Complacency can hit ANYBODY; or why you should NEVER hurry when diving

[sabbath999]

Not really directly to a point, but we have a system around our house that helps figuring out which tanks are full and which are empty.

we live 100 miles from the nearest fill station, we do night dives at sites after the fill stations there are shut down or at sites that don't have fills to start with, so we always have some empties and some partials sitting around).

We have those little valve caps on every tank, and the rule of thumb is once that a reg gets hooked up to that tank, the cap stays off. That way we know it is not completely full. The only tanks that have the caps on them are full.

Doesn't relieve a person from doing their pressure checks, of course... also, some 'full tanks' are more full than others... an AL80 may be at 3300 "full" or at "2700" full since most places around here use hot fills and don't top em off so short fills are common. Some places will fill my LP's to 2640 (they are plusses) and some only 2400.

Again, this is besides the point since one needs to check every single time, absolutely.

Just sayin.

 

[Cave Diver]

Do you not put your initials on the analysis tape? Sounds as if you were also diving a tank that you had not personally analyzed?

Thanks for the post.

That was my first thought reading back through this. An unsafe mix could have been a lot bigger issue than low on gas.

 

[diver_doug]

Why does this post have 31 thanks? All it essentially says is "I've amassed a lot of dives, and I still screwed up."

 

[Hammerhead]

Your experience is a near carbon copy of what happened to me a decade ago, apart from the fact that I had a lot less gas and was at 90 ft...eeeek!

Anyway, the same thing will never happen to me or any diver with me again. Why? Because the little dive angel on my shoulder reminds me of that ten-year-old screw-up every time I gear up to get in the water. Actually, my little angel reminds me of all of my previous snafus (it's something of a litany, really).

I'm sure you'll find the same thing if you don't already; being scared / shocked is a very good teacher, but a post like yours is an equally good reminder - thanks!

Edit - just a thought, but were you diving air or nitrox?

Edit 2 - Cave Diver got there first...

 

[Cave Diver]

Why does this post have 31 thanks? All it essentially says is "I've amassed a lot of dives, and I still screwed up."

Because most people try to hide their mistakes rather than putting them up in a public spotlight.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Because most people try to hide their mistakes rather than putting them up in a public spotlight.

Plus she is apparently anal about doing pre-dive checks etc. yet she still made a mistake.

BTW, it is always less painful to learn from other people's mistakes, rather than from your own.

 

[sabbath999]

Why does this post have 31 thanks? All it essentially says is "I've amassed a lot of dives, and I still screwed up."

I thanked yours so you don't feel left out of the love fest.

It has 31 thanks because the OP has a Borg Cupcake as an avatar.

I mean... it's a Borg Cupcake... how can you not thank a Borg Cupcake?

 

[ptyx]

Why does this post have 31 thanks? All it essentially says is "I've amassed a lot of dives, and I still screwed up."

It says: it doesn't matter how good you are or how long you've been diving, you will screw up. Try harder. It's good to be reminded about it.

Memento mori.

 

[Dyno Bill]

I live in an area that has a LDS so I use them exclusively, for several reasons. I fill my own tanks just inside the rear door, I know they are full when they go into the garage. I personally load all my own gear a day before a dive trip. If my wife is going I load all her gear, I want to know nothing is sitting at home. As for a pre dive check/ buddy check. I do my own, I won't overlook anything and it takes what 3-4 minutes....... no exceptions. For me having simple rules, the same for years and never changing them..... again no exceptions. Scuba diving always presents things we need to overcome, that's part of the draw but I refuse to allow predictable things to interfere. Some cal me a hard ass about the subject but to this point it has served me well. I learned that set of rules working on helos during the Viet Nam war so I been living them a long time. Complacency and being remiss with life support equipment to me arn't the same thing to me. I do go over anyones gear that is on my dive and I usually watch others set their gear up on deck, it gives me a feeling as who might need watching later.
Bill

 

[D_B]

Thank you for posting Lynne

Hurrying is the cause of many things that go wrong .. whenever I hurry at work I envarably end up doing something that causes me to remember why I should not hurry