I recently returned from a trip that involved some scuba and some other water activities. All went well for me and I enjoyed the diving. Saw some big turtles up close (I love turtles) and lots of pretty fishes.
One woman, who was in my watersports group but who I never dived with, reported the following incident:
Her inflator valve stuck open, filling her BC. A long-time experienced diver, she dumped the air as fast as she could, but the inflator was filling the BC faster than the dump valve could empty it, and she made a rapid ascent. Fortunately, she was not deep (something like 35 feet IIRC) and it was only 15 minutes into the dive, and she fought the ascent to make it as long as possible, and she was not hurt. She reported feeling nauseated, but otherwise okay, and the next day was feeling fine.
But this gave me something new to be concerned about. I know how to make a controlled emergency ascent if necessary, and I'm never far from a buddy with whom to share air if needed, but if a BC inflator sticks open when you're deep, what are you supposed to do? I guess you could try to shed your gear and let it ascend, and then share air with a buddy, assuming the over-inflated BC hadn't already dragged you too far up to get back down to your buddy.
Have other folks heard of this happening? What do the "experts" recommend if it does? This woman was lucky: she was not deep and had not been down long. But I think that under other circumstances it could have been serious.
One woman, who was in my watersports group but who I never dived with, reported the following incident:
Her inflator valve stuck open, filling her BC. A long-time experienced diver, she dumped the air as fast as she could, but the inflator was filling the BC faster than the dump valve could empty it, and she made a rapid ascent. Fortunately, she was not deep (something like 35 feet IIRC) and it was only 15 minutes into the dive, and she fought the ascent to make it as long as possible, and she was not hurt. She reported feeling nauseated, but otherwise okay, and the next day was feeling fine.
But this gave me something new to be concerned about. I know how to make a controlled emergency ascent if necessary, and I'm never far from a buddy with whom to share air if needed, but if a BC inflator sticks open when you're deep, what are you supposed to do? I guess you could try to shed your gear and let it ascend, and then share air with a buddy, assuming the over-inflated BC hadn't already dragged you too far up to get back down to your buddy.
Have other folks heard of this happening? What do the "experts" recommend if it does? This woman was lucky: she was not deep and had not been down long. But I think that under other circumstances it could have been serious.