75 ft out of air, What do YOU do?

[J.P.]

I was asked this by my boss and the answer I gave he said was wrong...although it was out of the book. I need to know by professional people. Please give real serious answers so I may show him.
You are at 75 feet and OUT OF AIR. Your buddy is out of site, and neither of you have any comm gear on. What do you do

 

[Rick Murchison]

Assuming that you've run out because you've breathed the tank "dry" rather than because of an equipment failure, and that you don't have a redundant air supply:
You should do an emergency swimming ascent. Look up, reach up, swim up. Keep your regulator in your mouth, exhale slowly but continuously (if you have air in your lungs when you begin the ascent). If you run out of breath, go ahead and attempt to inhale - on a standard 80, which has an interior volume of about .4 CF, an ascent from 75' will free up about .9 CF (measured at STP), which will provide several (high variability here, heavily dependent on equipment and the depth at which the breaths are taken) normal breaths during the ascent. An ascent rate of 60 fpm can be safely maintained - the ascent takes 90 seconds, and with the air coming available from your tank during ascent, you should make it without difficulty.
----------------
If you are out of air because of an equipment malfunction (ruptured hose, freeflow, catastrophic first stage failure) then an emergency buoyant ascent is in order.
Rick

 

[J.P.]

I agree so lets see what the others say. Thanks, J.P.

 

[Warhammer]

I agree with Rick, that's exactly what I'd do in those situations. And older retired instructor friend of mine says he's made several such assents, in situations where he'd ran out of air, from depths up to 90'. He says you'd be surprised how far that 1 breath of air will go when you have a little motivation. From what I'm told, this was common back in the pre-SPG days and was no big deal.

 

[Mario S Caner]

Rick, Is right on the money with his responce. The key in this situaltion is to keep calm, retain the regulator in your mouth, and continuously exhale while ascending. What exactly did your Boss diagree with?

Mario

 

[Iguana Don]

There is another choice,
Not taught in mainstream scuba classes. you can breathe (inhale), not rebreathe the 2-3 breaths of air in your BC as you ascend. This method is taught in the DIR classes, but not in any other.

Depends on which book you read.

Don

 

[Mario S Caner]

Don,
Often times certain skills are not offered or even metioned around particular circles... and it's usually for a reason. Though many of us are aware of such techniques, it's a liablity to suggest them to some divers. We live in a sue happy society and, it's not a big stretch for someone to get hurt while trying something they 'heard' about, but weren't properly trained in. I'm not saying not to post certain things... I'm just saying that it mught be prudent to include a disclaimer.

Mario

 

[Rick Murchison]

BC breathing isn't taught for a number of reasons. In my case, I don't consider it an option because I dive as often as possible in warm water, so I don't have much in the way of a wetsuit to compress and require any buoyancy adjustment, I carry no more weight than required, and therefore my BC rarely has more than a puff of air in it anyway, if anything at all. (I still consider a BC a "new" piece of gear)
Rick

 

[Remora]

I agree with Rick 100%.

IMHO the main reason the BC option is not taught by mainstream affiliations is that for most divers they would not have the presence of mind in this situation to locate the LP inflator, suck some air out of the BC (causing neg bouancy)and maintain a proper ascent rate while exhaling. Even in controlled enviroments students and less experienced divers have some difficulty performing the CESA correctly.

John

 

[Iguana Don]

OK,
WARNING: DO NOT try this unless you are properly trained to do so. To do so could be potientialy dangerous or hazardous to your health.

So much for the disclaimer.

Weather you agree with the option or not it still is a viable option that is being taught by DIR in their O/W classes. And sometimes a puff is all it would take.

Remora, as for "presence of mind" this get back to what I posted on another forum, untrained people are being certified to dive that don't have the prescence of mind to be certified anyway.

Don

Once again:
This procedure is only for those properly trained in its execution. DN NOT TRY THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE BEEN PROPERLY TRAINED.