bad day on charter

[kindas]

On sunday i took a local boat charter. It was a 65 foot dive on a civil war era wreck. We were using line reels and for the most part solo diving. About 45 min. into the dive i ran into another diver who swignaled me he was low on air. he had 800 pounds and had lost his reel. he started to follow my line back when 30 seconds later he ran out of air. i had 1400 pounds in my hp 120. We started to buddy breath and started to accend away from the anchor line. He was so panicked and breathing so hard that i had to take over his bc controls and guide our accent. At 30 feet my cobra 2 started to read 0psi i had to omit a safty stop and bring him directly to the surface. Once we were safely back aboard the boat i looked at his computer. His total dive time was only 15 min. He was using an alm 80 I am an experanced diver and have had the philosipy that my 120 was enough air to get me and a buddy safely to the surface. This incident has taught me differant. i will be carrying a pony from now on. This is a pproblem with charters. You never truely know the abulity of the other divers on the boat. If i never have this happen to me again it will be too soon!!

Jason

 

[tonka97]

Agree that a donated pony is a good solution. I always carry one, unless diving doubles.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

Sounds like you did a great job of controlling the ascent and getting safely to the surface. Clearly the other diver was not carrying sufficient air for himself especially diving solo without a back-up air supply and he was lucky that he found you.

 

[openmindOW]

Where was his buddy? Where was yours? When you say you engaged in Buddy Breathing, do you mean that you were both sharing the same Second Stage?

 

[waterpirate]

There is simply no replacement for redundant gas, period. One of the things that drew me further into the belief that a back plate was the only way to go was the ability to donate to a stressed diver the entire pony bottle when diving a singles rig. Then the stressed diver can make his or her own direct ascent regardless of your profile.
Glad it all worked out for everyone and I hope the single 80 guy took away the same lesson you did about the need for a pony. A smb and finger spool would not be a bad idea either.
Eric

 

[charlesml3]

Well, he killed an 80 foot tank in 15 minutes... That's where the problem started. Clearly diving well beyond his abilities.

back plate was the only way to go was the ability to donate to a stressed diver the entire pony bottle when diving a singles rig.

A pony can be donated over from any rig, backplate or otherwise.

-Charles

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

On sunday i took a local boat charter. It was a 65 foot dive on a civil war era wreck. We were using line reels and for the most part solo diving. About 45 min. into the dive i ran into another diver who swignaled me he was low on air. he had 800 pounds and had lost his reel. he started to follow my line back when 30 seconds later he ran out of air. i had 1400 pounds in my hp 120. We started to buddy breath and started to accend away from the anchor line. He was so panicked and breathing so hard that i had to take over his bc controls and guide our accent. At 30 feet my cobra 2 started to read 0psi i had to omit a safty stop and bring him directly to the surface. Once we were safely back aboard the boat i looked at his computer. His total dive time was only 15 min. He was using an alm 80 I am an experanced diver and have had the philosipy that my 120 was enough air to get me and a buddy safely to the surface. This incident has taught me differant. i will be carrying a pony from now on. This is a pproblem with charters. You never truely know the abulity of the other divers on the boat. If i never have this happen to me again it will be too soon!!

Jason

Wow.......I understand this was a paniced diver, but he blew through 800 PSI at 65- feet in 30 seconds, that's a lot of gas. Then he sucked down your HP120 @ 1400 PSI so you both had zero............more gas! You had your hands full with a diver who should have never been solo diving in the first place (and I like to solo dive). I normally grab an OOA diver by the BC and try to control them in an acsent, venting his BC and looking into his eyes, trying to calm him, if you can. They will never think to do these tasks, they only want to get to the surface.

So he used 80 cu ft, plus your gas in fifteen minutes at 3 atm........outrageous.

Pony bottles are really the answer. But I must think, he would have sucked down my 30 in these conditions really quick. I always carry my 30, and doubles too, so I take plenty of gas.

I'm glad you guys are OK, and you managed this problem as efficently as you could.

 

[idocsteve]

This sort of story scares the crap out of me.

You can take every precaution in the world to protect yourself but there's nothing you can do about the stupidity of other people.

The responsible diver who wrote this thread could have ended up bent or worse simply because he was the last option to a desperate diver who was in a trap of his own making.

 

[waterpirate]

Well, he killed an 80 foot tank in 15 minutes... That's where the problem started. Clearly diving well beyond his abilities.



A pony can be donated over from any rig, backplate or otherwise.

-Charles

Donating a slung pony is far easier than donating one that is attached to your primary tank via a hard connection. Pony tamer, cam bands, what ever. Back plate= unclip and they get the whole enchilada.
Eric

 

[idocsteve]

Donating a slung pony is far easier than donating one that is attached to your primary tank via a hard connection. Pony tamer, cam bands, what ever. Back plate= unclip and they get the whole enchilada.
Eric

If the diver who wrote this post donated a slung pony, what do you think would have happened next?

Desperate diver sucks down the pony, and comes back for more...