Certification Dive Mishap and analysis

[b1gcountry]

What Happened:
I was 16 when I took my PADI OW course 11 years ago while on vacation in Kauai. The instructor seemed competent and friendly, but I had no experience to judge her by. Only one other student was in this class, a guy about my age. We were both very comfortable around water, strong swimmers, and we both did well in the course.

Day1+2 classroom and pool. No Problems.

Day 3 Two dives at a local shore dive. Very calm conditions, several dive groups there. Pretty eye-opening experience, but no major problems.

Day 4 We plan the final two certification dives at an area with a large breakwater which formed a sort of harbor with a narrow mouth (I remember munitions were stren about the bottom, but I forget the site name.) The seas were about 4' around the opening of the breakwater, and had a long period. Inside the harbor, the waves were more like 1-2'. A Divemaster Candidate whom we never met before tagged along to get credit towards her Internship.

We drop in off a high pier with a giant stride. I was a bit nervous going in this way, and I dropped my weight belt when I splashed in. When the group descends, I realize what happened, and the instructor has to re-surface to find out what happened. I tell her and she retreives the belt.

After we all get down and started the dive, I relaxed. We head towards breakwater entrance. There is surge from the waves overhead, but I was not exerting myself on the way out. We turn around at around 35-40' on a flat bottom. I immediately notice the surge is a lot worse in this direction, and I have to exert myself to keep up. The divemaster, Instructor, and other student all seem to have an easier time with it, and I begin to trail them.

After a while of exertion, I notice my beathing getting harder. My SPG read next to nothing. The group is about 6-10' in front of me, and I have no means of getting their attention. I realized I had two options: 1. Swim balls-out for the instructor, and hope I make it before I die, or 2. Perform a controlled emergency ascent. I remember thinking it through in my head very rationally, but I know it was only a second. I decide to swim to the instructor.

Swimming all out, I sucked the absolute last breath I could from my regulator a few seconds before coming within grasp of her fin tip. I continually rehearsed the signals I would give her when I got her attention: "Low on Air" "Buddy Breathe". I signalled her, and she grabbed my BC Strap before fumbling for her octo. It felt like an eternity, but I managed to restrain myself and not grab the reg from her mouth. We both gave thumbs and ascended. I remember her being excited about how I handled the situation when we reached the surface. That was definitively not the thought going through my own head at the time.

We swam back to the dock, and I generally felt like an idiot. To top things off, I had problems exiting over this rocky area, and sliced my hand open on some sharp rock. When we got back to the truck, there was no first aid kit. After a long surface interval, I did complete my second dive uneventfully, and the instructor's enthusiasm did help to get me over the shock of it.

[ParamedicDiver1]

Hey BC...I think you did a great job in not panicking! Couple of questions...how high was the peir? And you mentioned no first aid kit...did the instructor not have a first aid kit at the site? If not...major uh-oh. All things considered...great job.

[agdiver75]

Also glad that everything worked out and you kept your hear.

When leading a group of divers, especially students, the instructor and/or DM does need to check on them occasionally to see if they are having trouble.
With two dive leaders (even one in training) it might have helped to have one lead the group and one follow to ensure that any straglers or divers having trouble are taken care of.

Mike

[OutdoorStud]

Im with ParamedicDiver1 majour uhoh on the no first aid kit. just one question, do you think trim could have been a factor in the difficulty with the surge or maybe fitness? and actually question two, what did you do after the dive to learn from it?

[NancyLynn]

Wow - that level headed at 16 - I'm impressed!

That aside, my daughter (also 16) had a similar experience, without the close call. She began her first checkout dive with her class and I followed about a minute later - following their bubbles on the surface until I spotted them below, then dropping down to join them. Not necessarily the safest plan, but they were ready to go and getting hot since the surface weather was warm, but they were geared for water temperature ranged from 40-55 degrees. I wasn't quite ready when they were since I had been helping pull hair out of face masks, snugging up gloves, etc. When I spotted them and dropped down to join them, I thought I counted one fewer set of fins from the surface than there should have been.

It turns out the instructor had been leading, my daughter's buddy was having trouble and slowed down. My daughter stuck tight to her buddy as she had been instructed to do. The other buddy pair was instructed to play follow the leader, so they slowed down too. The instructor hadn't noticed and was clear out of sight when I dropped down to find the class merrily carrying out its first open water dive sans instructor.

Particularly after that experience, it seems to me that there should always be at least two "on duty" certified divers in the pack - unless there is only one diver being checked out. Keeping an eye on more than one novice diver cannot be done safely (in my opinion) by a single instructor. Aside from the risk of leaving one or more divers behind, it takes quite a while to work out underwater communications. If one novice diver is in trouble, the chance of being able to communicate a contingency plan to the other diver(s) is pretty slim.

Any opinions about whether it is safe for a single instructor to take multiple divers on checkout dives; and if so, whether it is better to lead or follow.

[duskdiver]

Well done mate!!
This, to me, is a huge mistake of the INSTRUCTOR!!

I see this all the time, Dm`s or Instructors (especially the new ones) swimming, like nothing is going on!!
I have been so lucky, to have had some major problems when I was still a Divemaster, and that has made me very carefull, some people laugh at me but I am 100% sure, this has kept me out of problems. (knock on wood)

1.YOU NEVER KNOW HOW MUCH AIR YOUR STUDENTS HAS!
(Yes, I "calculate" the students air consuMption well too, but SPG´s are not precise or don't fuction at all, especially in resorts(seen many spg`s that stop at 30 or more )

2.YOU CAN NEVER PREDICT AIR CONSUMPTION
(Yes..90% of all cases you can, but that special guy or girl)
Last month I had a guy almost running out of air in the swimming pool on a 12L (80AL) in 35Min, I still dont understand that one..

3.YOU ALWAYS CHECK THE STUDENTS AIR YOURSELF!!
(my GF started to work at new center and Mr.Course Director himself, and I hope he reads this, checked her students air...well he didn`t!!

4.YOU NEVER SWIM LIKE YOU ARE GUIDING CERTIFIED DIVERS!!
(You want to have your students next to you, I brief them on that, wim on your back a lot)

[Jim Malone]

I have the same experience as a divemaster. When we dive during the OW-course there is at least one Divemaster per two students and an instructor. Diving with 4 OW means two divemasters and 1 instructor. During these dives i always swim about a meter above the buddy pair, so i can watch them and deflate their BC if they should start to ascend. during the dive i am solely focused on my divers and the group and never on any wildlife or anything else. It's pretty exhausting to be vigilant all the time. I also show them my air supply frequently, and most of the time they will realise that they should check air pressure, and show it to me as well. After doing the mandatory excercises i take them to a sandy part around 12 feet deep and get them to kneel down. Then we just watch the fish swim by, and this is the thing most find the most fun part. When one of them is at 75 bar we slowly follow the bottom up to the shore.

[soltari675]

Wow, crazy instructor. To help with what SHOULD have happened:

When I did my certification 2 months ago, my open water was done with at least 2 advanced divers (instructor and divemaster). On the second day we even had a second dive master tag along. The instructor led the dives and the divemaster stayed behind us. The instructor still turned and checked on us, asking to physically see our gauges. Now I certified in a quarry after a week of rain, so visibility was very poor. Say 5ft max. We lost the instructor once, but the divemaster was right there with us and in less than a minute the instructor was back. She always checked where we were.

Also, as far as the first aid, the instructors at my shop ALWAYS carry a first aid kit and oxygen in their van, on every trip, not just certifications.

Just some knowledge about what should have been done. I am lucky I suppose. I love my dive shop and divers.