What is the right order for this drill?

[under water]

In another post someone wrote that training used to include the following drill..

1. Shut someones air off.
2. Pull off their mask.
3. Inflate their vest (old days, this was a CO2 cartridge, so it was very fast)

You can be as calm as you want, but you have to know which to address first and do it quickly or you are in major trouble.

So what do you think is the right answer?
It's anonymous so vote!!

 

[Ice9]

Hmm. My first thought would be to correct the BC problem before it gets out of control. Then, air would become important. Finally, the mask issue could be addressed. The Mask being last was easy, but the Air and BC problems were a bit of a toss-up for me. But, it just seems like if you don't address the BC issue quickly, things could get real interesting...

Am I right?

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I can adjust my BC by dumping, by feel. I know where the points are and can find them. I need to do this first, to avoid getting bent You will accelerate towards the surface, this is very very very bad!! If I was in a cave or in a wreck, I'd possibly work on air first

Next comes air, becuase I can't clear the mask without air. I might could get it most of the way with one breath, but then I'm fighting for air, and what if I didn't have full lungs when they shut off my air? So air is second.

Finally, I'll clear my mask.

Then I'll test to see if my buddy can hear the expletives pouring forth from my mouth. If he can't, I'll give him some mean hand signals!

 

[jeckyll]

In reality, most people will have a tough time dealing with successive failures. I'd have a hard time imagining what real life situation would cause this.

In todays world, if the gas is off, the BC won't inflate, so don't worry about it (unless you're using argon of course, different issue then).

So the correct order is:

1) Get a secure grip on your dive knife and remove risk to gas supply (i.e. stab the sumbe-atch who shut your air off).
2) Turn gas back on.
3) Reach into drysuit pocket and retrieve backup mask and calmly put on & clear mask.
4) If team of 3, find surviving buddy (i.e. the one who's smart enough not to mess with your gas), retrieve dead buddy and proceed to the surface to split the doofus' gear.

Any questions?

 

[Tigerman]

LOL!!
I like jeckylls solution..
Personally Id think BC would have to go first, since air wont really be an issue if im on the surface, bent unconcious or worse..
If im down there with control of my boyancy, I need air. When I have boyancy and air, the mask is a minor inconvenience, isnt it?
On a side note, Id hate to be in a situation where all that happened at once to

 

[jeckyll]

Tigerman: If you're facing a buoyant ascent, while having NO gas, just breath out on the way up.

Seriously, the situation is fairly absurd, no sense to think about it in any great detail. Inflator failures can be very tricky to control, if you can do so at all. Dealing with other "crises" on top of becoming buoyant will exceed your training to such a degree that you better make sure you don't embolize as the number one priority.

 

[bookboarder]

BC first. I don't want to get bent, skyrocketing to the surface.

Second, air, because well, I'm going to be tired of blowing bubbles pretty darn quickly!

Finally, mask. I have had problems with masks, and in fact had a faulty mask when I was first diving, and while it sucks, it's definitely survivable.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

BC first, air second, mask third, kil the ************ who did this to me fourth. Anyone inflating my wing or pulling my mask off underwater should expect to be hurt.

 

[waterpirate]

Ah a throw back to the blood and guts days of YMCA, and NAUI training.
It made people better divers, but it made bad divers dead. I survived all that, the key word is survive.
Todays aproach is much better, and to steal a line from another board member:
"slow and easy with good technique"
Eric

 

[Tigerman]

Tigerman: If you're facing a buoyant ascent, while having NO gas, just breath out on the way up.

Seriously, the situation is fairly absurd, no sense to think about it in any great detail. Inflator failures can be very tricky to control, if you can do so at all. Dealing with other "crises" on top of becoming buoyant will exceed your training to such a degree that you better make sure you don't embolize as the number one priority.

Well, embolisms is not the only problem with out of control ascents, especially if you do deep and/or long dives..
As to inflator failures, Ive seen it happened and my buddy started to ascend at over 3x the reccommended rate, from over 100 feet.. Rather than joining her and risking 2 accidents I had to make the decision to make sure that when I get up, Im capable of helping if she need it. I found her hanging on to the line from the wreck to the surface at 12-15'. It went fast from "whats going on" to "uh, oh, express elevator". More info is/was in the accidents and incidents forum..