DumpsterDiver emergency ascent from 180'

[2airishuman]

Former Scubaboard participant "dumpsterDiver" recently (August 5) posted video on youtube showing an incident where he experienced a 1st-stage failure at 180 fsw and performed an emergency ascent using the AL13 pony cylinder he ordinarily carries. He was, reportedly, uninjured.


The failure occurred early enough in the dive that no significant deco obligation had accrued.

I do not believe it is wise to dive to 180 feet on air using recreational gear and do not endorse this practice. Nonetheless, I think there are a number of insights that can be taken from this incident, among them that an AL13 can make more of a difference than is widely acknowledged in the many pony cylinder discussions on SB, for dives within recreational limits.

 

[Diver0001]

It should be noted that despite his nonchalance with respect to what many people would consider safe diving practices and the relatively large number of incidents he has had over the years that he's very cool under pressure. One of the reasons he probably managed to make an ascent on an AL-13 from that is that something like this probably won't even have stressed him out.

In other words, I wouldn't necessarily take this as proof that any diver would have made it safely back to the surface with a 3l pony bottle from that depth.

R..

 

[northernone]

Glad he's fine. Certainly a clear head and an iron will helps in such situations and he handled it well.

I too would not advocate putting one's self in the situation with inadequate bailout. The same logic applies to a CESA from 180'. Some of us have done it and it can be done without injury (sometimes). Just because it can be, doesn't mean it should be relied on.

Regards,
Cameron

 

[Schwob]

... that he's very cool under pressure.

... that he is!

And yes, as for me I might have reacted cool ... or not, who knows until you do... but I certainly have no business at that depth yet and certainly would want more bailout gas even at 120'... Judging from the video, I sure use it faster too...
So yeah, a "guidline" it is not
... a cool "performance" so to speak to draw some lessons from... Yeah, I'd say.

 

[CuzzA]

I think it should be noted this was a bounce dive with no planned deco.

 

[Jack Hammer]

It's almost pointless to comment on...

 

[Bigeclipse]

wow that is crazy! This reminds me of something that happened to my father last summer. He was diving a very cold fresh water wreck (dark and needs lights) with a friend at 110ft. The water temps were about 45F. The friends first stage failed so my father donated his primary and when he went to switch to his secondary...the friend took off towards the surface dragging my father along. My father made the ascent with no reg in his mouth but breathed out the whole way and tried slowing the ascent down. Fortunately nothing happened to either of them. However, this summer on the same exact wreck, a person did an OOS CESA and died. The only information I have is they were bleeding from the eyes and ears so maybe embolism? It is scary because the exact same thing could have happened to my father.

 

[blac86]

It helps when you do a lot of apnea and you kind of learn you have about five to seven minutes before you black out from being hypoxic and about another 15-30 minutes after that where your epiglottis is locked down tighter than Fort Knox. Helps with the not panicking when you know youll probably be fine and worst case just do an uba and hope you end up face up at the surface.

 

[w3dge]

I was impressed that he even managed to unload his speargun early during the ascent. Shows good presence of mind!

 

[tbone1004]

ok, so here's what happens here and why it is still stupid.

After watching the video that is a 4 minute ascent from 180ft, with no safety stop. Avg ascent rate of 45ft/min. Quite slow given the circumstances, though I think failure to perform a safety stop on a 180ft dive regardless of whether it is a bounce dive or not is just dumb.

13cf is more than enough to take you up from that depth, with that ascent rate, with no safety or deco stop, and no time at the bottom to resolve an issue. What it can't do is keep you with your buddy, bring you back to the anchor line, resolve a situation at depth before starting ascent, complete a deco stop, or deal with an escalated SAC rate.
With his ascent rate, that bottle contains enough gas to allow up to a 0.8cfm SAC rate with no time spent anywhere. Just a continuous ascent rate. If you want to plan that cavalier on your safety buffers then so be it, I've done stupider things in the water as has anyone who has been diving for any length of time, but anyone who advocates that that is safe and smart has never done the math.