I read a lot of theory about panicked divers ripping the regs from their buddy's mouths, but I wonder if many have experienced this? Do you have an real life OOA stories to share? Did your buddy ask for your octo or rip your primary away?
Anyone experienced an OOA situation?
- Thread starter Jarrett
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I've had a (bad) buddy going OOA, and he ripped as if his life depended on it (well, it sorta did) the primary.
I do not know what was worst on him: going OOA, realizing that he'd broken protocol, the fact that he'd forgotten his training - or the shame that he'd completely ignored the briefing I gave him before going in.
A consoling fact was that at least his buddy (=me) had followed him as a dog on a leach (not that he ever had bothered to look for me when racing around) so that there was an AAS available for him.
Need I say that I didn't dive with him since?
I do not know what was worst on him: going OOA, realizing that he'd broken protocol, the fact that he'd forgotten his training - or the shame that he'd completely ignored the briefing I gave him before going in.
A consoling fact was that at least his buddy (=me) had followed him as a dog on a leach (not that he ever had bothered to look for me when racing around) so that there was an AAS available for him.
Need I say that I didn't dive with him since?
I had a buddy run out of air on me once, it was really quite an interesting experience. He did panic but didn't try and rip my reg out. What happened was that in his panic he couldn't find my octo, despite it being bright yellow and pretty close to the middle fo the chest, when I saw he couldn't find it I grabbed it myself and attempted to shove it in his mouth, which remained tightly closed. He bolted to the surface with me holding on, trying to slow him down and still trying to get my octo in his mouth, eventually I had to let him go so he didn't drown. Fortunately everybody turned out fine.
I had one with a buddy who wasn't really paying attention to his gas supply and didn't bother to tell me he was low on gas until he had 500 psi. We turned the dive and were heading back to the boat. While making our way back to the boat I noticed that he got down to 200 psi. I donated him my primary and went to my backup. By that time we were in 20 feet of water doing a swimming safety stop and probably 60-70 feet away from the boat.
Another OOG situation I witnessed was on the surface of all places. It was a boat dive in the post atlantic and a storm blew through while everybody was in the water, which changed the direction of the surface current as well as created 3 foot swells. The two divers surfaces being a little disoriented because the boat wasn't where they thought it was and the diver that went OOG kept her regulator in her mouth for the surface swim back to the boat and when she took that last breath from the tank she panicked, spitting out her regulator, and swollowed a mouthfull of salt water. Her buddy did a good job of taking the situation into control by donating her regulator and rolling her onto her back and performing a tired diver tow. It was watching the rescue video from my rescue class.
Another OOG situation I witnessed was on the surface of all places. It was a boat dive in the post atlantic and a storm blew through while everybody was in the water, which changed the direction of the surface current as well as created 3 foot swells. The two divers surfaces being a little disoriented because the boat wasn't where they thought it was and the diver that went OOG kept her regulator in her mouth for the surface swim back to the boat and when she took that last breath from the tank she panicked, spitting out her regulator, and swollowed a mouthfull of salt water. Her buddy did a good job of taking the situation into control by donating her regulator and rolling her onto her back and performing a tired diver tow. It was watching the rescue video from my rescue class.
I will relate an experience a friend of mine had in cave country. He was going down there by himself as his regular two buddies (myself and someone else) were off cave diving in Akumal. He hooked up with someone at Peacock. Supposedly an experienced diver. He was diving a stage and not using his backgas and while the details are a bit sketchy, he signaled a quick OOA back in the Peanut tunnel (I believe around the crossover jump). My friend gave him the long hose and tried to sort out the problem (he believed the guy must have had gas as he hadn't touched his doubles). The victim didn't have much interest in sorting it out and was booking it out of the cave. My friend finally got him to slow down and they made their exit safely.
He wasn't much for details in relating the story and I can't quite figure out what happened as the guy had plenty of gas on his back, his valves were open and everything looked dandy (and apparently functioned just fine on the surface). Perhaps he accidentally sucked his stage dry and just paniced, who knows. But from what I can tell, my friend handled the emergency very well by first trying to sort it out there and then once realizing the guy was in no mood to sort it out, go ahead and make the exit. I'm kind of jealous that he got a real life test of his training. I hope I react the same way should a similar situation arise.
He wasn't much for details in relating the story and I can't quite figure out what happened as the guy had plenty of gas on his back, his valves were open and everything looked dandy (and apparently functioned just fine on the surface). Perhaps he accidentally sucked his stage dry and just paniced, who knows. But from what I can tell, my friend handled the emergency very well by first trying to sort it out there and then once realizing the guy was in no mood to sort it out, go ahead and make the exit. I'm kind of jealous that he got a real life test of his training. I hope I react the same way should a similar situation arise.
Guba
Contributor
My only experience with an OOA situation was ME. Before you dub me a dimwit for running out of air, hear me out. It was on a dive off Playa del Carmen to visit a site called Tortugas--an apt name since there were turtles everywhere! I flipped head down to take a picture of one of the creatures that was on the bottom feeding. When I righted, my first breath seemed a bit strange, sort of tight. I took another and realized there was real trouble brewing as the flow of air essentially stopped. While I was getting a bit of air, it was nowhere close to what was needed, perhaps 15-20 percent. I found that if I breathed VERY, VERY slowly (taking ten seconds to make one inhalation) I could eventually get a nearly complete breath. Checked my gauges--showed about 1800 pounds. Tried my octo--same effect. Hmmmm. Looked up and it was 65 feet to the surface. Sure, I can make that, I thought, but I don't WANT to do an EA. Looked for my buddy, who was an assigned partner, a fellow from Poland who had a total of 9 dives. He hadn't stopped when I slowed to take the picture, and now he was only about 15 feet away, but UP current. With the miniscule volume of air I was getting, kicking against the current was impossible. Hmmmmm again. I spotted the divemaster about ten feet below, so that seemed the best alternative. I dumped air from my bc, dropped in front of the dm, and got his attention. The hand signal conversation was quite funny in retrospect. He had a bit of trouble coming to the realization that I was having difficulties.
Cutting to the chase, I kept my regulator (after all, I was getting SOME air, just not enough to be effective) as we did a slow ascent. I did, however, have his octo in my hand just in case. He saw me to the surface and I boarded the boat while he re-descended.
The problem became evident when I dismounted the first stage from the tank. It was completely plugged with a white powder. It was an aluminum compound from the bottom of the rental tank. When I inverted, it slid to the valve and gummed up the works. (That means that even the "snorkle" attached to the tank valve had to be missing.) I don't dive with that service anymore. Tank maintenance doesn't seem to be a high priority.
So, there wasn't any "panic" on anyone's part. But then, it may not qualify as a true OOA experience since I was getting enough to survive, just not enough to do anything else.
Cutting to the chase, I kept my regulator (after all, I was getting SOME air, just not enough to be effective) as we did a slow ascent. I did, however, have his octo in my hand just in case. He saw me to the surface and I boarded the boat while he re-descended.
The problem became evident when I dismounted the first stage from the tank. It was completely plugged with a white powder. It was an aluminum compound from the bottom of the rental tank. When I inverted, it slid to the valve and gummed up the works. (That means that even the "snorkle" attached to the tank valve had to be missing.) I don't dive with that service anymore. Tank maintenance doesn't seem to be a high priority.
So, there wasn't any "panic" on anyone's part. But then, it may not qualify as a true OOA experience since I was getting enough to survive, just not enough to do anything else.
I ran OOA once cos a muppet of a DM on the boat turned my manifold closed between dives (I know, I should have checked... but I didnt expect anyone to touch my gear!!). And while squirreling around trying to get into a tight corner, I managed to roll my left post shut. So I was breathing only one tank and needless to say, ran out well before plan.
Running out of air inside a wreck, and then switching to the backup and getting nothing is NOT pleasant. If I had a buddy nearby (I was solo), I would have probably grabbed the reg from his mouth, simply b/c I really NEEDED air at the time. As it was, I was turning knobs like mad till I got them all open.
I had a few words with the DM. And I never again do tech dives off a recreational boat.
One anecdote that might be interesting for people: I used to teach martial arts before. When doing low-contact sparring, people were a lot sharper and used better technique. However, when we switched to full-contact work, there was a significant drop-off in performance and technique. It is one thing to perform a drill in a safe, non-stressed environment, but when the poop hits the fan for real, there are a lot of factors that come into play. Training is simply one aspect. Experience is another. Innate mental make-up and ability to handle pressure/stress is yet another.
I wouldnt be so quick to chastise an inexperienced diver for losing their cool if they run OOA.
Vandit
Running out of air inside a wreck, and then switching to the backup and getting nothing is NOT pleasant. If I had a buddy nearby (I was solo), I would have probably grabbed the reg from his mouth, simply b/c I really NEEDED air at the time. As it was, I was turning knobs like mad till I got them all open.
I had a few words with the DM. And I never again do tech dives off a recreational boat.
One anecdote that might be interesting for people: I used to teach martial arts before. When doing low-contact sparring, people were a lot sharper and used better technique. However, when we switched to full-contact work, there was a significant drop-off in performance and technique. It is one thing to perform a drill in a safe, non-stressed environment, but when the poop hits the fan for real, there are a lot of factors that come into play. Training is simply one aspect. Experience is another. Innate mental make-up and ability to handle pressure/stress is yet another.
I wouldnt be so quick to chastise an inexperienced diver for losing their cool if they run OOA.
Vandit
Lamnid
Contributor
Hm. I tend to run OOA all the time - I know I have a bad air consumption and I'm working on it. For this reason I constantly chech my guage so I'm always aware of how much I got left. One day I hope to come up from a dive with more than 50bar.
Been there, done that.
Guy was a DM or AI (not sure which). He wasn't my buddy. I was in AOW class with about 20 dives under my belt.
He ripped my regulator out of my mouth at ~85 feet.
Guy was a DM or AI (not sure which). He wasn't my buddy. I was in AOW class with about 20 dives under my belt.
He ripped my regulator out of my mouth at ~85 feet.
You really, really, really need to get that under control. If you aren't making it to the surface with 30-50 bar on every dive, you really need to change what you're doing.Lamnid:
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