First low-air experience went great!

[TMHeimer]

Ignore the sniping above. You did well to stay calm. Every disaster averted is a great lesson for the future.

Yes. My only low on air experience was when I was at 100' or deeper and hung around too long before my ascent. I actually did breathe off my pony at the safety stop.
Another time, in 30' water, I noticed I still had 1000 PSI for the longest time. Needle was stuck--new SPG for me.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Jsarche you had a problem you solved it you learned a lesson you did good don't let the naysayers bother you .

 

[falcon125]

I agree with the positive posters. Planning is great, Staying calm is better.
Good job.

 

[Zef]

Jsarche you had a problem you solved it you learned a lesson you did good don't let the naysayers bother you .

Of course not...don't let us naysayers bother you....instead keep thinking that you did a great job managing a problem underwater that could have been avoided in the first place and was perhaps caused by a flawed mentality towards air awareness and management.

You go, cause you got this.

And l will repeat my sentiment expressed earlier...OP, it is definitely commendable that you kept a level head during the situation instead of freaking out; that does count for something.

-Z

 

[uncfnp]

Yeah, I’m sure that sounds weird, but it really did. I was on my 26th or so dive overall a couple of days ago, just me and the DM diving off Montego Bay, Jamaica. I’d gotten down to about 600 psi, signaled the DM, and we started ascending for our safety stop. At about 20-25 feet, I noticed it was getting harder and harder to take a breath. It took a second, but I realized that meant I was empty, even though my gauge still read about 300 psi. Anyway, I got the DM’s attention, signaled no air, and he handed me his alternate reg. I breathed off his tank all through the safety stop, then orally inflated my BC at the surface, and everything was fine.

I only later realized this was my first emergency while submerged, and that I handled it just right (or so I think). I felt pretty proud of that, and sent some silentu thank-you’s to the various instructors I’ve had in my certification process (AOW).

Anyone else have a similar “good emergency” experience?

Naughty, naughty for running OOG but what an invaluable learning experience!

1) You learned that you can not depend on 100% accuracy on a SPG, especially a rental but I am also aware that this can happen even with my own gear.

2) You learned that 600 psi is not the best choice to begin an ascent.

3) You learned what a tank feels like when running out of gas. Not everyone agrees that you can feel a change in the work of breathing on a modern reg but from my personal experience this is possible in an alert diver.

4) You learned that you are situationally aware enough to detect the change in breathing.

5) You learned that for at least this challenge you did not panic. That is huge.

6) You learned how NOT to let this happen again.

Congrats!

 

[TMHeimer]

I was taught during the Deep course to leave 100 PSI for every 10 feet. --ei. if you're down 100' begin ascent with 1000 PSI.

 

[BRT]

I was taught during the Deep course to leave 100 PSI for every 10 feet. --ei. if you're down 100' begin ascent with 1000 PSI.

So 23 cf with an HP80 and 45 cf with an LP120

 

[Steelyeyes]

My first and only low on air experience was OOA at 75 FSW. Buddy and I had started an ascent, he used a faster ascent rate which put him out of reach about the time I got a hard draw on my regulator. I did a CESA from there. Got half a breath at about 35 FSW. The mistake was self evident. I took measures to insure it never happened again minus the benefit of a boisterous critique.

 

[tmassey]

It’s been said, but I will echo: congratulations for working through the problem. It really is good to have a challenge and meet it. Now fix the underlying mistakes that allowed you to test this part of your training! Do not let this give you confidence to think that this is even remotely OK. (See: normalization of deviance.)

And remember two things: 1) most gauges do not have 5 marks below 500 psi. Below 500 psi you truly do not know how much gas you have left. 2) due to the design of regs, you will *not* practically get all of the gas out of a cylinder at depth.

That is a deadly combination.

There is a great deal of practical wisdom all rolled up in being on the SURFACE with 500 psi. I vividly remember being a Hoover and yanking buddies out of the water. I hated it so much. I would push calling the dive till the last second. And now I look back at how immensely stupid that was. Pride, shame, hubris, fear. All understandable. But it won’t make you less dead to know why it happened...

So take a moment and appreciate that you handled this situation well. And then take a much longer, meaningful pause to figure out truly *why* it happened, how literally multiple of your actions caused it, and what you are going to do in the future to make sure it never happens again!

Welcome to the next experience level!

 

[tmassey]

I have seen a few stuck gauges. My favorite example was in the Bahamas. I had only made something like 4 dives in the previous 2-3 years, and only had maybe 50 dives total at that point. I knew that my skills would be rusty and my air consumption poor.

For the third dive of the day we were going to do a “deep” reef (80’) because of the surface conditions. The dive master said we would all stay together as a group and come up as a group. I was looking around the boat and caught the eye of a couple of other people doing the same. We all had the same thought: I don’t want to be the one that drags the entire group out of the water! I even said out loud at that point: “I don’t have to be the best on air, I just have to be second worst!“ My instabuddy was grumbling under his breath...

Anyway, at the end of the dive, as I was getting low on gas, I signaled to my buddy that I needed to go up. He gave me an OK, but then kept swimming around the reef. After about 60 seconds, I grabbed his fin, showed him my gauge, and made a forceful thumbs up sign, turned around and swim to the anchorline about 10 feet away. When I got to the line I turned around to look for him, but he was nowhere to be found, so I went up the line as normal, did a safety stop, and went on board. Where my buddy was already on the boat!

Turns out that as I turned around to go to the anchorline he felt his regulator get hard to breathe. As I was swimming away from him along the bottom, he decided not to chase me but to start to bolt up towards the surface. He ended up meeting up with another group above me who was doing their safety stop, where they buddy breathed and made it to the surface.

On the boat, his gauge clearly said 1000 PSI. We took his reg off the tank and opened the tank: it was at atmospheric pressure!

The two things I like the most about that are: 1) I clearly did better on gas consumption that he did, because I made it back to the boat with gas to spare, and 2) how long did his gauge read 1000 PSI without changing and he thought that that was perfectly normal?

Ever since then, I’ve always paid attention to how far the needle has moved between glances, and asking myself if that how far I expected it to move during that time. That skill is worth a little bit of effort: it helps you to make sure that equitment is working as you expect, and it gives you an indication of circumstances where you might be working harder than you think. Maybe there’s more current than you feel, or you’re more keyed up then you might normally be. Paying attention to that can really help you to avoid issues well in advance of them becoming a problem.