Chavodel8en
Contributor
So whenever folks report that they went OOA, I always think "how hard is it to monitor your gas, you goof."
Well, here is my goof report.
Not much to report. Dive in the Carmel CA area. Max depth 71', 46 minute dive. One buddy called 500 psi. I had about 700 psi. So I chased down lead buddy about 15 feet ahead of us, and we began ascent. Since I had plenty of gas I didn't check it again, until about 2 min into safety stop, at 15 feet. Gauge was right at the 0.
So I decided to swim up. Couldn't really tell if it was harder to breath, but thought maybe it was. At least I managed it well, as I reached the surface I exhaled into my BC as a surge washed over me. Kicked up again, inhaled surface air and exhaled into BC again, and now fully positive.
The lesson learned for me is complacency and constant monitoring of gauge.
What also got me is that so many of my local shore dives end very shallow, so the ascent is very short. Often I don't even do a safety stop, since the end of the dive is essentially a swimming safety stop. So I'm in the habit of not considering the needs of a true, full ascent and safety stop, at least for local shore dives
This dives ascent was from 50' feet, and I did a slow long kicking ascent. I wanted to be negative bc I am planning on dropping 2 lbs and wanted to ensure I could. So I was more concerned with monitoring my buoyancy than my gas.
I could probably stand to improve my buoyancy skills. I tend to ascend negative, by kicking and hold the stop while lightly kicking. One buddy did it all with buoyancy, which is optimal.
Chasing the lead buddy may have used up some gas too, although it wasn't a long or vigorous swim.
Probably main lesson learned is more monitoring of gas.
Well, here is my goof report.
Not much to report. Dive in the Carmel CA area. Max depth 71', 46 minute dive. One buddy called 500 psi. I had about 700 psi. So I chased down lead buddy about 15 feet ahead of us, and we began ascent. Since I had plenty of gas I didn't check it again, until about 2 min into safety stop, at 15 feet. Gauge was right at the 0.
So I decided to swim up. Couldn't really tell if it was harder to breath, but thought maybe it was. At least I managed it well, as I reached the surface I exhaled into my BC as a surge washed over me. Kicked up again, inhaled surface air and exhaled into BC again, and now fully positive.
The lesson learned for me is complacency and constant monitoring of gauge.
What also got me is that so many of my local shore dives end very shallow, so the ascent is very short. Often I don't even do a safety stop, since the end of the dive is essentially a swimming safety stop. So I'm in the habit of not considering the needs of a true, full ascent and safety stop, at least for local shore dives
This dives ascent was from 50' feet, and I did a slow long kicking ascent. I wanted to be negative bc I am planning on dropping 2 lbs and wanted to ensure I could. So I was more concerned with monitoring my buoyancy than my gas.
I could probably stand to improve my buoyancy skills. I tend to ascend negative, by kicking and hold the stop while lightly kicking. One buddy did it all with buoyancy, which is optimal.
Chasing the lead buddy may have used up some gas too, although it wasn't a long or vigorous swim.
Probably main lesson learned is more monitoring of gas.
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