little incident

[oscar_2424]

this happen to me yesterday wiht my two buddies: we went to a wreck 70 foot deep, every thing was normal, 10 minutes into the dive when i signal my buddies to check their air, one of them show me his spg and the needle was going up an down from 1500 to 0, i well we abort the dive since we didnt know was the problem ( we are newbies) anyway my concern eas to go back up and ascent not too fast to avoid dci, while we were acending i have my octo ready to hang to my friend just in case he needed, we did our 3m safety stop and surface with no problem. I told the captain what happened and he told me to look if the air wasopen all the way,as soon as i check my frien tank i was surprised to see that it was almost close!!!, i turned it all the way back, anyway at the end everthing was fine, and we learned that you have to be very meticulous even with the most logic things to do on a dive ALWASY TURN YOUR AIR ALL THE WAY, my only concern is that shouldn the divemaster of the boat check if the air is open before you jump??

 

[hdtran]

this happen to me yesterday wiht my two buddies: we went to a wreck 70 foot deep, every thing was normal, 10 minutes into the dive when i signal my buddies to check their air, one of them show me his spg and the needle was going up an down from 1500 to 0, i well we abort the dive since we didnt know was the problem ( we are newbies) anyway my concern eas to go back up and ascent not too fast to avoid dci, while we were acending i have my octo ready to hang to my friend just in case he needed, we did our 3m safety stop and surface with no problem. I told the captain what happened and he told me to look if the air wasopen all the way,as soon as i check my frien tank i was surprised to see that it was almost close!!!, i turned it all the way back, anyway at the end everthing was fine, and we learned that you have to be very meticulous even with the most logic things to do on a dive ALWASY TURN YOUR AIR ALL THE WAY, my only concern is that shouldn the divemaster of the boat check if the air is open before you jump??

IM(NS)HO, it is your responsibility to check your equipment--even if rented. So, you are responsible for checking your own air. You may have a buddy assist you with your equipment check.

For me, a routine check is to put my regulator in, & look at the SPG as I breathe. The SPG needle should be rock steady. I do this before entering the water. (Along with inflating the BCD before going in if I'm doing a backroll).

You'll have folks telling you to open the valve all the way, then, back it off, etc. Basically, don't jam the valve when you turn the knob...

In many areas, the DM's set up your equipment for you. But that doesn't absolve your responsibility for checking that everything is good. In some places, they will open the valve when setting it up, then, close the valve (to avoid losing air thru regs, etc.)

Glad you did the "air check" w/ the buddies before things got hairy!

 

[ReefGuy]

Agreed. Don't try to let the DM think for you, after all s/he is staying on the boat.

It is very important for the reasons that you just learned that when you test your regulator you watch your pressure gauge.

Also, One thing that I don't do at it's taught in class is to turn the tank valve all the way on, then back 1/4 turn. I leave it on full blast. This also helps avoid this problem.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

...shouldn the divemaster of the boat check if the air is open before you jump??

...no one should touch your gear but you. Never assume anyone has done anything to your gear. Request crew and DMs to leave your gear alone, don't have them 'help' you switch tanks, etc.

If you always do it yourself, you always know its done right. Then the only thing you have to check for is the moron who is trying to be helpful and turns your valves off by mistake.

Never trust anyone else to deal with your gear.

 

[oscar_2424]

Agreed. Don't try to let the DM think for you, after all s/he is staying on the boat.

It is very important for the reasons that you just learned that when you test your regulator you watch your pressure gauge.

Also, One thing that I don't do at it's taught in class is to turn the tank valve all the way on, then back 1/4 turn. I leave it on full blast. This also helps avoid this problem.

Dont get me wrong i agree that everyone is responsible for their own equipment and my friend should have check his spg before i just say that usually before the diver jumps to the water the divemaster double checks that the air is on, thats all

 

[Wijbrandus]

I've had DMs shut my gas off before I jumped in the water.

Now no one touches my gas but me or my buddy (to check), and if it's wrong, it's no ones fault but my own.

 

[kent_1848]

Dont get me wrong i agree that everyone is responsible for their own equipment and my friend should have check his spg before i just say that usually before the diver jumps to the water the divemaster double checks that the air is on, thats all

I wouldn't count on it. I have rarely had a divemaster check my air! I would say maybe 1 in 10 possibly even less. When I DM, I always check peoples air when they jump in, including the instructor the last weekend when I was at the lake, he had forgotton to turn on his air. Hey, I'm proud of you, in that you guys did the right thing. You didn't know what was going on, but had enough sense not to continue the dive and risk it. Kudos to you and your buddies.

 

[james croft]

Doc Intrepid was right on the money. I went on a cattle boat where almost everyone had rental gear. The DM changed tanks for almost everyone. After the first dive I got back into the boat and swapped tanks. I might add I was the last guy in the boat. After swapping tanks I went forward to get some food and catch some rays. I had checked my SPG and had 3200 psi. I had breathed on my reg and my needle was right on. Like a idiot I started my second dive w/o a good buddy check. ( I have no one to blame but myself for what happened next) Entering the water I dropped down to about 70 feet. I looked at my guage and was on fumes. I started up and had enough air to make it up and take a safety stop. I found out the DM had swappped my first tank back on and removed my full tank. I was ready to raise holy hell once I realized what happened, but once I analyzed the situation I realized that I was the one who made the dive with low air. I learned a good lesson from this. The DM assumed I needed my tanks swapped like the majority of divers on the boat, and I assumed that just because I had swapped tanks I did not need to recheck them prior to entereng the water 50 minutes later. Both the DM and I probably got some valuable education from this. Take care of your own gear and do not depend on someone else doing it for you.
l

 

[Corigan]

I had a Deckhand turn off my gas last weekend. I knew it was on as I had already performed pre-dive checks (sniffed the gas, tested regs, hit the regs while looking at SPG, etc.). Then I felt him cranking on the back of my tank and knew he was turning off my air. I hit my reg and looked at the SPG and watched the needle drop. Lets just say the deckhand got an earful.

Matt

 

[Aeolus]

I have had my air inadvertently turned off by DMs twice; once in Coz and once in Little Cayman. They were "checking" immediately prior to entry and turned it the wrong way. Luckily, in each case, I noticed the problem as I was doing my second check in the water prior to descending. Now, I prefer that they do not touch my gear once I have it on.