I was recently on a drift dive on which the following incident occurred. I'd like to get your reaction to the events I describe, especially suggestions for me, the subject diver, and the dive plan. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
There were six of us on a fast, timed, drift dive at 80 feet in a river. We were paired in buddy pairs, and all of us carried reserve gas in pony bottles. Since only I and one of the others had experience deploying SMBs, the plan was for the two of us to deploy our SMBs at the drifting safety stop, with the others splitting up and clustering near us. The dive boat would follow our bubbles and key on the SMBs at the end of the dive. [In this particular setting, dive flags are not used.]
During the drift, I passed one of our group who was on a ledge, struggling to launch an SMB. He was alone and evidently in some difficulty, so I stopped and pulled myself back to him over some rocks, to see what I could do. He was in a state of panic, wide-eyed, his SMB floating before him with line from a dive reel attached to it. The reel itself was clipped to his left chest D-ring.
I approached him from the front. Trying to help, I reached in and unclipped his reel, which only increased his agitation. So I re-clipped it and backed away. When he finally inflated his sausage, it began to pull him up. I saw him ascend, evidently without a safety stop. I decided to make a safe ascent while drifting under him and keeping his fins in sight. After completing my safety stop, I surfaced beside him, and we swam a few yards to shore. The dive boat was nearby. I signaled OK, and we were picked up in a reasonable time.
What I didn't know at the time was that the diver had selected a light-fill tank for the drift dive, somehow reasoning that it would be the best choice. When I spotted him, he was low on back gas but otherwise was not in trouble. It didn't occur to him that he could make a safe, direct ascent to the surface, supported by his pony gas if he should need it.
Seeing me at hand, I don't understand why he didn't signal OOA or simply grab my reg. I also don't understand why he wasted time, gas, and stress in his efforts to deploy his SMB, which he'd never launched before.
Underscoring the level of his panic, he reported that on his ascent he "pushed the wrong button on his inflator assembly," accidentally adding air to his BC, triggering an uncontrolled ascent. Fortunately, back on the boat he showed no particular signs or symptoms. Even so, he was put on oxygen, as a precaution, and he made no more dives that day.
He also reported that he'd run out of back gas on the ascent and had gone to his pony. But when he reached for his pony regulator, he got the (no-gas) octo on the first try. This was a result of having yellow covers and yellow hoses on both his pony and octo regulators.
One more thing I didn't know, but which his assigned buddy did, is that the diver is a diabetic. I now know that he carefully measures his blood sugar before and after his dives. I'm not sure what one is supposed to do with the information that a team member is a diabetic, but in my case, my instinct would have been to play safe and not dive with him.
His assigned buddy had been out of sight behind him. When he drifted to us and saw me trying to assist, he decided to continue the drift, so as not to add to the confusion.
On reflection, I concluded that my action probably only increased the diver's level of panic. Considering that this was not a rescue situation (yet), my best action would have been to position myself in front of him, but out of reach, with my long-hose secondary extended and offered.
There were six of us on a fast, timed, drift dive at 80 feet in a river. We were paired in buddy pairs, and all of us carried reserve gas in pony bottles. Since only I and one of the others had experience deploying SMBs, the plan was for the two of us to deploy our SMBs at the drifting safety stop, with the others splitting up and clustering near us. The dive boat would follow our bubbles and key on the SMBs at the end of the dive. [In this particular setting, dive flags are not used.]
During the drift, I passed one of our group who was on a ledge, struggling to launch an SMB. He was alone and evidently in some difficulty, so I stopped and pulled myself back to him over some rocks, to see what I could do. He was in a state of panic, wide-eyed, his SMB floating before him with line from a dive reel attached to it. The reel itself was clipped to his left chest D-ring.
I approached him from the front. Trying to help, I reached in and unclipped his reel, which only increased his agitation. So I re-clipped it and backed away. When he finally inflated his sausage, it began to pull him up. I saw him ascend, evidently without a safety stop. I decided to make a safe ascent while drifting under him and keeping his fins in sight. After completing my safety stop, I surfaced beside him, and we swam a few yards to shore. The dive boat was nearby. I signaled OK, and we were picked up in a reasonable time.
What I didn't know at the time was that the diver had selected a light-fill tank for the drift dive, somehow reasoning that it would be the best choice. When I spotted him, he was low on back gas but otherwise was not in trouble. It didn't occur to him that he could make a safe, direct ascent to the surface, supported by his pony gas if he should need it.
Seeing me at hand, I don't understand why he didn't signal OOA or simply grab my reg. I also don't understand why he wasted time, gas, and stress in his efforts to deploy his SMB, which he'd never launched before.
Underscoring the level of his panic, he reported that on his ascent he "pushed the wrong button on his inflator assembly," accidentally adding air to his BC, triggering an uncontrolled ascent. Fortunately, back on the boat he showed no particular signs or symptoms. Even so, he was put on oxygen, as a precaution, and he made no more dives that day.
He also reported that he'd run out of back gas on the ascent and had gone to his pony. But when he reached for his pony regulator, he got the (no-gas) octo on the first try. This was a result of having yellow covers and yellow hoses on both his pony and octo regulators.
One more thing I didn't know, but which his assigned buddy did, is that the diver is a diabetic. I now know that he carefully measures his blood sugar before and after his dives. I'm not sure what one is supposed to do with the information that a team member is a diabetic, but in my case, my instinct would have been to play safe and not dive with him.
His assigned buddy had been out of sight behind him. When he drifted to us and saw me trying to assist, he decided to continue the drift, so as not to add to the confusion.
On reflection, I concluded that my action probably only increased the diver's level of panic. Considering that this was not a rescue situation (yet), my best action would have been to position myself in front of him, but out of reach, with my long-hose secondary extended and offered.
