Be honest on your dive - No need to be macho!

[raoulsttexas]

I had a rough dive yesterday and thought that the lessons I learned would be good to share for newer divers.

I'm a rescue cert'd diver with about 80 dives total. By no means am I the finest diver you'll ever see, but I'm comfortable in most situations including dark, cold northwest diving.

Yesterday, 3 of us head up to Puget Sound near Seattle to dive Sund Rock. It's a favorite site of mine and I haven't gone diving there since I moved out of the area a few months ago. My friend and dive mentor for several years was with me.

I was in a new drysuit and super happy with the fit etc. We geared up and hit the water. My pre-dive weight check SEEMED ok, but I quickly learned that it wasn't.

By about 60', I knew something was wrong, but thought it was a problem with the suit. I was overbreathing, and getting a bit frantic because I thought my purge valve wasn't working. I settled down and realized that my suit was basically free of air, as was my bc. I was neutrally buoyant, but knew that would change quickly as I ascended and was rifling through the air in my tank.

My first thought was, "oh no....I'M the rescue diver here...I have to maintain control". 2nd thought was, I'm going to need some serious help within just a few mins. I got the attention of my mentor buddy and told him that I'm overbreathing. I need a moment to calm down. He helped me out and then pointed to an octopus to get my mind out of the panic cycle. That helped, but I knew it was best to thumb the dive. However, I needed weight! After 2 or 3 confusing hand signals, he found a suitable rock that I carried for the remainder of the dive (which was just an ascent an exit).

The "good" part of the dive lasted 9 minutes. The total dive lasted 23 minutes. This, btw, is NOT my normal bottom time!

As we debriefed on the surface, I remembered that when I was just beginning, I didn't want to admit when things were going wrong. Pride. However, in this scenario, had I let pride get in the way, it could have ended VERY badly for me.

So, my point:
As a new diver, DON'T let pride / machismo get in the way of safety. If something is going wrong during a dive, LET YOUR BUDDY KNOW! Even if they're not as experienced as you, they are probably in a better state than you and will be able to help you remain safe. There's always another dive or another day that will be much better.

Just my .02psi....

 

[snowdog]

Great point, in fact most new divers dont realize there's any issue until its to late.

 

[Phil_C]

Hi raoulsttexas - I'm glad yo uhad the presense of mind to realise the weighting issue before you started to ascend. Great presense of mind to collect the rock. I am trying hard right now to better understand the weighting issues as I think I probably dive with too much weight most of the time. But I would be very concerned not to go down too light.

I often have a sandy bottom (so to speak) I guess I could shovel some into my pockets :blinking:

However really glad you could sort the safe ascent - well done and thanks for sharing - P

 

[Scubasw]

glad you remembered the most important part of self rescue "stop, breathe, think, act". Glad it turned out alright for you. You'll probably give more thought to the part of your dive plan that deals with "what have I changed since the last time I dove" so you can plan ahead for the contingincies that may come up.

 

[raoulsttexas]

glad you remembered the most important part of self rescue "stop, breathe, think, act". Glad it turned out alright for you. You'll probably give more thought to the part of your dive plan that deals with "what have I changed since the last time I dove" so you can plan ahead for the contingincies that may come up.

Exactly! In my previous setup, I was always at 29lbs. I went with 30 to be safe and the pre-dive weight check functioned exactly like normal. However, too much had changed in my kit and it was probably a bit slower descent than normal. I should have seen that. Looking back, I added 1 more fleece top to my undergarment. I should have over-weighted a bit more to be safe.

Other contributing factors:
1. There was a GP octo completely out of his den just sitting on a rock within the first 90 seconds of the dive. I swam up to my 2 buddies to get their attention. This got my heart rate way up right off the bat.
2. During the descent off the wall, my light and buddies light completely flooded. Had to switch to backups and deal with anger. More task loading.
3. I noticed a strange gurgling sound in my reg. I did NOT like that at all, but it went away after I realized that it was actually from my throat....not the reg. Still, this kept my heart rate up.
4. Being in a new drysuit (and yes, I did spend time with it in the pool, but without full undergarment setup) I wanted to play with the purge valve and make sure everything was working. Even more task loading.
5. I had purged my drysuit completely and the squeeze was starting to get serious.

All of these little, and not so little things added up VERY quickly. I am glad that I was diving with buddies who are OK with someone thumbing the dive, and were vigilant to help when needed.

The notes section in the log book was not big enough for yesterday's dive.

 

[TSandM]

Thank you for posting this.

I had a dive last month where my team and I dropped into unexpectedly strong current, and at the same time, I realized I had not gotten the last bit of hood out from under my mask, and it was flooding. This new hood is cut very close around my face, so it's REALLY hard to move it. I was trying to keep track of my team through the blurry water AND get my mask cleared AND adjust my buoyancy as we sank, and I was really stressed and realized my breathing was beginning to get out of control. So I shook myself, controlled my breathing, fixed my buoyancy, and then fixed the mask. It was fine.

What should I have done? SIGNALED THE GD TEAM! Nobody knew I was having problems, and I was pleased that I got everything sorted out without interrupting the pace of the dive. But had anything gone awry, neither of my teammates knew a problem was even brewing.

Not only are YOU better off and safer if your buddy/ies know what is going on, THEY are in better shape, because they won't get some kind of awful surprise sprung on them, if you end up not being able to chew whatever you bit off.

 

[FinnMom]

I remember my first open water drysuit dive. I was probably weighted quite correctly, but nervous and very much not wanting to "fail" by having the suit drag me to the surface.
After the dive my buddy commented that he hadn't realized how very much I really loved this particular quarry.
???
Well I saw you stopping to hug every rock formation we swam past.

*********************************

Seriously though, before jumping in the water make a habit of always testing that your suit inflates properly, holds the air (i.e zipper is truely shut), and then deflates normally from the purge.
This will catch a lot of different problems. Besides, little rituals are good for focusing, clearing the mind, relaxing.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I remember my first open water drysuit dive. I was probably weighted quite correctly, but nervous and very much not wanting to "fail" by having the suit drag me to the surface.
After the dive my buddy commented that he hadn't realized how very much I really loved this particular quarry.
???
Well I saw you stopping to hug every rock formation we swam past.

*********************************

That's awesome ... I'm gonna remember that one. Humor can be a great way to make a point with someone who's nervous and trying to struggle through a problem.

Seriously though, before jumping in the water make a habit of always testing that your suit inflates properly, holds the air (i.e zipper is truely shut), and then deflates normally from the purge.
This will catch a lot of different problems. Besides, little rituals are good for focusing, clearing the mind, relaxing.

I recommend a "head to toe" check that includes testing all regs and valves before beginning the dive.

Getting back to the OP for a moment ... the most important thing you did right was getting your buddy's attention promptly before trying to resolve the problem. I liken this to signaling your intent before changing lanes on the freeway ... let the folks around you know what's going on. Sometimes they can provide the assistance you might need to resolve it promptly ... and that's why we dive with a buddy ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Thanks for a great thread. On last Sunday we actually had a carry a rock dive, as I donated 2 pounds to Debbie as she was wearing a new wet suit and was concerned about a safety stop after a pretty deep dive (89 feet). I have had a couple of those "rock dives," and am reminded by all posters that the most experienced of us still need to do a thorough self and buddy check for each dive. And it's also vindication for our "fingertip touch distance buddy practice. I lear something from every dive, and from those my friends here on scubaboard post. Thanks for sharing!
DivemasterDennis