Womble
Registered
I'll change the names to protect... well, myself really.
A year or two back I was on a charter and two of us needed buddies so we got paired up. I was already a DM at the time and I have no problem working with divers with less experience on my 'fun dives', just so long as I know the score before I go down.
Anyway, I introduced myself to my buddy, chatted a bit, admired his new rig, dry-suit, etc., etc. This guy had a lot of top-of-the line gear and given the pedigree of the rest of the divers on the boat (I won't be more specific than that) it would have been easy to assume that this guy knew a thing or two about diving. However, whether through good practice or blind luck I questioned him a bit harder about his dive experience, and lo and behold, it turned out he had less than 15 dives! Including his OW checkouts! Don't assume...
So I took the time to go through what to expect on the dive, and went through some hand signals just in case. I remember the immortal line: "...And this of course is the 'out of air' signal, NOT that we'll be needing it!" (Ho, ho). I checked his gear, his gauge read 3300 psi (good fill, but a warm day too... still). I showed him my gear, where my octo was, and mentioned for no good reason that should we have an OOS we would just come to the surface without a safety stop and signal the boat DM to come and help us - no pride in a situation like that, right?
Anyway, we dropped in, down to 80' for a little swim around some rocks. I noticed that he was struggling a little with his bouyancy, but what do you expect after less than 15 dives? What I didn't perceive was that the reason he appeared to be struggling was that as he was trying to get down he was trying to control his bouyancy at every level by repeatedly inflating, and then deflating, BOTH his dry suit AND his BC.
So we get to the bottom, I signal 'OK', he gives it back, and we set off. Just because I know this guy's fairly new, after 5 minutes I decide to check his air. He tells me that he's at 2500. Holy moly - that's quite a bit of burn for such a short dive, but I figure we can carry on. I'll just have to watch him... I turn to swim away and he grabs my fin to attract my attention. He waves me back and indicates that he gave me the wrong air pressure - it is in fact 1500! I'm struggling to believe that, so I look at his gauge. By this time, just over 5 minutes into the dive at 80' it's actually reading 800! From 3000+ on the surface! OMG!
So of course, we ascend, nice 'n' slow, I stay real close, looking him in the eyes all the way, and we actually made it to 15 - 20' to start a safety stop. Then his eyes go like saucers and I know he's finished the tank, so before he can finish the first cut of his OO signal I shove my octo in his mouth, grab him, and finish the ascent.
The dive lasted a total of 9 minutes by my computer, and I still had 2500 in my tank.
That's my rescue story. Good training pays, and NEVER assume the ability or experience of someone you don't know too well, especially if that assumption is based on fancy gear.
A year or two back I was on a charter and two of us needed buddies so we got paired up. I was already a DM at the time and I have no problem working with divers with less experience on my 'fun dives', just so long as I know the score before I go down.
Anyway, I introduced myself to my buddy, chatted a bit, admired his new rig, dry-suit, etc., etc. This guy had a lot of top-of-the line gear and given the pedigree of the rest of the divers on the boat (I won't be more specific than that) it would have been easy to assume that this guy knew a thing or two about diving. However, whether through good practice or blind luck I questioned him a bit harder about his dive experience, and lo and behold, it turned out he had less than 15 dives! Including his OW checkouts! Don't assume...
So I took the time to go through what to expect on the dive, and went through some hand signals just in case. I remember the immortal line: "...And this of course is the 'out of air' signal, NOT that we'll be needing it!" (Ho, ho). I checked his gear, his gauge read 3300 psi (good fill, but a warm day too... still). I showed him my gear, where my octo was, and mentioned for no good reason that should we have an OOS we would just come to the surface without a safety stop and signal the boat DM to come and help us - no pride in a situation like that, right?
Anyway, we dropped in, down to 80' for a little swim around some rocks. I noticed that he was struggling a little with his bouyancy, but what do you expect after less than 15 dives? What I didn't perceive was that the reason he appeared to be struggling was that as he was trying to get down he was trying to control his bouyancy at every level by repeatedly inflating, and then deflating, BOTH his dry suit AND his BC.
So we get to the bottom, I signal 'OK', he gives it back, and we set off. Just because I know this guy's fairly new, after 5 minutes I decide to check his air. He tells me that he's at 2500. Holy moly - that's quite a bit of burn for such a short dive, but I figure we can carry on. I'll just have to watch him... I turn to swim away and he grabs my fin to attract my attention. He waves me back and indicates that he gave me the wrong air pressure - it is in fact 1500! I'm struggling to believe that, so I look at his gauge. By this time, just over 5 minutes into the dive at 80' it's actually reading 800! From 3000+ on the surface! OMG!
So of course, we ascend, nice 'n' slow, I stay real close, looking him in the eyes all the way, and we actually made it to 15 - 20' to start a safety stop. Then his eyes go like saucers and I know he's finished the tank, so before he can finish the first cut of his OO signal I shove my octo in his mouth, grab him, and finish the ascent.
The dive lasted a total of 9 minutes by my computer, and I still had 2500 in my tank.
That's my rescue story. Good training pays, and NEVER assume the ability or experience of someone you don't know too well, especially if that assumption is based on fancy gear.
