Domino Effect

[Graveyarddiver]

Up until about a week ago, in my diving, I have yet to witness the domino effect of thing going wrong. Unfortunately That streak has ended, however it was mitigated, and handled.

Diving at 120' on a wreck, due to low visibility, I became separated from my partner. I check my gas, 1700 PSI, and execute a brief search on that section of the wreck to no avail. Upon unsuccessfully locating my partner, I started my return to the anchor, following the line I set on our initial survey.

The anchor was not there, in its place was bent metal where it had been hooked. Another gas check 1300PSI (Stress, and current were starting to affect my consumption)

At this point my running time was 40 minutes, with 35 on the bottom, I had 10 minute left on the bottom before having to follow my emergency profile. With no fixed ascent, not an option I wanted to face.

Taking a knee in the sand next to the wreck, I controlled my breathing, and started to execute my "oh ****" plan.
Removing my left bag, and primary reel, I send a SMB to the surface. I was incredibly thankful I marked my line every 20 ft. I then tied the line off to the wreck, in two locations. Another gas check, 900 PSI (400 less than i wanted before ascending), running time 45 minutes, bottom time 40.

One last check, and a prayer and I start up the line, following a 45 minute profile to add conservatism.

At 60 ft I conducted my first gas switch, and the tide turned back in my favor, something was once again going right and according to plan.

At 20 ft, i conducted my last gas switch, and heard the boat moving back into the area.

After another 10 minutes of deco, I surfaced, cute my lift bag lose, and hauled myself onto the boat.

Total dive time 66 minutes.

Total Deco was extended to mitigate risk, of additional gas consumed at depth.


Gas remaining
Bottom Mix-EAN 30 800PSI
Deco Gas 2- EAN 50- 1600 PSI
Deco Gas 3- O2- 1500 PSI

 

[Johnoly]

....I have yet to witness the domino effect of thing going wrong....

It sounds like you handled everything well.

We all have our limits, but most importantly need to ACTIVATE those limits. For me it is if 3 small things go wrong after I splash.

It can be the smallest of things that go wrong, gear falls off, not wanted small bubble leaks, fin strap pops loose, etc, etc, etc. Just for me, I abort any dive at "3 wrongs".

The Scubaboard accident section is an EXCELLENT resource and reminder of how deaths occur and without a doubt every accident was not a single failure. But rather a chain of events that led to a final death.

So for me it's ,,,,," 3 wrongs and I'm gone,,,, to the surface"

 

[northernone]

Flag your contingency plans were in place and you were able execute them.

Curiosity asks, what happened to your partner, did they make it back to the anchor line before it slipped free?

 

[Graveyarddiver]

Unfortunately in this case, the dive was close to being over when things started going wrong, had i had any issues even small ones at the start I would have aborted the dive. My partner made it back to the anchors initial tie in point at some point prior to myself, realized it was gone, and since he was on a richer bottom mix, made the calculated risk to ascend without the line, he got to the bottom after me, and owed very little deco.

Every dive I do with an "insta buddy" I treat as a solo dive for planning considerations, and he held the same opinion.

 

[stuartv]

Taking a knee in the sand next to the wreck, I controlled my breathing, and started to execute my "oh ****" plan.
Removing my left bag, and primary reel, I send a SMB to the surface. I was incredibly thankful I marked my line every 20 ft. I then tied the line off to the wreck, in two locations. Another gas check, 900 PSI (400 less than i wanted before ascending), running time 45 minutes, bottom time 40.

Congrats on keeping cool and getting out undamaged!

2 questions:

What role was played by having the line marked every 20 feet?

Did you tie your reel off to the wreck and leave it there? Did you shoot the bag, tie it off to the wreck, and then ascend with reel in hand, so you used twice as much line as the depth you were in? Tied off the SMB to the wreck, then cut the line, ascending with the reel in hand, but the reel not connected to anything?

 

[w3dge]

Glad you made it out OK, good job!

I'm curious why the apprehension to just ascend under your SMB though, instead of tying it to the wreck. Ascending under a blob is fairly routine practice here. Why did your buddy's bottom mix factor into his decision to do just that?

 

[swimlikethefish]

Glad you made it out OK, good job!

I'm curious why the apprehension to just ascend under your SMB though, instead of tying it to the wreck. Ascending under a blob is fairly routine practice here. Why did your buddy's bottom mix factor into his decision to do just that?

I am assuming he used my same rational. If there is a missing anchor line and I have to freely ascend from a wreck I am going to tie into the wreck before the ascent. The reason for this is, if for some reason the boat left in an emergency, or broke free and is drifting. All the help that is coming for me would start their search at your last known location. In this case the wreck. And I tied into it before ascending so if I get to the surface and no one is in sight I just stay holding my line. Then I do not drift away from the wreck.

Not that shooting an smb and ascending is a bad idea, I would much rather be tied to the wreck in open ocean. I can always come back and collect my reel another day. I'd take my chances being found over worrying about a $100 or $200 reel any day.

 

[stuartv]

I totally agree on tying into the wreck. You don't want to drift away.

In that scenario, I would be debating to shoot the bag and tie it to the wreck then cut the line and take my reel with me. Or, if my reel had enough line, shoot the bag and tie it to the wreck, then ascend using the reel like a Jersey up line. I.e. SMB at surface connected to line that goes down and is tied to the wreck, then the same line goes up to the reel that the diver is holding. The only reason I would consider this is that it seems less likely, this way, for the line holding the SMB to come untied from the wreck. If I tied the SMB to the wreck and then cut the line, I would be worried that my knot my come undone and let the SMB loose from the wreck.

3rd alternative: Tie reel to the wreck and use as Jersey up-line, then ascend and inflate SMB at the surface.

If anybody has thoughts on which way would be best, I would love to hear them!

I would also like to know what the other guy's rationale was for doing a free ascent. And, how did that work out for him? How far away was he from the wreck when he (presumably) got picked up by the boat?

 

[Graveyarddiver]

My logic for sending an SMB to the surface and tying it into the wreck was to not stray from the wereck itself, I know that’s where they would look for me, ironically a boat fishing in that area lost its epirb, and a coast guard bird was circling overhead when I popped the surface.

When I conducted my ascent, I tied my reel line into the wreck as second time, so as a ascended I would have a line to the surface, as well as one tethering me to the wreck, in case god forbid one was cut, came lose, etc. I had some level of redundancy.

I ended up leaving my jump reel on the wreck, I did not know where my buddy was when I started my ascent, but wanted to ensure he would have the option to follow, and join me on the ascent. His free ascent, slightly shorter bottom time, willingness to breath a mix with ppO2 at 1.6 on the bottom, reduced what deco obligation he had.

On my primary reel, I marked the line every 20 ft so I would know exactly how far I penetrate caves and wrecks as a move deeper into the overhead environment. I also use that reel when sending my goody bag to the surface attached to a lift bag, so some knowledge of how much line is out is nice.

By the time I got on the boat I was down 2 reels, but honestly I had enough other things on my mind when I surfaced.

 

[mainedvr]

Thanks for sharing this, and great job thinking things through.