Emergency procedures/skills review

[Butleroutdoors]

Good morning SB members.

Getting ready for summer diving season and my dive buddy and I practice our emergency skills several times in a deep pool. Wanted to reach out to experienced members to seek your wisdom. Any skills we need to add to our list below that you think would be good skills to review? We mainly dive freshwater and spearfish.


Thank You



BCD
-Runaway BCD inflation
-Inadvertent weight dump
-Emergency weight dump
-Emergency BCD removal/dump
-Tank buckle failure



Mask
- Mask ripped off and recovery
- Mask ripped off and surfacing....no recovery






Air
-Runaway Regulator
-Regulator ripped from mouth and recovery
--two techniques for finding regulator
-Out of air....sprint to dive buddy
-Out of Air…CESA
-Tank Valve turned off
-Buddy Breathing
--octo
--sharing
--ascent technique


MISC
-Fin Strap failure
-Entanglement
--BCD removal/replace
-Black out conditions recovery

 

[tbone1004]

I'd remove the ripped off and surfacing. There is no reason to immediately surface due to lack of mask, so while the mask may not be recovered it is worth having the divers make a planned ascent including a safety stop. Most computers can be read decently well without a mask on or you can teach them to create a small air pocket over one of their eyes with a hand so they can read it.

What is a runaway regulator? Freeflowing regulator? That is mitigated with valve feather drills

Divers should never sprint anywhere, if they are actually diving with a "buddy" they should be no more than arms reach away from them, otherwise it is same ocean diving and you never plan for buddy air sharing in that case, pony bottles, H-Valves, or CESA's should be primary recovery method, CESA's only if NDL's aren't being pushed.

BCD removing and replacing is really only a valuable surface skill, pretty useless underwater which is why it isn't practiced outside of some open water classes where the agencies require it.

You hit all of the regular skills on there, just don't agree with some

 

[hhjames]

OOA drill and breath off of buddies secondary
Primary light failure
Ascent using smallest bubbles as guide vs depth gauge
Loss of fin
Using buddy to help put on and take off fins to replicate shore dive
Going over your dive plan, practice talking it through for different profiles and no notice changes like happens when group diving and the insta buddies throw out some things (an over aggressive profile) that gives you the gut feeling of not quite right.
Practice hand signals- numbers for pressure, and what they would be using a light



Henry James

 

[Steve_C]

Divers should never sprint anywhere, if they are actually diving with a "buddy" they should be no more than arms reach away from them

2 ft? I measured them and my arms are 2 ft long.

Agree with the sprinting but arm's reach seems a bit tight. Kinda close if there is surge. Kinda close if they or I want to take a photo. If I stayed within 2 ft I think almost every body I dive with would quit diving with me.

Maybe better to say easily able to provide or obtain assistance if needed?

 

[RJP]

Good morning SB members.

Getting ready for summer diving season and my dive buddy and I practice our emergency skills several times in a deep pool. Wanted to reach out to experienced members to seek your wisdom. Any skills we need to add to our list below that you think would be good skills to review? We mainly dive freshwater and spearfish.


Thank You



BCD
-Runaway BCD inflation
-Inadvertent weight dump
-Emergency weight dump
-Emergency BCD removal/dump
-Tank buckle failure



Mask
- Mask ripped off and recovery
- Mask ripped off and surfacing....no recovery






Air
-Runaway Regulator
-Regulator ripped from mouth and recovery
--two techniques for finding regulator
-Out of air....sprint to dive buddy
-Out of Air…CESA
-Tank Valve turned off
-Buddy Breathing
--octo
--sharing
--ascent technique


MISC
-Fin Strap failure
-Entanglement
--BCD removal/replace
-Black out conditions recovery

The idea of preparation is commendable. However, there is such thing as too much. In tech diving we talk about the need to plan/prepare/drill for situations or scenarios that have a likely potential to occur on any given dive given the dive objective, profile, conditions, etc. However, we specifically do not plan/prepare/drill for "every possible eventuality" as there's just no reason to do so in an exhaustive fashion.

You might consider cutting your skills/drills time in half by eliminating most of the "gear failure" drills. Use the time saved to perform inspection/maintenance that will virtually eliminate the need to drill associated "what if..." scenarios. Perhaps you could still talk through those scenarios but I don't see a need to "drill" them.

Ray

---------- Post added March 16th, 2015 at 01:50 PM ----------

Divers should never sprint anywhere, if they are actually diving with a "buddy" they should be no more than arms reach away from them, otherwise it is same ocean diving and you never plan for buddy air sharing in that case, pony bottles, H-Valves, or CESA's should be primary recovery method, CESA's only if NDL's aren't being pushed.

Perfect example: if the objective of a dive is "spearfishing" it's likely that you and your friend are "diving alone together" rather than diving as "a buddy pair." Better to talk through and determine skills and drills needed in such circumstances. If you're diving as buddies... you're not much more than a fin-kick from each other and you're not focused on something like shooting fish. You're focused on your dive and your buddy and can include the availability of a buddy in your contingency planning. If you're spearfishing, your planning should focus on:
1.) Keeping the problem from ever occurring in the first place
2.) Anticipating the problem, to head it off at the last minute if it does end up coming your way
3.) Fixing the problem if it does occur
4.) Getting to the surface safely if you can't fix it

With all that, if your buddy just happens to be present... that's great. But don't plan/drill for it in such circumstances.

 

[tbone1004]

Steve, that is the difference in true "buddy diving" and "same ocean diving". I prefer the same ocean diving, my buddy and I are diving the same dive plan, we are mostly aware of the other, but are operating independently. I log them all as solo dives and treat them the same way as I would a solo dive. With the exception of a catastrophic air failure, first stage blows, neck o-ring, valve, etc, there should never be a situation in which you "sprint" to your buddy and if you are using that as a contingency, my buddy better be where I can either touch him whenever I want to, or at least be one kick cycle away which I'll give as acceptable distance. 4-6ft max. Anything farther than that is same ocean diving, which again, there is nothing wrong with it, and that is my preferred way to dive, but you don't plan on your buddies help for anything in that situation because you can't know for certain he will be there to save you. Part of the reason I won't take GUE classes, I love solo diving or "same ocean" diving, and they get all snippy when those topics come up.

 

[Butleroutdoors]

Thank you all for your advice. I will update my list. Good discussions on "same ocean diving", which is the reality in spearfishing.

 

[KeithG]

Good morning SB members.

Getting ready for summer diving season and my dive buddy and I practice our emergency skills several times in a deep pool. Wanted to reach out to experienced members to seek your wisdom. Any skills we need to add to our list below that you think would be good skills to review? We mainly dive freshwater and spearfish.


Thank You



BCD
-Runaway BCD inflation
-Inadvertent weight dump
-Emergency weight dump
-Emergency BCD removal/dump
-Tank buckle failure



Mask
- Mask ripped off and recovery
- Mask ripped off and surfacing....no recovery






Air
-Runaway Regulator
-Regulator ripped from mouth and recovery
--two techniques for finding regulator
-Out of air....sprint to dive buddy
-Out of Air…CESA
-Tank Valve turned off
-Buddy Breathing
--octo
--sharing
--ascent technique


MISC
-Fin Strap failure
-Entanglement
--BCD removal/replace
-Black out conditions recovery

Can I dive with you? But could you learn to be a little more relaxed? And think rationally?

You have a great list. It is a great idea to have thought about all of these (and a few other?) situations. Your instructor was obviously a dooms day person. I feel sad for them. Hopefully you will encounter a better version of life.

If you ever encounter any of these I would consider your life to be cursed. Or stupid. For an open water diver.

Some of your situations are stupid me (AOA), others are stupid me awareness (Mask stuff).

As open water vacation divers with over 1600 dives between us, we have experienced the following stupid incidents:
- lost weight belt upon entry (bad rental clasp, me, twice)
- forgot a weight belt (oops, stupid me in a hurry)
- air not turned on (stupid buddy in a hurry. her)
- one split regulator hose (cut the dive short, no need for abort after monitoring air consumption)
- broken fin strap - on the dock, delayed dive by 5 minutes in order to replace prior to splash
- slow leak on BCD inflator, disconnected, continued dive...


I think my primary message is: train, relax, sit back and think about your current issue. Do not panic. SOme of these will never happen if you are smart. Others...

I have never had an equipment failure of note. My dive buddy has had 2. The first was her BCD inflator that continually slowly filled her BCD. She identified the issue, communicated it to me, so I disconnected her inflator and then got sh*t after the dive for touching her gear. Oops. This was very early in our dive life when she did not fully understand the magic. Second failure was a "minor" split on her first stage reg hose. She calmly verified she still had an adequate air source, came over to me and pointed at her air spew. I did a WTF and pointed at her octo. Why was she bothering me? She then calmly swapped to her fully functional octo. I asked for air pressure and then we slowly ascended towards 15 feet as I continually asked for her air pressure about every 10 seconds. She was still one her tank. We determined that her air leak was impressive (lots o bubbles) but not significant. We slowly swam back to the boat at 15 feet. She had 1500 PSI left but did not seem to be interested in the wildlife under the boat...So I worked on my tan.

Be prepared for panic, but please do not. Very few of your doomsday scenarios are realistic.

Diving is fun.

 

[The Chairman]

What's missing:

• Shooting a sausage from the bottom of that pool. A sausage shot during your safety stop will keep the boat from driving off without you.
• Losing a fin. Learn to swim a straight line with just one fin.
• Losing a weight. You should be able to handle a 4 pound loss with your breathing.
• Establish a baseline SAC.
• Become familiar with your compass on land and then in the suds.

As for buddy management: I teach ten seconds to find/touch your buddy. Learn to listen to their breathing. You'll be able to hear a problem probably before they even realize it. If you can't hear your buddy breathing, then you need to put eyes on them.

 

[Storker]

What's missing:

• Shooting a sausage from the bottom of that pool. A sausage shot during your safety stop will keep the boat from driving off without you.
• Losing a fin. Learn to swim a straight line with just one fin.
• Losing a weight. You should be able to handle a 4 pound loss with your breathing.
• Establish a baseline SAC.
• Become familiar with your compass on land and then in the suds.

As for buddy management: I teach ten seconds to find/touch your buddy. Learn to listen to their breathing. You'll be able to hear a problem probably before they even realize it. If you can't hear your buddy breathing, then you need to put eyes on them.

I missed buddy weight release/securing positive buoyancy on the surface. Too many divers have managed to surface in an emergency, but haven't been able to ensure positive buoyancy. So they've sunk and drowned.

IMO this is even more important with weight integrated BCDs. Do you know that you can dump your buddy's weight pocket in an emergency?


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