Double Check Your Gear
- Thread starter ndboi
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And if you had forgot to exhale on the way up you might not be posting. This is the attitude of acceptance of the instructor as God that gets divers killed. That stunt was against the standards of every agency I'm aware of and not reporting this guy could end up with someone hurt or dead in the future. And guess who could have prevented it . I would not be able to live with myself if that were the case.
shipwrecked
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I think the 1/4 turn back from full open is to make the dive master's job easier, rather than the 10 turns out to open it. The dive master is the one to open the valve the whole way as a check. If the valve is full open and he tries to open the valve more before your GIANT stride, the dive master might think it is closed and really stuck closed. So he tries to force a fully open valve even more open. This could lead to valve seat wear or damage if forced super open. I was scolded one time for fully opening my valve the full way in Cayman. I can see why. I made that same rookie mistake with friends about 5 years ago. You'll never forget to watch your pressure gauge, which will never be digital or remote in my gear, when you test breath the reg again!
If that was an intentional act on the part of your Instructor, it was unacceptable.
Amen.
Just to expand a bit on this. I have a little test that I use for my OW divers on checkouts. THere is a 32 ft cabin cruiser in the quarry we use. The cabin is big enough for 4 divers easily. On the final checkout dive we go the boat and swim around it. Then I have everyone drop into the open stern with me. I will then move under the overhang by a couple feet and motion someone to come in with me. The correct response is one of two things- a shake of the head indicating no or a middle finger salute and a shake of the head no. No one has failed yet. I make sure my students know that I do not know everything and to trust that I do is foolish. Trust me dives are also I may kill you dives. An instructor who willfully turns off a students air is the kind who would encourage someone to do a trust me dive. And be reckless enough to think that it's ok.
openmindOW,
That was my first thought, maybe the instructor thought (mistakenly) that he was opening the valve.
I'm afraid that was my unfounded optimism.
At the least, I would hope sawman4 discusses this at length with the instructor....but from the posts here, I don't think he sees it as a problem.
Scary.
well, instructors are only humen, they make mistakes. however its our responsibility to check our stuff, and make sure everything is working. cuz you know, if something goes wrong. you can't blame others but yourself ^^ lets hope no one ever gets to suffer.
be safe people ^^
be safe people ^^
Stoo
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You were indeed fortunate. Had you been overweighted, it's very likely you would have drowned. An action like that of your Instructor would absolutely be in contravention to any agency standard... perhaps Navy SEAL training might be an exception... and had you croaked, I am certain he would have been charged with at least manslaughter...
I suppose it's true enough that you learned a lesson, but that process is a little like playing Russian Roulette to learn gun safety!
I was tought to back the open valve a 1/4 turn incase you bumped the valve on something during the dive. If its fully open it can easily jam or damage the thread from a simple bump.
Also the knob is more likely to break if it is bumped during the dive whilst fully open as opposed to being free to move.
Also the knob is more likely to break if it is bumped during the dive whilst fully open as opposed to being free to move.
Alright I stand reprimanded. Though looking back on my original post, I was not at 15 feet. (the dangers of posting whilst half asleep). However, I had begun to descend to a shallow platform, sucked the reg dry, came up. Thanks guys for the advice concerning the instructor.
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