Messed up and ascended like a missile

[M DeM]

forgive my noobiness then, all air readings are in bar it seems

No, not all air readings are in BAR. It depends on where you are and metric vs imperial. If you own your own reg, that's one thing. But if you're renting and traveling to different locations, you definitely need to know if your gauge is in PSI or in Bar.

 

[MichaelMc]

I was thinking of Time Warp, but then started ad-libbing, and it fell apart a bit.
I could have made it better, next time maybe.

 

[MichaelMc]

But I take your point, and would delete the my post if ScubaBoard let users delete posts...

No need, just "I'm shocked Oh my" (and did not read the thread) rarely works really well.

 

[M DeM]

No need, just "I'm shocked Oh my" (and did not read the thread) rarely works really well.

Fair point.

 

[brainii]

guys thanks for the advice.

i am open water certified, but i haven't dived in over a year after my cert, first dive after was the one i mention here.

btw, in cyprus, those who live in coastal cities, we do all our training/certification in the sea over here, no swimming pool at all.

the air readings were in bar.

also, i flew through my training back then, i was rly very good, only had trouble with mask removal but managed to learn it (back then) and pass with no issue and i dont panic underwater.

but, it seems like i forgot stuff due to having no practise for over a year. diving like everything needs practise.

also, this incident scared the **** out of me, imagine if i had been deeper like in 30m i'd have serious dci.

i will def practise mask removal and clearing, study the ow manual again and go for a shallow dive first next time before wreck diving. i will also remember to remove excess air before trying clearing etc and be definitely more aware of depth changes next time. i will also demand a working depth gauge (the one i was provided with did not work so i couldnt notice the depth change also). i thought no big deal as the dm had a computer but it rly seems u need your own

 

[RayfromTX]

After about 40 dives I had an uncontrolled ascent. It was this past July in Roatan. I had an air bubble in my bcd that I couldn't get out and didn't know how to deal with. Like @DandyDon said, my biggest fear was getting hit by a boat, because I didn't have an smb. And....it was very embarrassing.

Turns out it was a blessing in disguise. I found SB. Got good advice, and started reading like crazy. All of a sudden my unconscious incompetence was illuminated. I reread all of my OW manual. I'm going to our lds to practice basic skills. I'm headed to Bali in a few weeks and will get my AOW with Geko. I love diving and want to get really good at it.

As others have mentioned, one of the most important lessons I learned was that I am responsible for my own safety. The DM didn't even know I surfaced until the safety stop, about 10 minutes later. What a huge lesson that some DMs are really underwater tour guides. I requested a different DM for our remaining dives and a lower number of divers in the group....both my newly certified kids were with us. Hubby and I had serious conversations with the kids about what a dive buddy is really all about and had agreements on subsequent dives about how close to be together, what to do if we lost our buddy, etc.

Keep learning, keep asking questions, and keep diving...safely! Best wishes to you.

This is a really great post to read. Best of luck as you continue to follow this passion of ours.

 

[Roger Hobden]

I'm a beginner diver also.

A piece of advice that come back again and again here on ScubaBoard is to practice buoyancy until it becomes well controlled, then practice drills like mask removal and clearing while maintaining buoyancy at the same depth, so you don't ascend by accident like you did.

Best of luck !

 

[mattia_v]

No, not all air readings are in BAR. It depends on where you are and metric vs imperial. If you own your own reg, that's one thing. But if you're renting and traveling to different locations, you definitely need to know if your gauge is in PSI or in Bar.

Agreed, certainly a thing to check when renting gear. Most everywhere I've been offers both in rental gear (because US divers like PSI).

For general use, it doesn't much matter what units are in the dial, so long as you know what's too little. If you want to do the planning and calculate stuff based on air consumption (L/min) I don't see why anyone would willingly use PSI when Bar is so much simpler (Bar x tank volume = liters of air available).

 

[boulderjohn]

Here is something that has not been mentioned so far.

One of the most common reasons that new divers end up rocketing to the surface (and it happens more than it should) is contrary to what you might think--new divers are frequently overweighted, often by quite a bit.

So why would being overweighted make you rocket to the surface? You would think it would be just the opposite. The reason is that in order to become neutrally buoyant when overweighted, you have to add a lot of air to the BCD. For every kilogram you don't need, you have to add about a liter of air to the BCD. As you get shallower while doing something like clearing a mask, all that extra air will expand, and the next thing you know you are on an out-of-control rocket to the surface.

The less weight you wear, the less air you need in the BCD. The less air you have in your BCD, the easier it is for you to control your buoyancy, usually simply through the way you breathe.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

But I take your point, and would delete the my post if ScubaBoard let users delete posts...

FYI only - although you can not technically delete the post - you can edit a post... Same thing - remove what you wrote and type in "Deleted" or "Misread the post" or any assorted saying... That in essence removes the words from the post - but not the entry...