CESA Ever Done it? Tell your Story

I was just curious if anyone has actually done a CESA (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent). If so... What happened... Did you get bent, etc?

howarde:

I was just curious if anyone has actually done a CESA (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent). If so... What happened... Did you get bent, etc?

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There is a lot of CESA info out there both good and bad. The worst of it is the info and training that isn’t given in Open Water class.

EVERY diver should learn how to do it prior to getting that first OW card. It’s no big deal once your trained and could be the second biggest lifesaver you have.

Just because you do a CESA doesn’t mean your going to get Bent. A lot depends on depth, time, activity, surface interval, physical conditioning and a host of other factors. I have literally done well over a hundred of them and never had a problem nor did I expect to have a problem. Many of these were from 100’ to 119’, a few were a bit deeper.

Both Free and Buoyant assents can be lifesavers. In years past you didn’t get out of basic Open Water without knowing the skill. It’s nothing to be afraid of and an easy skill to learn. It's much better to take the express elevator ride to the surface than just laying down and croaking.

Gary D.

It was a requirement when I took my PADI Open Water certification dives last summer. We all had to do a CESA from 30 feet in order to pass.

We didn't have to do it for the OW course...We learned ABOUT it, and did it in the pool... I was wondering if people have had to do it in "real life" you know, and what the experience was like. I know that if it came to it, i would do it...

I guess I was more interested in info like yours Gary D. The fact that you've done it many times, from real depth, and walked away from it.

When I was younger and a lot less experienced I had to dive for an anchor that was stuck. Didn't take weights with and didn't realise until I had to descend. Not a problem though, I pulled myself down the line and figured that I could use the anchor as weight on the ascent. Freed the anchor and started up, the captain realising the anchor was free thought that he would help by hauling the line in, rather quickly! I let go of the anchor but already had momentum, dumped all air from my BC, breathed everything out and flared. What you don't get told in training is that your bubbles stay around you effectively blinding you. Couldn't read gauges and had to hope that I did it all correctly. I didn't suffer any ill effects so guess I did ok. The overall ascent was probably 55 feet in 30 seconds. I would not recommend the experience to anybody but I would recommend practicing the necessary skills under controlled conditions. I have managed to make a 30 foot ascent with a three minute safety stop on four breaths. Not sure if that helped with the off-gassing but being calm enough to make a very slow ascent undoubtedly prevents bubble formation.

Don't learn from your own mistakes, try to learn from other peoples' I have made some classics!

Gary D.:

There is a lot of CESA info out there both good and bad. The worst of it is the info and training that isn’t given in Open Water class.

EVERY diver should learn how to do it prior to getting that first OW card. It’s no big deal once your trained and could be the second biggest lifesaver you have.

Just because you do a CESA doesn’t mean your going to get Bent. A lot depends on depth, time, activity, surface interval, physical conditioning and a host of other factors. I have literally done well over a hundred of them and never had a problem nor did I expect to have a problem. Many of these were from 100’ to 119’, a few were a bit deeper.

Both Free and Buoyant assents can be lifesavers. In years past you didn’t get out of basic Open Water without knowing the skill. It’s nothing to be afraid of and an easy skill to learn. It's much better to take the express elevator ride to the surface than just laying down and croaking.

Gary D.

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Did I read that right? You have done many CESAs from over 100 feet? Do you mean one breath and saying "ahhhhh" all the way to the surface? Why? Was/is that Navy training? I am not flaming you, just curious.

Just for general info, there are numerous threads on this topic in the archives, some with some interesting stuff in them. Just search using CESA, ascent, emergency, etc.

Doc Intrepid:

Just for general info, there are numerous threads on this topic in the archives, some with some interesting stuff in them. Just search using CESA, ascent, emergency, etc.

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I did do that, but most of what came up was non-related.

I did one as a baby diver. We were being chased by a 15 foot tiger shark and my dive buddy a 30 year navy dive officer decided the thing to do was leave our gear on the anchor line and do a CESA from 35 feet so we wouldn't be bait on the surface trying to get into the boat. It was a learning adventure! The Ahhh PADI teaches just seems to use up air too fast, I prefer a Bzzzzzz. The idea is to keep your airway open so you don't get an over expansion injury. This is a far greater risk than getting bent.

howarde:

I was just curious if anyone has actually done a CESA (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent). If so... What happened... Did you get bent, etc?

Click to expand...

When I first started diving a CESA was simply called ascending, as in "When it gets hard to breath, ascend." Seriously, when we used J-valves to warn us of a low air supply, it was not too unusual to reach back and find either that it had been pulled down accidentally during the dive or that it was not operating as it should be. Making a safe ascent from recreational depths, in a no decompression situation is really not that hard.