Drysuit Sqeeze

[wadedeeper]

Since this is a learning forum, I'll add my own miserable experience that happened a few years back for everyone to learn from.

Location: Boat dive in Southern California (San Diego)

Conditions: perfect, calm, sunny day, warm outside, visibility about 40'

Depth: boat sat in approx 150' water, anchor at 140'ish

Description: My father and a few friends chartered a boat and went out for a fun little recreational wreck dive. All divers on board were Divemaster or above (instructors or course directors). My dad was my dive buddy. I jumped in and sat at the surface while he suited up then he did the same. We planned to descend and follow the anchor to the wreck to take a swim around shooting video. As we started to descend, I immediately noticed my dad dropping at an excessive rate. I dumped all air and swam after to assist. He was having major problems trying to neutralize buoyancy so when I finally got to him I equalized his BCD and stopped his descent. He was in wetsuit, I was in drysuit (i was being a wuss). Problem...I had one hand on him and one on his BCD adding air while I kicked. Meanwhile, when I finally got him situated, I came to realize I had yet to add any air to my dry suit and felt the lovely pressure pushing against it, painfully. I added air to my suit and righted the wrong, but the damage was already done. Descending to 130' without adding any air to my dry suit caused the suit to fold and twist against my skin and thermals to cause bruising. when I got up after the dive and took off my suit, I found a lovely spiderweb pattern of bruising that everyone was quick to make fun of me for.

In retrospect: the worst rule breakers for pre-dive safety checks are instructors and divemasters. They immediately assume the other person is fine because of their level and the number of dives they have and don't want to insult by asking. Yet, if I would have asked how much weight he had, he would've realized he miscalculated by far and added way too much then he needed. But since I didn't, and I assumed he was fine, he nearly had a VERY bad day...remember that part of any pre-dive check is not only that you have weights, but how much weight you have.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

At least there was a "hard" bottom at 150 fsw.

F4 Phantom?

Thanks for sharing your story. Your cautionary words also apply to experienced non-pro divers.

 

[mangrovejack]

I have a couple of questions for you:

1) You mention that everyone is a DiveMaster or above rating, what exactly prevented your dad from getting neutrally bouyant?
2) Again, related to the above, how was your dad so heavily overweighted that he sank so quickly?
3) Did he have his BC inflated prior to jumping in?

It scares me that despite his qualifications that he couldn't get the basics right, does he actively teach/lead people on dives?

 

[TSandM]

Things like that are the reason I am a true PITA about dive plans and buddy checks. I annoy even my close friends. But it is SO much nicer to solve problems (or at least recognize them) before you get in the water.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Yet, if I would have asked how much weight he had, he would've realized he miscalculated by far and added way too much then he needed. But since I didn't, and I assumed he was fine, he nearly had a VERY bad day...remember that part of any pre-dive check is not only that you have weights, but how much weight you have.

I have a couple of questions for you:

1) You mention that everyone is a DiveMaster or above rating, what exactly prevented your dad from getting neutrally bouyant?
2) Again, related to the above, how was your dad so heavily overweighted that he sank so quickly?
3) Did he have his BC inflated prior to jumping in?

It scares me that despite his qualifications that he couldn't get the basics right, does he actively teach/lead people on dives?

@mangrovejack: It appears that the answer to Question #1 was: the father didn't add air to his BCD/wing fast enough. The OP's description is that he swam over to his father and helped him establish neutral buoyancy (pressed inflater button?) as they arrived at a depth of 130 fsw. The situation seems a little unusual to me. Perhaps we are missing a few critical pieces of info. Perhaps the father was distracted by something else during the descent -- equalization issues?

With regard to Question #2, the OP stated that his father accidentally overweighted himself. The OP doesn't elaborate on how the miscalculation of weighting occurred. Was he using a slightly different gear configuration than before (steel vs. aluminum tank, BP/W vs. BCD, wetsuit vs. drysuit)?

With regard to Question #3, I don't think that the father unintentionally initiated his descent. The OP writes that as they began to descend, the father descended at an excessive rate. This would be consistent with dumping all of the air in the BCD on the surface in order to initiate the descent.

I am curious about Questions #1 and #2, though. Hopefully, the OP will elaborate a little on the incident.

 

[tstormdiver]

I can certainly relate, the first time I dove my double steel tanks. The plan was to drop down to about 90 ft & swim along an old haul road to the shallow end of the quarry. I had done that dive many times before. Being completely inexperienced about diving doubles & steel tanks, when it came time to descend, I let all the air out of my wings, just like I would my recreational BC. I was over 95ft of water at the quarry. The negative buoyancy immediately drug me down. I unceremoniously crash landed, less than a minute later:shocked2:, on the bottom & left a lovely silt plume going up around me. My buddies were also quite new at diving doubles, so they were of little help to me. Once on the bottom, I finally got myself neutral & being in a near state of panic, I decided to end the dive. I did not bolt to the surface by any means, but I also wasn't going to stay down any longer than I had to either. I'd had enough. Because on the way down, I was so busy with trying to inflate my wings & equalize my ears, I didn't have time to equalize my drysuit. My shoulders & chest were also quite bruised from the ordeal. To make matters worse, at the same time I arrived at the surface, my technical instructor showed up & seeing the fear in my eyes, knew what had happened. He then proceeded to chew my butt for attempting such a deep dive on my first one in doubles (just what I needed right at that moment). Needless to say, I sat out for a few hours before attempting a much shallower dive. It was another 2-3 mos before I would attempt another deep dive in doubles, but when I did, I was prepared & that was one of my best dives ever. Lesson learned,..... do not attempt an advanced dive in a new configuration. It was definitely a "live & learn" situation.

 

[wadedeeper]

1) You mention that everyone is a DiveMaster or above rating, what exactly prevented your dad from getting neutrally bouyant? I love my pops, but as age creeps up, the same rational thinking he once had...seems to disappear. I don't know why he didn't react approriately, only that he didn't and had the wide eyed look about him.
2) Again, related to the above, how was your dad so heavily overweighted that he sank so quickly? He stuffed about 34 lbs of weight into his BCD and had a steel 120 which was neg bouyant anyways. again, afterwards I asked him what the heck he was doing and he just looked at me with a look of "What the heck was I thinking". he figured that since he put on a few lbs he needed to add more...I dont think he realized how much more he added or that he already had that much.
3) Did he have his BC inflated prior to jumping in? He did, and as we dumped to descend, he didn't at first realize how fast he was going. He dropped fast and kept going.

It scares me that despite his qualifications that he couldn't get the basics right, does he actively teach/lead people on dives? No, he got his DM cert a long time ago and did so mainly as an education for himself. He has never once taken anyone on a tour or assisted and I too wondered why he didn't make better choices...his answer was he panic'd when he realized how fast he was going. I love him and realize that though he has a professional rank, he is just another diver that will make mistakes. The bottom line is that though he is a pain at times and worries me all the time, he's my dad and loves diving still. I'll watch him like a hawk and handle the things he forgets from now on so he can keep diving and enjoy the scene.

Truth is there are some other factors that play into his lack of decision making like not feeling well and he didn't tell me, feeling dizzy and not telling me...and trying to look like nothing was bothering him because all our friends and divers were around. the best answer I can give is that diving with him is like diving with someone taking a resort course for the 1st time. They don't know any better, they are oblivious, and every shiney object distracts them...same with my dad...but I love diving with him anyways.

 

[mangrovejack]

Thanks for the reply mate.

After reading what I wrote, it could be easily misconstrued as an attack on you or your father (even though that was definitely not the intention), but you answered my questions honestly, so I appreciate that.

I guess when you are that heavily overweighted, hitting the inflator is not going to do too much as the air you are putting in simply gets compressed to nothing by the descent rate.

Would have been a pretty scary ride, holding the inflator and nothing happening!

I have been overweighted before long ago, but not by the same extent, my problem was more at the surface at the end where it was a big and heavy swell and my wing only just keeping me above the surface. Same conditions as your dad, wetsuit (shorty at that), steel tank (usually dive aluminium's for single tank diving - but broke up my steel doubles for more single tank diving), and wearing too much weight (needed more weight than usual to get below the surface quickly as the waves were huge and crashing down on rocks).

 

[AfterDark]

wadedeeper, you are a good son. Keep your Dad diving and dive with him as long as you can. It'll be good for both of you and you'll have great memories someday. My father pasted almost 4 years now. I miss him but, we fished and sailed together and I 'm glad we did. Thanks for sharing. How's the bruises? That must have hurt! That's a long way down!

 

[wadedeeper]

wadedeeper, you are a good son. Keep your Dad diving and dive with him as long as you can. It'll be good for both of you and you'll have great memories someday. My father pasted almost 4 years now. I miss him but, we fished and sailed together and I 'm glad we did. Thanks for sharing. How's the bruises? That must have hurt! That's a long way down!

Thanks for the kind words...pops and I are headed to hawaii in May (kaui & kona). Like always, I will watch him and keep an eye on him as I always do. He is a blast to dive with since he loves diving sooo much. I guess in all fairness he is getting me back for trying to drown him during an underwater pumpkin carving contest where he let me pick the pumpkin. At the ripe old age of six, I picked the largest one I could find which of course required soooo much weight to make the silly thing negative that he almost didn't have the strength to get back up once he cut into it. He has never let me forget it and never let me pick another pumpkin.

Needless to say, I love diving with him and plan to as long as he can. Take care all...see you all out there.