Good Friend Almost Kills me with Air

[tommy tiger]

I was free diving along with my friends who were scuba diving.Upon one decent a friend scuba diving offered a friendly exchange of his air from his regulator which i unfortunately accepted. These two modes of diving for me at that instant almost became a Deadly mix.Duh! This that idiot "me" didn't realize till at the surface with a very very heavy feeling in my chest. Fortunately that was the only symptom of my committing, The A number 1 major cardinal sin of scuba diving , even though i was free diving, "of a breath hold of compress Air at depth carried to the surface". It def scared the hell out of me when realized what i had done.My mistake WOW! fortunately had JUST Nearly scared me to Death, at that moments realization!!!

 

[Walter]

Your friend didn't almost kill you. You almost killed yourself. Once you acceptedthe breath of compressed air, you were no longer free diving.

 

[divebunny13]

Your friend didn't almost kill you. You almost killed yourself. Once you acceptedthe breath of compressed air, you were no longer free diving.

While it was true that the OP accepted the air, unless he was versed in the rules of compressed air beforehand, the diver should never have offered. WE all know better to hold our breath. "Civilians" don't.

A guest here had a friend die off of Bimini doing the same thing.

 

[Walter]

While it was true that the OP accepted the air, unless he was versed in the rules of compressed air beforehand, the diver should never have offered.

No arguments on your point, but it sounds like he did know the risks.

This that idiot "me" didn't realize till at the surface with a very very heavy feeling in my chest. Fortunately that was the only symptom of my committing, The A number 1 major cardinal sin of scuba diving , even though i was free diving, "of a breath hold of compress Air at depth carried to the surface". It def scared the hell out of me when realized what i had done.My mistake WOW! fortunately had JUST Nearly scared me to Death, at that moments realization!!!

 

[tommy tiger]

While it was true that the OP accepted the air, unless he was versed in the rules of compressed air beforehand, the diver should never have offered. WE all know better to hold our breath. "Civilians" don't.

A guest here had a friend die off of Bimini doing the same thing.

Nice Dive bunny never thought of it that way. I say You are absolutely correct.Unless Dive planned and rehearsed ~ a compressed air diver should never offer a free diver Air unless it is a life or Death emergency. That could save a life. Wow sorry to hear about the death.

 

[The Chairman]

This is one of the "rules" my students learn: DON'T GIVE COMPRESSED AIR TO APNEA DIVERS.

I've even had an apnea diver pull the reg out of my mouth. They were arrested by park rangers.

 

[PvtStash]

This is scarey... I'd hate to be in a situation where a freediver pops by an asks for a breath...

If we were fairly shallow I'd think it'd be pretty easy to fend him off, but what if deeper ? (ie, deeper than 60' ?) , I'd hate to be put in that position where I'd be putting him in danger if I DIDNT give him air, ie. he doesnt have enough to get back to the surface.

Maybe he saw divers down there an went deeper than he could safely go with the thought of getting a breath at depth from a diver and w/o that breath would be hard pressed to make it back. Stupid yes, but he's probably thinking "No one would refuse someone air who asked for it right?"

So do I help him and he embolizes himself or do I Not help and he drowns.... ugh...

better to hope never to be placed in such a situation.

 

[openmindOW]

NetDoc, DiveBunny and Tommy, thank you for your posts. I am just beginning to teach a new OW class this coming weekend and I will now add this admonition to my classroom sessions.

Yikes.

 

[openmindOW]

. . . I'd hate to be put in that position where I'd be putting him in danger if I DIDNT give him air, ie. he doesnt have enough to get back to the surface.

Good point. That's what makes this so scarey, in my view.


Well-intentioned, generous people want to help. So if a FreeDiver asks for air, one might just respond by offering air.

How would it look if you didn't offer air and the guy drowned?!

 

[SolarStorm]

I think the choice is simple. Its hard to repair the damage from an embolism. Not as hard, but still difficult, to revive a drowned swimmer. I would let the swimmer drown. Surface with the drowned swimmer. Get boyant or on the boat/shore and administer Mouth to Mouth. Much greater chance at living.