Near Misses - beyond the OW certification

[Hawkwood]

Planning and avoidance beats a toolbox of reactions any day.

Thank you. I'm using that one!

Bill

 

[Thalassamania]

I don't have the exact reference, but hopefully someone can come up with it ... there was an Article, way back, in the Scottish Sub-Aqua Journal, that reported on what could be grown out, in culture, from swabs taken from the inside of ABLJs. It was pretty scary. Fenzys, at one time, came with a mouthpiece that had two one way valves (disabled by a center button for "manual" inflation) that were designed so that if you sucked on it the air came out of the bag and if you exhaled it was directed out into the water. I'll see if I still have one about for a photo.

 

[Jax]

Get in a pool with one of these diving bricks, tie a string from you mask to it. Swim away, the mask should pull off. Practice swimming without it, find it, put it on and clear it.

"You just got your mask kicked off."

 

[Jax]

Empty your BC at the bottom of the pool (12' is better).

Practice oral inflate and surface. (blown LP hose)

Swim up without inflating BC. (whole ripped)

 

[Jax]

Got spare mask?

Exhale. Flip off the mask you are wearing.

Reach for and replace the spare mask.

 

[Jax]

Can you do all that?

Okay, now practice it without raising or dropping more than 6" (1 foot window).

 

[Jax]

got that?

Now do it all with your eyes closed. (zero vis)

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I really prefer to talk about strategies for AVOIDING ever having to think about things like BC breathing . . . come on, guys! The only reason you'd ever consider it would be if you were completely out of gas, too deep for a comfortable CESA, and out of reach of a buddy. There is no excuse for running out of gas, but there are a couple of reasons why one's equipment might stop delivering it (or overdeliver it). So at that point, you have a buddy to share with and you do an ascent as you were taught. If you are diving without a buddy nearby, you ought to have a redundant gas source.

Planning and avoidance beats a toolbox of reactions any day.

The only scenarios I can imagine that would lead me to do something like BC breathing are in the "suck a fart out of a donkeys ass" category; the number of things that would all have to go wrong at the same time is such that the possibilities are as close to zero as make sno difference.

 

[Rkelleyj]

Thanks for the replies, I do agree that discussing how to avoid scenarios is a valuable discussion. My background is risk management in a much different field, but what I can tell you that IF something could go wrong, it most definitely will. It goes wrong in my world on a daily basis, whereas others in this profession would never imagine it could. (Just a numbers game)

Anyhow, I'm learning more everyday I'm on this board, thanks to you
B