The Good News
You gotta be able to reach your valve(s).
For the second time in my diving (330-something dives) I entered the water, purged the BC, started my descent, took a breath and got nothing. Pretty scary.
I kicked up, was bobbing and caught about 4 or 5 breaths between swells, orally inflated the BC, reached back, turned on my gas, and continued the dive
In-Water Events
Diving this weekend on a dive boat in SoCal. Last dive of the day, and my frozen wet-diving buddy is going to sit it out. Over half of the boat was sitting it out. I chose to insta-buddy with some people I met on the boat.
I got geared up, hit the water, and drifted back to the stern line where the two were waiting for me. We gave the signal, and they started down the line. I was doing a free descent near the line and hadn't planned to pull down hand over hand.
I purged the BC, and started to sink. I hit the DS inflate valve on my chest - nothng. I look down, hose is connected. Hmmmm.... I take a breath - nothing. HMMMMMM.... I try again - zip. I'm sinking pretty fast (HP130, 10# lead, 3# light, 6# BP - you do the math) and I'm at about 15 - 20 feet or so (looked at gauge, I remember it saying 14 after first non-breath.) I realize I gotta get to the line (its about a kick away) and pull myself back up, or kick straight up. It was shorter to go straight up (line was angled pretty steep) so I kicked like a mofo.
I get to the surface, get a breath, and put a few puffs into the BC. I compose myself. Buddy pulls himself up the line and asks if I'm OK. I tell him my gas is off. He offers to come over and turn it on. I tell him I got it - I reach back, turn it on. He asks if I'm OK again. I'm all good. We do the dive.
What I think Happened
For this trip, I brought an HP100 tank for my buddy. All my tanks are DIN. On the boat, Buddy pulls out a Yoke reg and realizes its a no go. Best Options:
a) Give buddy my HP130 (just screw in the Yoke adapter and we're set.) Problem is buddy is small, diving wet and the HP130 waterheater is pretty scary for this little, wet person to dive.
b) Switch regs. I dive buddy's Yoke reg and gauges, buddy dives my DIN DIR rig. Not a great option, as I'm using wristmount, buddy uses brick and isn't real comfy with my long hose rig.
c) Switch first stages. So basically I pulled all of the hoses from our first stages, and re-build my rig on the Yoke (so I could dive the 130) and rebuilt buddy's rig on my DIN (so they could dive the HP100) This was the option we settled for.
Fast forward to last dive of the day
Frozen buddy is sitting this one out. I'm all "cool - I get my rig back." So I yank all hoses and re-assemble my DIN DIR rig, and once again dive my 130.
One of two thing probably happened:
a) After testing the rig right before the dive, I never turned the gas back on. so I probably got a strong puff into the BC at the gate, and thought everything was normal.
b) The DM, relaxing because it was a light load at the end of a very busy day, turned it off. But I can't remember if the DM was at the gate. I remember looking back after hitting the water to make my OK, and not seeing him at the gate, but at the transom with the fill guy. I remember calling out my number as I was walking to the gate, and him saying "I got ya"... but I can't remember if he was behind me, or already at the transom.
How I could have avoided this
So many things I could have done differently, in hindsite. I should have checked my gauge after filling the BC. I should have taken a draw off my reg before stepping over the side. I should have insisted the DM be at the gate when I went in, I should have gone to the gate with my insta-buddy so we could have checked each other. Once in the water, I should have taken a drag before descending, etc, etc, etc.
I blew it on this one. I'm not throwing this at the DM. I believe I am responsible for my own gas supply - and if I descended with it off, its my fault.
In rougher seas, this would have been pretty scary, and could have ended a lot differently. I'm pretty strong, so swimming up the rig from 15' or 20' wasn't a real issue, but treding water with it was no picnic. If swells were 5 - 8 feet instead of the 2 - 4 wind swells, I may have gasped a lot more water than air.
And my insta-buddy, albeit late, was there. If I was unable to reach my valve, he would have gotten it for me. In fact, I waved him off to do it myself. If I hadn't blown all the air out of my lungs I probably would have done this underwater. Its a lot easier in trim to do this than it is vertical on the surface. But I really didn't try to reach it underwater - I'm in a new DS (5th dive in it) and it fits snugger, and I wasn't confident I could do it - so I opted to bolt and not waste time under water. I should have done a valve drill when I got this suit to have the confidence I can do it as easily as I could with my last suit... another blow it on my part.
Oh well. I blew it. But it ended well. Its like when you get a ticket - I mean, I hate it when I get a citation - but it sure drive slower and safer for awhile. This has surely shaken me to the extent I'll be double and triple checking my gas and stuff before I drop.
---
Ken
You gotta be able to reach your valve(s).
For the second time in my diving (330-something dives) I entered the water, purged the BC, started my descent, took a breath and got nothing. Pretty scary.
I kicked up, was bobbing and caught about 4 or 5 breaths between swells, orally inflated the BC, reached back, turned on my gas, and continued the dive
In-Water Events
Diving this weekend on a dive boat in SoCal. Last dive of the day, and my frozen wet-diving buddy is going to sit it out. Over half of the boat was sitting it out. I chose to insta-buddy with some people I met on the boat.
I got geared up, hit the water, and drifted back to the stern line where the two were waiting for me. We gave the signal, and they started down the line. I was doing a free descent near the line and hadn't planned to pull down hand over hand.
I purged the BC, and started to sink. I hit the DS inflate valve on my chest - nothng. I look down, hose is connected. Hmmmm.... I take a breath - nothing. HMMMMMM.... I try again - zip. I'm sinking pretty fast (HP130, 10# lead, 3# light, 6# BP - you do the math) and I'm at about 15 - 20 feet or so (looked at gauge, I remember it saying 14 after first non-breath.) I realize I gotta get to the line (its about a kick away) and pull myself back up, or kick straight up. It was shorter to go straight up (line was angled pretty steep) so I kicked like a mofo.
I get to the surface, get a breath, and put a few puffs into the BC. I compose myself. Buddy pulls himself up the line and asks if I'm OK. I tell him my gas is off. He offers to come over and turn it on. I tell him I got it - I reach back, turn it on. He asks if I'm OK again. I'm all good. We do the dive.
What I think Happened
For this trip, I brought an HP100 tank for my buddy. All my tanks are DIN. On the boat, Buddy pulls out a Yoke reg and realizes its a no go. Best Options:
a) Give buddy my HP130 (just screw in the Yoke adapter and we're set.) Problem is buddy is small, diving wet and the HP130 waterheater is pretty scary for this little, wet person to dive.
b) Switch regs. I dive buddy's Yoke reg and gauges, buddy dives my DIN DIR rig. Not a great option, as I'm using wristmount, buddy uses brick and isn't real comfy with my long hose rig.
c) Switch first stages. So basically I pulled all of the hoses from our first stages, and re-build my rig on the Yoke (so I could dive the 130) and rebuilt buddy's rig on my DIN (so they could dive the HP100) This was the option we settled for.
Fast forward to last dive of the day
Frozen buddy is sitting this one out. I'm all "cool - I get my rig back." So I yank all hoses and re-assemble my DIN DIR rig, and once again dive my 130.
One of two thing probably happened:
a) After testing the rig right before the dive, I never turned the gas back on. so I probably got a strong puff into the BC at the gate, and thought everything was normal.
b) The DM, relaxing because it was a light load at the end of a very busy day, turned it off. But I can't remember if the DM was at the gate. I remember looking back after hitting the water to make my OK, and not seeing him at the gate, but at the transom with the fill guy. I remember calling out my number as I was walking to the gate, and him saying "I got ya"... but I can't remember if he was behind me, or already at the transom.
How I could have avoided this
So many things I could have done differently, in hindsite. I should have checked my gauge after filling the BC. I should have taken a draw off my reg before stepping over the side. I should have insisted the DM be at the gate when I went in, I should have gone to the gate with my insta-buddy so we could have checked each other. Once in the water, I should have taken a drag before descending, etc, etc, etc.
I blew it on this one. I'm not throwing this at the DM. I believe I am responsible for my own gas supply - and if I descended with it off, its my fault.
In rougher seas, this would have been pretty scary, and could have ended a lot differently. I'm pretty strong, so swimming up the rig from 15' or 20' wasn't a real issue, but treding water with it was no picnic. If swells were 5 - 8 feet instead of the 2 - 4 wind swells, I may have gasped a lot more water than air.
And my insta-buddy, albeit late, was there. If I was unable to reach my valve, he would have gotten it for me. In fact, I waved him off to do it myself. If I hadn't blown all the air out of my lungs I probably would have done this underwater. Its a lot easier in trim to do this than it is vertical on the surface. But I really didn't try to reach it underwater - I'm in a new DS (5th dive in it) and it fits snugger, and I wasn't confident I could do it - so I opted to bolt and not waste time under water. I should have done a valve drill when I got this suit to have the confidence I can do it as easily as I could with my last suit... another blow it on my part.
Oh well. I blew it. But it ended well. Its like when you get a ticket - I mean, I hate it when I get a citation - but it sure drive slower and safer for awhile. This has surely shaken me to the extent I'll be double and triple checking my gas and stuff before I drop.
---
Ken
