BC HOSE RIPS OFF---No Positive Buoyancy

[ckharlan66]

Cudos for stepping up and admitting to the mistake of poaching. Learn from that mistake as well as the others that happened on that dive.

First you were solo. Your buddy can't help you if they are on the boat.

You were over weighted. You should always be balanced so you can swim your rig and yourself up from depth if you have a bladder falure. Caring a bag for a backup isn't a bad idea either.

Check your equipment before you enter the water. If you had pumped air in the BC before jumping in you might have noticed that you didn't get that normal "hug" you are used to or you might have heard the air escaping.

I am glad it worked out and you are safe now take the lessons you learned and be safe.

Chad

 

[stacey_n_jamie]

holy hanna have you guys never ever did anything wrong.. oh wait i see all your halos now sorry your worships. sheesh. you dont take into account that every scallop boat or lobster fisherman has ghost trawls for lobster to cover costs of crew and fuel. they dont tell anyone about that or the scallopers that ruin every area they ever tow a drag over.. pleaseeee dont lecture about preserving the great oceans. i respect the oceans and they respect me . i make my living out of diving .but im not above takin a few extra scallops to give to the old man down the street call it poaching i say give a little .. dont sweat the two lobsters man it isnt anything to worry about.

 

[scubadobadoo]

The FSU program is a good one. Better than most weekend or quicky courses one takes in the Keys. The students spend more time in the water than most new open water divers do in most classes around the country actually. An entire semester! Please don't confuse his lack of judgement and attention to details (all of them) with his training. I went to FSU and dive with people trained at FSU and they aren't breaking laws and making mistakes that can kill them. The thing that really scares me is that this guy also claims he has his AOW. ?????

FSU John, I highly suggest you spend a week reading your OW and AOW manuals again and again. Seriously. That's the best advice I can give you. We don't want you to kill yourself and I don't want you to continue to give FSU a bad name, wink wink. I also suggest you take a rescue class so you get more details on just exactly how you may put yourself and others at risk in the future. Good luck in the future and I mean that. I'm not trying to poke fun at you now.

If you don't want to take my advice, then please go diving with stacy_n_jamie above. He/She seems to also want to use the, "I only killed him once" defense as well. Stacy_N_jamie won't feel the same about poaching when he has his first encounter with a pissed off Lobsterman.

 

[FSU John]

Hi, I am curious... I have lived in Florida my whole life and have never heard of divers spoken of negatively. Where and when do you guys hear of scuba divers having a bad rap? From my own experience, non-divers are usually envious of us certified divers, or scared of the water. The real problem with our reefs are the 'divers' who take tropical fish out of the ocean and put them in their salt water tanks of death at home.... What do the people on this board think of them? You probably would think they are saints since there are no laws against taking fish off a reef(at least to my knowledge), but when I do something that is legal(like harvesting lobster), but do it in an illegal manner, I am a poacher of the oceans devil of the deep....

 

[jpcpat]

You got way overconfident. No predive safety check at all. It sounds like you got some very good training and then ignored it. It also seems like you learned your lesson. With some luck your experience will keep me from making a similar mistake.

Don't assume any piece of gear works until you test it. Inflating the BC on deck would have told you it was malfunctioning. If it's working, it gives you some bouyancy at the surface, where you meet up with your buddy and do a check.

Also, 14 lbs is really excessive. You're guarateed to be able to get down, but it complicates bouyancy control: To offset the extra weight, you need a bigger "bubble" in your BC. As depth changes, the change in size of this bubble (and bouyancy) change much faster than with a properly weighted diver. Take the time to do it right and it's a lot more fun.

In your situation underwater, I probably would have dropped all or some of my weight, but hey, I wasn't there.

JC

 

[Courtneyf82]

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!! (wait Im too late) This guy had a few heated posts after him quicky I am sure

 

[scubadobadoo]

... since there are no laws against taking fish off a reef(at least to my knowledge), but when I do something that is legal(like harvesting lobster), but do it in an illegal manner, I am a poacher of the oceans devil of the deep....

LOL. I have to assume you are a troll now, otherwise I would offend.

 

[scububa]

such a terrible thing to waste.

You must be a riot on the highway!

 

[ocrmaster]

FSU John,

why dont you try free diving? 25 feet is nothing you can stay for at least 4 mins underwater at 25 feet easy. And you wont be pouching either.

FSU John,

I recently went on a dive and i was underweighted. I wouldn't sink. I asked the DM to give me a few more weights to get me to sink.
It took 3 more lbs to get me to sink. LMAO.
I wish you well. Be safe and take a refresher course.
It might save your life. Peace.

P.S. Invest in some good reputable gear.

 

[wilkie]

Poaching aside: The "story" hear is an over weight issue! I don't know about the rest of you guys, but my ow "instructor" overweighed me almost 3 to 1.
Took me a few dives before I figured things out, not anything like 20, but mabe had to screw around 8-10 to get right, dropping a few lbs after every coupple dives, then too light with a "light 80", you know the drill. It's easy to say "weight to float at eye level", but it took a while for me to "get it", and I'll bet it took a while for the rest of you a while too.

Having said that; God I Hate A Pocher