Nearly drowned in the pool... But it was fun...

[fisherdvm]

Probably should be in the going pro forum...But I am not a member yet. But I consider myself a beginning diver.

Heck.... Why pay for specialty course? Seems like I need to get in the water... So I signed up for divemaster class. I passed all my fitness tests with at least a 3 out of 5 .... and probably could have done better if I didn't just have the flu.

Then, the challenging part... Which I've never heard of. Equipment exchange while buddy breathing? Who ever can think of such a thing? My instructor was about twice my weight, BC extra large. His mask was huge. His fins wobbles on my feet. Our bouyancy were mismatched. Everything was fine until we did the BC exchange. My BC was more positively buoyant than his, and he started floating to the surface. I had his mask (extremely loose and large) and was trying to put it on and clearing it.... so I couldn't grab on to his BC.... I can't see... He's floating away.... I am out of breath.... I tried to grab for my octo (actually his), and couldn't find it.. His BC was so large, the tank and regs were probably below my knee. I started to panic... and did the only thing I can think of, swim to the surface and caught my breath after a couple of difficult buddy breathing attempts .... Then I can't find the inflator hose... It is sagging somewhere behind this XXL BC. I think I yelled for help.. but swam to the side of the pool and was fine.

Then we had to regroup, got the weight right, went back down and finish the exercise. And swam to the other end of the pool, still while buddy breathing. Man, oh, man... was I anxious.... My instructor was perfectly calm and I am sure I stole more than my share of 3 breaths at a time.

What did I learn? If we had matched BC, matched mask (that doesn't flood), matched fins (that I can swim in), matched buoyancy .... This exercise would've been a cakewalk. Instead, everything was mismatched, and I see all the dangers of buddy breathing flashing before my eyes ... AGE, run away buddy.... etc...

I also learn that when you are thirsty for air, you will suck what ever it is in the reg - water included - and it doesn't kill you!! I probably drank at least a cup of water thirsting for air during the anxiety....

Again, this would have been a piece of cake if our equipment matched... But would have been much less exciting. How many DM candidates have gotten pulmonary embolisms from this exercise?

 

[GatorKev]

Wow what a story... Something for me to think about when I start a DM program. Why do they make you do that anyways? I guess most times you won't be with some one with the same sizes anyways. Good story to share.. Thank you.

 

[pir8]

Its an exercise in problem solving.

 

[TSandM]

I've always thought it would be quite amusing to do this exercise, given that I use a Hog harness and I'm half the size of anybody I dive with. I actually tried to get one of my OW instructors into my harness one night, and he couldn't even sort of get it on!

I've done buddy-breathing with my husband once. I think I'd CESA first . . .

 

[2905luvsbubbles]

While this is a great exercise in problem solving, I can see it being full of risks for all of the reasons you stated. I can't think of any reason to exchange all equipment while diving. Buddy breathing makes a lot of sense, but trading all of the equipment?? I did not do this while going through my Dive Con course. I did have to do other things that clearly tought one to control breathing and get lots of pool water with each breath. It would be fun to try this with some one who is matched size why. I may try this with my son as we have very similar equipment and sizes just to see how we do at it.

 

[Katamuki]

I think its a stupid exercise personally. In your case its lucky that you didnt get tangled up with your new found mismatched buddy. Full ditch-n-don with your own equipment (again to me in my own small minded world I am sure) would be a better way to introduce problem solving to a new DM candidate. At least its your own equipment your leaping into the pool with and weighted to you for your own buoyancy. Jump in with all the equipment in hand, air turned off and set a time limit to come back up fully dressed without breaking the surface early if you want to see how someone adjusts to stress. Its better than taking a guy who gets help from another guy of differing size to get into a BC at 12 feet then when let go rockets to the top OOC while breathing compressed air. That would certainly be a stress test...

 

[Gary D.]

Glad you survived and had a good time doing it. The difficulty you had, but were able to overcome is one of the reasons a lot of us old timers would like to see some of the old training come back. What you described was part of my NAUI class in 62. Even when I watched some classes in the 70’s they were doing it.

It’s an activity that would more than likely never be done on a dive as a necessity but like Pir8 posted, “It’s an exercise in problem solving.” Today’s classes, in comparison have very little problem solving in the classes and it is dwindling as time goes on.

It’s a shame that what used to be an OW exercise is now in DM training.

Gary D.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Sounds scary! I used to dive with my brother and he would use more air than me. We would often switch scuba units at depths of around 100 feet, just to extend our dives. I think it actually caused us to use more air than we saved, but it probably made us more comfortable diving with each other.

 

[Paco]

Fisherdvm,
You told about the difficulty you had with the really big equipment. How did the instructor do with your small stuff?

When I did this exercise, my buddy and I were closer in size, so it went quite smoothly. My buddy, though, had to deal with my strong prescription mask. I think he got a bit woozy from the strong prescription, but we did fine.

 

[DeNomad]

This sounds like an exercise we do in our clubs pool sessions. It really helps if you hold onto your buddies shoulder strap during the switch (especially while transferring any weight belts, fins, mask, etc).

My hog harness certainly messes other people up a bit. But after swimming in it for a few minutes people have told me they enjoyed it.