweak the gradient factor on your computers so that they closely match your NDL/deco obligations.

Why change? As it was the OP had useful information. A conservative dive would have a couple more minutes and an aggressive profile did not. So in this situation he knew that he was still within NDL on the aggressive as opposed to just knowing he was termporarily blowing out a stop. I have two computers and one is more aggressive. I like having both conservative and less conservative numbers. I normally dive the conservative but in a situation like the OP I would like to know what the less conservative numbers are.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I'm of the opinion that one would dive two computers for the sake of redundancy. In a case where one computer failed the "score" would be the same regardless and contain less of an opportunity for confusion that would lead to task loading. I personally dive with multiple computers running the same gradient factor for the sake of simplicity. Why add a second set of numbers to track?

It seemed in this case that the second differing set of numbers led to the OP's confusion regarding his NDL status.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Why change? As it was the OP had useful information. A conservative dive would have a couple more minutes and an aggressive profile did not. So in this situation he knew that he was still within NDL on the aggressive as opposed to just knowing he was termporarily blowing out a stop. I have two computers and one is more aggressive. I like having both conservative and less conservative numbers. I normally dive the conservative but in a situation like the OP I would like to know what the less conservative numbers are.

yeah i agree, plus if he violates one and is still good on another, he can continue to dive for the day without having his only computer been violated

 

[rhwestfall]

I handed over my occy and he then took off for the surface before I could do anything else.

Great job, and a landing that everyone walks away from is a good one....

That being said, you don't relinquish the octo (let go of it or him) until "all has the appearance of calm". What if he pulled you up too quickly? AGE = dead. Death grip on the line, and a death grip on either the trgulator face or their BC/harness/etc. Eyes tell it all.....