Close call at depth

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jagfish:
Ok
Imagine you gave that "magic" sign, and then your buddy continued on his merry way. That is what this post is about...

JAG

Exactly. Some people are just bad buddies. Bad in the sense that they put you in unacceptable situations. The worst ones are like your buddy. They do it time and again.

He's probably not going to change. Refuse to dive with him. Meet other divers. There are alternatives to continually putting yourself in in the position of taking more risk than you feel is acceptable.

R..
 
On my 3rd dive after my refresher course taken post 20 year SI, a was buddied up with a guy I'd never met (LDS "Fun Dive"). He kept going past the 80' agreed upon max depth. I signaled him. He kept going. At 100' I grabbed him, point at at myself and pointed back toward the beach - I'm going back now! He shook his head in disgust, but reluctantly followed.
After the dive, he said he wasn't narked, he just "had the sudden urge to hit a new depth record." He wasn't too happy I had prevented him from doing so. I thought, man, things have changed in 20 years.
We don't dive together anymore.
 
dvleemin:
So what did your buddy say after the dive? Was he narced? Why did he not follow the dive plan? I would have tore a strip off of him for that!
Darryl
Like I said... :wink:
Rick Inman:
After the dive, he said he wasn't narked, he just "had the sudden urge to hit a new depth record." He wasn't too happy I had prevented him from doing so. I thought, man, things have changed in 20 years.
We don't dive together anymore.
 
diver-greg:
My understanding is that below 100 feet everyone is affected by nitrogen narcosis, but not everyone exhibits abnormal behavior. I don't think he would necessarily know if he was narced. Below 100 feet, reactions are usually slower, thinking is clouded, dexterity is reduced. If there are other factors such as cold, dehydration, tiredness, residual sickness, etc. then the effects can be more significant. I know an instructor who has been diving for 30 years and he describes an incident where he was affected quite severly around 130 feet - almost killed him, but his buddy got his attention and brought him up a bit.

All that said, if you feel this guy was deliberately pushing the limits, and was indeed ignoring you, then don't dive with him again. It may not have been narcosis and you definitely don't want to dive with someone who ignores your needs (not to mention his own, since he was ignoring all the alarms on his own computer).

Another thing, you might consider for your own safety is to think about carrying a pony bottle for dives below 100 feet - not to depend on, but just as an extra safety precaution. There's not much room for error at that depth, and if you didn't go up when you did, you may not be telling us about this problem.

Definitely if you're going to be diving deep, you and your buddy should both be taking a pony/sling bottle of some size. I tried a 50 cf tank for my deep dive speciality course, but have settled on a 30 as my preferred size. Small enough that I don't slip a disc getting into the water, but enough air to give a good reserve for an emergency deco in a scenario such as the one being discussed. Food for thought...
 

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