CESA - why? I'll never run low on air!

[Guba]

Nice job, Rick, of outlining other poetential causes for a CESA.

I'll add one, though the nay-sayers will say, "well, that's your fault, so it's just incompetence"--Complacency.
The one and only time I considered a CESA was when a fouled tank plugged my first stage. My partner was in plain sight and only about a dozen feet away, but he was intently swimming away (I had been following him closely until I spotted that turtle I wanted to shoot), and my partner was up-current. Yup, one crowd will say my negligence had bred the problem and it was all my fault, but notice just how easy it was to get into this jam. A five second pause was all it took to put me in a pickle on a very easy dive in clear conditions (Cozumel) with virtually no noticeable threats.
I managed to get out of it without a CESA by "repartnering" with a DM that was just below me. However, had I needed to make one, it was nice to know that I had the knowlege and skills to do so.

 

[PerroneFord]

So I wonder what they do in DIR if you have one of the above incidents. . .

Why not ask an instructor. That's what I do.

 

[letterboy]

now it makes sense. . . so where is an instructor to ask?

 

[PerroneFord]

Doing three things at once...

 

[Blackwood]

NEVER to hold your breath

Excepting when you are supposed to.

-MB

 

[Steve R]

There are only three times over 45 years that I've had to do a CESA.

The first one was back in the 60's when we didn't have SPG's, just J-valves. I had pulled a tank off the "filled" rack and descended to 90 feet only to find it was an empty. Somehow the J-valve had been pulled in the descent. My buddy experienced the same problem. The CESA was uneventful.

Good thing we now have pressure gauges...not a reason.

The second doesn't really count. I was on my ascent (along a slope) at the end of a dive and saw something I just HAD to film. I kept shooting until my tank ran dry, and ascended but only from a depth of 15 ft.

You're right here, purposely putting yourself behind the 8-ball of gas management requires learning and adhering to gas managment principles, not learning cesa. Again not a valid reason for cesa.

The third illustrates another valid reason for knowing the skill that has nothing to do with gas management. I had descended to 70 ft (without my pony... bad on me) and suddenly air flow from my tank ceased shortly after I exhaled my last breath. I did an 80 sec CESA. We discovered that the tank valve on a full tank had become clogged, stopping air flow.

No, it illustrates the reason why proper team diving is essential for successful dives when little things go wrong from time to time, instead of solo diving. Doing an 80ft cesa would probably work well a huge majority of the time if that's your bag, but speaking only for myself in our team environment, I'll stick with a controlled ascent on the long hose, which is clearly a safer method.

45 years of evidently successful solo diving to upwards of 200ft certainly is impressive, and maybe shows just how often gear doesn't break down or cause issues, but it's not the type of diving I'd be teaching or touting as safe. Why you haven't been laughed off of scooby-board only shows the level of understanding most people have with respect to responsible diving around here.

No offense Rick, but maybe sitting there at 1 ATA typing your post sounds like you'd be able to work through most of those problems via a successful cesa may sound logical, but in reality is pretty much laughable bud.

I'm having a 'heart attack'..maybe I'll do a cesa,........I'm going to be panicking in 10 seconds, maybe I'll do a cesa.....c'mon...what a joke.

But hey, let's see how many times we can flog the same pony....have fun kids.



I swear, if some of you would spend as much time perfecting proper individual and team skills as you do on BS cesa arguments, you'd be way further ahead.

 

[letterboy]

So you are saying that someone has a major incident at depth you will continue the dive? or you will surface?

 

[DeepBound]

I'm having a 'heart attack'..maybe I'll do a cesa,........I'm going to be panicking in 10 seconds, maybe I'll do a cesa.....c'mon...what a joke.

What a joke? Is that supposed to be a rebuttal, or an argument of some form? If you disagree, I for one would like to hear a reason. If you don't have one, insulting the OP is childish and impolite.

 

[PerroneFord]

Surfacing, and CESA are not necessarily the same thing.

To wit, the recently aired video of the Dave Shaw episode. Dave's buddy, watched his friend die in front of his face. He had a medical problem himself and a gear failure. Did he CESA? No. He had several hours of DECO ahead of him. He did what he had to do, and got out of the water as quickly as possible.

If a shark bites your leg off, you're going to leave the water pretty quickly. If you have a cramp, you might leave the water, or you might stretch it out. Either option is viable. Heart attack, I don't know. Never had one. Do you stop breathing?

There is no dead pony to beat here. All the answers are the same. Those who view CESA as viable, always will. Those who don't, never will. And never shall the two meet!

 

[fisherdvm]

I've been "banned" from technical diving because I felt that there is still a place for CESA... Oh, well, not going to miss it.