Is it worth practising OOA?

[paolov]

i have seen people quit learning scuba when water gets into their noses and ears. perhaps they would be hydrophobic if waterboarded hahahha

 

[CamG]

So I've been wondering about this one. I do try to manage my gas properly so that I will never run the risk of going OOA and so far I have never. But is it perhaps worth simulating an OOA experience by diving on a nearly empty cylinder but making sure you take the necessary safety precautions (buddy for one)?

Thing is, I have no idea how my regulator would perform when the air supply is about to stop so I don't even know what the warning signs are. Also, while I'd like to believe that I will keep a cool head, I can't be sure how I would respond if I do go OOA.

So, do any of you have specific opinions on this one way or the other?

Greetings Deefstes and yes I do practice OOA often and believe it is well worth the time to do so.
It does not benefit anyone to run a tank empty for a drill!
You can simulate the feel of a real out of air in the pool, in shallow water by feathering the valve.
I am sharing this story to help you understand the severity of doing this skill at depth for a drill.

I was diving with a new diver who wanted to see what a real OOA was like.
With no communication he swam over and carefully shadowing me shut my air off!
NO I AM NOT KIDDING!
We were at 40' in a public lake, vis around 20' and I immediately knew there was no air available from my reg.
I turned gave him the OOA signal then removed his alternate and cleared it.
It was a short hose so it looked like I was breast feeding!

While sharing air, he reached back and turned my air back on.
What happened next was actually quite remarkable.
Once safe we surfaced and the situation was rather tense as you can imagine.

The instructor on the dive was livid and it became very apparent that this diver had no ill intentions but simply did not think this through at all.
The end result was that we had a heart to heart talk and worked everything out.
I now am extremely militant about anyone performing skills with out fully discussing them before hand.
If I see a OOA sign it is full on drill or no drill it does not matter.
It might not be a member of your team that runs out for whatever reason and you are the closest gas.

The faster you can donate and end the emergency the better chance to stem off any hint of panic!
Then calmly solve the issue while making a safe ascent.

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!

 

[Deefstes]

With no communication he swam over and carefully shadowing me shut my air off!
NO I AM NOT KIDDING!

HOLY SMOKES!!!! I would have more than just a heart to heart talk with such a tool. Jeepers, there must be a way of stripping someone of his dive cert...

 

[vladimir]

in singapore, they have that in the blue taxis. if the taxi goes a certain speed limit, it sounds off inside the blue taxi so you know the guy is putting you at risk by going over the speed limit for blue taxi.

It was 100 kph, if I recall correctly. I think the little blue taxis are history, though. I haven't seen one in years.

 

[west0ne]

When I dive with my son I will regularly give the OOA signal just to test his reaction, he has caught on and does the same to me now but so far neither of us have failed to respond. I don't think it ever hurts to perform this skill. The other favourite that one of the divemasters will do in the pool is pull out your reg or pull off your mask just to see whether you surface or just carry on. The pool is a great place to do this as the risk of any real harm is much lower.

It's too easy to forget the basic skills once certified.

 

[CamG]

HOLY SMOKES!!!! I would have more than just a heart to heart talk with such a tool. Jeepers, there must be a way of stripping someone of his dive cert...

Like I mentioned had it been malicious he may not have survived the debrief.
It was totally knee jerk non thinking action so I tempered the retort but the lashing he received from the instructor was just short of blows.
In the weeks that followed there were many apologies and he redeemed himself.
Had it been otherwise there would have been action of some sort.

CamG

 

[boulderjohn]

The other favourite that one of the divemasters will do in the pool is pull out your reg or pull off your mask just to see whether you surface or just carry on. The pool is a great place to do this as the risk of any real harm is much lower.

The risk is lower, but it is not absent.

A couple of years ago a student in an OW class at the University of Alabama died in a pool session when he got an air embolism on an ascent. The skill the student was doing was not within the agency standards, and the instructor was not properly monitoring the situation. I never heard how the lawsuit turned out, but it was not looking good for the instructor when last I heard.

If the DM pulls either of those tricks on the diver and the diver heads to the surface holding his breath and dies as a result, the DM will be very quickly expelled from the agency for violating standards and will have no legal leg to stand on in the following liability trial.

No, I don't know what agency you are talking about, but I also don't know any agency that allows those practices at the OW level.

 

[windapp]

Like I mentioned had it been malicious he may not have survived the debrief.
It was totally knee jerk non thinking action so I tempered the retort but the lashing he received from the instructor was just short of blows.
In the weeks that followed there were many apologies and he redeemed himself.
Had it been otherwise there would have been action of some sort.

CamG

Was he already certified? If not, the instructor should not have certified him. There is a minimum level of good sense required to dive. This person obviously didn't have it.

 

[TMHeimer]

Yeah. Holy Smokes. It's hard to figure how purposely turning off someone's air (and back on) could be knee jerk non thinking.

 

[vladimir]

The risk is lower, but it is not absent.

A couple of years ago a student in an OW class at the University of Alabama died in a pool session when he got an air embolism on an ascent. The skill the student was doing was not within the agency standards, and the instructor was not properly monitoring the situation. I never heard how the lawsuit turned out, but it was not looking good for the instructor when last I heard.

If the DM pulls either of those tricks on the diver and the diver heads to the surface holding his breath and dies as a result, the DM will be very quickly expelled from the agency for violating standards and will have no legal leg to stand on in the following liability trial.

No, I don't know what agency you are talking about, but I also don't know any agency that allows those practices at the OW level.

It is probably only slightly relevant to this conversation, if at all, but we did this in the final pool session of my YMCA/PADI basic certification in 1975. We had blacked out masks and the instructors hit us with various stressors, including removing the mask and turning off the gas. We were told that breaking the surface constituted a failure.