75 ft out of air, What do YOU do?

[PhotoTJ]

Intentional oxygen depravation. Can't that cause dain bramage?

 

[Popeye]

PhotoTJ once bubbled...
Intentional oxygen depravation. Can't that cause dain bramage?

With any luck...

 

[Braunbehrens]

Given the choice of drowning or rebreathing the wing, I'd go for the wing. My reasoning is that a) you might not pass out until you make it to the surface and b) if you do, passing out from rebreathing the wings is probably a lot less unpleasant than drowning.

Obviously it's a very last resort thing.

 

[Iruka]

Instructions for breathing from BC

quote:
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Scuba once bubbled...
Someone may wish to post the techniques for breathing from a bc. I'm not qualified to do this. Also, training under supervision, ideally professional, is always a good idea.
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Simple instructions. Use at your own risk.

Find a comfy spot, preferably sitting on the floor with cushions around you and nothing to hit your head on when you pass out.

Put on BC. Hold down inflator button. Breathe out, into the BC. Continuing to hold down inflator button, breathe in the air now in the BC.

***You'd need to be holding in the DEFLATOR button for this to work...you can't orally inflate/deflate the BCD via the inflator button. By the way, I did try this out long ago...you can do it for a while, but as the CO2 level in the BCD increases, the "out of breath" feeling gradually gets pretty bad. Not as bad as breathing in the ocean, I'd guess...***

 

[Charlie99]

Iruka once bubbled...
***You'd need to be holding in the DEFLATOR button for this to work...you can't orally inflate/deflate the BCD via the inflator button. By the way, I did try this out long ago...you can do it for a while, but as the CO2 level in the BCD increases, the "out of breath" feeling gradually gets pretty bad. Not as bad as breathing in the ocean, I'd guess...***

Ooops. Yeah, I meant DEFLATOR /oral inflator, not the power inflator button. There's a 60 minute timeout on editing, otherwise I'd go fix my post.

I haven't done this experiment, so I can't blame the error on oxygen deprivation, maybe it was ......

 

[fins wake]

Oh dear, there are some points here which really would need addressing by the docs on the 'Dive Medicine' section of this board.

A warning I have not seen posted regarding bc breathing is that the bc hose mouthpiece contains a small amount of water in it. Someone unaware of this can place the mouthpiece to his mouth, inhale, and start choking compounding the problem.

Yes, this may be a problem. The major problem though - and I'm not sure all readers out there are aware of this -is that CO2 levels within the BCD quickly will build up and may cause unconsciousness and hence drowning without any warning! Effectively, you are using your BCD as a primitive rebreather, without any scrubber.

I believe GUE - when they teach out BCD breathing to far more advanced students - teach that one should exhale out into the water. (MHK can comment on this with authority.) This will require practice under instructor supervision - hence the GUE approach - as your bouyancy will be much harder to control. Correctly done, however, it should lead to a slow, safe ascent (as you're removing the air in the BCD continually upon ascent). Would I try this outside of a technical course, under instructor supervision? No? Would I experiment with this while solo diving? Never!

Fair enough, breathing out of your BCD for very short durations should be okay, but there are no guarantees. Again, don't try this without skilled instructor supervision.

Also, be aware that there are possibilities for various pathogens to thrive in your BCD, particularly in hot and humid climates. If drowning, I would ignore this, but in training, it isn't worth the risk for me to experiment with a BCD which hasn't been cleaned to almost medical levels by various medical means.

The experienced tend to make assumptions for the inexperienced. About their experience...

Yes, with good reason. And we've all been there, so there's no shame in that.

Find a comfy spot, preferably sitting on the floor with cushions around you and nothing to hit your head on when you pass out.

I would strongly discourage from this experiment! Place this suggestion on the 'Dive Medicine' section and wait for the responses!

No, I haven't done this, but have chatted with a guy that did do it, and apparently the increased levels of CO2 made him pass out after 3-5 minutes. He recovered consciousness almost immediately upon breathing normal air, with no apparent ill effect.

First of all, the time at which a person might pass out is highly individual. Second, it's not within the experimenter's conscious choice to be able to decide when to pass out. There is no warning! This is how most autoerotic fatalities likely occur, BTW, the victim went unconscious and then got strangled and died without warning. Third, any possible brain damage or other injury might not be apparent at all until later, or until a repeat of the experiment.

Seriously guys, show some responsibility beforing posting material that is potentially harmful!

 

[Rick Murchison]

The original question was:

You are at 75 feet and OUT OF AIR. Your buddy is out of site (sic), and neither of you have any comm gear on. What do you do?

The thread is now discussing anything but the original scenario.
I'm going to allow y'all 24 hours to start new threads for "not running out of air in the first place," "long-term BC breathing," "solo diving" (again!) etc, etc, etc... and post a link to the new threads (if you want to) in this one - and then I'm gonna close this one as it's so long and off subject that only those still active on it have any chance of knowing what it's about. And we do want to share our ideas, right?
Thread will close at 1400 Zulu (GMT) 18 July 2003.
Rick

 

[Popeye]

Rick Murchison once bubbled...
The original question was:
The thread is now discussing anything but the original scenario.
I'm going to allow y'all 24 hours to start new threads for "not running out of air in the first place," "long-term BC breathing," "solo diving" (again!) etc, etc, etc... and post a link to the new threads (if you want to) in this one - and then I'm gonna close this one as it's so long and off subject that only those still active on it have any chance of knowing what it's about. And we do want to share our ideas, right?
Thread will close at 1400 Zulu (GMT) 18 July 2003.
Rick [/B]

"I was asked this by my boss and the answer I gave he said was wrong...although it was out of the book. I need to know by professional people. Please give real serious answers so I may show him.
You are at 75 feet and OUT OF AIR. Your buddy is out of site, and neither of you have any comm gear on. What do you do"

75feet, OOA. No buddy. No buddy. No buddy.

I'm right on topic.

Can't say that for everyone.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I have split this thread and taken the "Breathing off the BC" into its own new one.
Y'all have at it!
Rick

 

[H2OHead]

I wanna know who Warhammer is hanging out with.

Quote:

“older retired instructor friend of mine says he's made several such assents, in situations where he'd ran out of air”

At the risk of sounding like I know it all, was this before development of the underwater watch or the SPG? Did he retire or was he asked to stop taking students anywhere that required breathing air? This guys not filling tanks for a living now is he?

Just a few questions that immediately came to mind.