So..... Got some new grey hairs.....
I was doing a trimix training dive yesterday with 4 divers. I am one of the students. I have 30 years of diving experience, more than 10 years of full-on technical experience but I never did Trimix because in our local area you need to bring a shovel if you want to get deeper than about 50m.
Diver 1 was the instructor. He's a Padi CD, TDI instructor trainer, re-breather guru and has more certifications than will fit in his wallet. He's also a personal friend and a very picky instructor, which is why I am following this course with him.
Diver 2 is a Padi tek-rec instructor candidate. He has 600-odd dives, is a highly experienced technical nitrox diver and is learning how to teach that course.
Diver 3 is a PADI/IANTD/TDI diver who is full cave certified and highly experienced. He has limited experience with non-overhead environments, which makes me think that he is probably dive circles around me.
Diver 4 is me. PADI instructor, IANTD technical, ice etc and highly experienced. I have zero (next to zero) experience in caves but a lot of experience in wrecks.
So.... I mean, the guy with 600-odd dives was the least experienced diver in the group. What the hell could go wrong, right?
But the dive was complete CF.
We got into the water fine, descended, made the buddy/bubble check and proceeded. Diver 3, however, is using a borrowed drysuit. His own suit is in for repairs and he thought, "meh'.
during the swim to 50m he fell a bit behind. He couldn't keep up with the two front divers. We stopped and waited for him a couple of times but didn't communicate with him. He was considering calling the dive but we didn't wait long enough for him to fully catch up with us, catch his breath and explain what his problem was. WE assumed (assumption being the mother of all ****-ups) that he was just taking his time.
so deeper we go. AT 40m diver-2 suddenly stops. The depth was exactly 40m and the time was exactly 20 min. I thought he had confused 50m with 40m. The instructor thought that he had confused 20 with 25 min (the planned bottom time). The other student thought that he was just joking with us .... but he stopped exactly at 40m/20min and signed something that was either "gas change" or "something wrong" (learning point #1)
He then turned and started swimming back along the line.... fast. I caught him up and stopped him. screaming (though my reg) to his ear "what's wrong" (sounding like donald duck). He signed "something wrong" I screamed in his ear "how can I help you". He signed. "Ok" "swim" "line" "ok"
I deduced that he wanted to swim back to the shallows along the line. I couldn't deduce what was wrong.
At this point myself and my buddy, who were both using tables, needed to make a decision. We had a been at depth for a bit too long.
We let diver 2 go back along the line but myself and diver 3 had to ascend. The instructor came with us.
We ascended to 18m. I did my gas change. My buddy was having a hell of a time controlling his dry suit. He did his gas change but ascended in the process from 18 to 15m.
I signed for him to come down. He signed "ok" and I turned to get our orientation on the compass.
Just then the instructor signed me with his light. I turned back. He signed "buddy" and "up". I mean W.T.F. I looked up and my buddy was just about on the surface.
Myself and the instructor both ascended slightly as a result but waited. My buddy (diver-3) became stressed because of his uncontrolled ascent and vented everything..............
He ... fell (this is the only way to describe it) back to depth. myself and instructor both dove on him and grabbed him. We caught him at about 15m and arrested his descent. Due to the way he fell I was completely unsure if he was conscious or not. We were both holding on to his manifold and swimming up.
He initially appeared to be unresponsive. The instructors' light had fallen off his hand and was laying in the manifold. I removed it. I saw the instructor (who was using a rebreather) playing with his computer (adjusting the set-point). We were all getting dragged deeper. At some point I saw my buddy sort of "wake up" and switch from 50% to back gas. I was already at 22m. I let him go. I hoped (was pretty sure) that he was conscious and I didn't want to get dragged any deeper with 50% in my mouth. He descended to the bottom and spent a couple of minutes re-gaining his orientation.
The rest of the dive involved getting back in control. However, due to this incident I had no idea at all about my deco status. I really missed the computer. I used everything I know to create a plan on the fly. interestingly my plan and the instructor's plan only differed by 1 min.
I was doing a trimix training dive yesterday with 4 divers. I am one of the students. I have 30 years of diving experience, more than 10 years of full-on technical experience but I never did Trimix because in our local area you need to bring a shovel if you want to get deeper than about 50m.
Diver 1 was the instructor. He's a Padi CD, TDI instructor trainer, re-breather guru and has more certifications than will fit in his wallet. He's also a personal friend and a very picky instructor, which is why I am following this course with him.
Diver 2 is a Padi tek-rec instructor candidate. He has 600-odd dives, is a highly experienced technical nitrox diver and is learning how to teach that course.
Diver 3 is a PADI/IANTD/TDI diver who is full cave certified and highly experienced. He has limited experience with non-overhead environments, which makes me think that he is probably dive circles around me.
Diver 4 is me. PADI instructor, IANTD technical, ice etc and highly experienced. I have zero (next to zero) experience in caves but a lot of experience in wrecks.
So.... I mean, the guy with 600-odd dives was the least experienced diver in the group. What the hell could go wrong, right?
But the dive was complete CF.
We got into the water fine, descended, made the buddy/bubble check and proceeded. Diver 3, however, is using a borrowed drysuit. His own suit is in for repairs and he thought, "meh'.
during the swim to 50m he fell a bit behind. He couldn't keep up with the two front divers. We stopped and waited for him a couple of times but didn't communicate with him. He was considering calling the dive but we didn't wait long enough for him to fully catch up with us, catch his breath and explain what his problem was. WE assumed (assumption being the mother of all ****-ups) that he was just taking his time.
so deeper we go. AT 40m diver-2 suddenly stops. The depth was exactly 40m and the time was exactly 20 min. I thought he had confused 50m with 40m. The instructor thought that he had confused 20 with 25 min (the planned bottom time). The other student thought that he was just joking with us .... but he stopped exactly at 40m/20min and signed something that was either "gas change" or "something wrong" (learning point #1)
He then turned and started swimming back along the line.... fast. I caught him up and stopped him. screaming (though my reg) to his ear "what's wrong" (sounding like donald duck). He signed "something wrong" I screamed in his ear "how can I help you". He signed. "Ok" "swim" "line" "ok"
I deduced that he wanted to swim back to the shallows along the line. I couldn't deduce what was wrong.
At this point myself and my buddy, who were both using tables, needed to make a decision. We had a been at depth for a bit too long.
We let diver 2 go back along the line but myself and diver 3 had to ascend. The instructor came with us.
We ascended to 18m. I did my gas change. My buddy was having a hell of a time controlling his dry suit. He did his gas change but ascended in the process from 18 to 15m.
I signed for him to come down. He signed "ok" and I turned to get our orientation on the compass.
Just then the instructor signed me with his light. I turned back. He signed "buddy" and "up". I mean W.T.F. I looked up and my buddy was just about on the surface.
Myself and the instructor both ascended slightly as a result but waited. My buddy (diver-3) became stressed because of his uncontrolled ascent and vented everything..............
He ... fell (this is the only way to describe it) back to depth. myself and instructor both dove on him and grabbed him. We caught him at about 15m and arrested his descent. Due to the way he fell I was completely unsure if he was conscious or not. We were both holding on to his manifold and swimming up.
He initially appeared to be unresponsive. The instructors' light had fallen off his hand and was laying in the manifold. I removed it. I saw the instructor (who was using a rebreather) playing with his computer (adjusting the set-point). We were all getting dragged deeper. At some point I saw my buddy sort of "wake up" and switch from 50% to back gas. I was already at 22m. I let him go. I hoped (was pretty sure) that he was conscious and I didn't want to get dragged any deeper with 50% in my mouth. He descended to the bottom and spent a couple of minutes re-gaining his orientation.
The rest of the dive involved getting back in control. However, due to this incident I had no idea at all about my deco status. I really missed the computer. I used everything I know to create a plan on the fly. interestingly my plan and the instructor's plan only differed by 1 min.