1. Had a buddy in an uncontrollable quick ascent from 60 feet due to dry suit inflator stuck open and she couldn't get the hose disconnected quick enough. Fortunately, it was on descent and on the first dive of the day and she ended up OK. Scary though.
2. Not an emergency, but scary, I had someone giant stride off of a boat while I was already below waiting at 30 feet and looking up. They got to about 15 feet above me when suddenly their integrated weight pouch with 12 lbs of lead in it (cold water/drysuit) dislodged and came whizzing past my head and missed my skull by about 3 inches. That could have been fatal given how fast it was coming. I still think about it.
3. I had a middle ear barotrauma. Super early in my diving (12 dives) and still getting buoyancy dialed in. Cold water, dry suit, horrible viz in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Ascended too quickly at the end of a dive. Hearing loss and equilibrium issues lasted for 3 weeks and then resolved. I was very lucky and back in the water diving after 2 months.
4. Underweighted diver in Cozumel was in my group. We started to ascend to our safety stop at the end of a dive and she was just rocketing up. Between my buddy, me and the DM, we were able to grab her and get her controlled for the entirety of the safety stop.
5. Also had another diver in my group in Cozumel (different group, different year, different everything) have a weight pouch come dislodged at 85 feet. She was in the midst of an uncontrolled ascent when I grabbed her and got everything sorted.
Properly weighted is always the ideal. Overweighted divers seem to be an unfortunate norm and is dangerous. But, working as a DM, not to mention 4 of the 5 scenarios mentioned here, have taught me that as much as I personally prefer to be properly weighted and I always am when diving solo and have no other concerns or responsibilities; when I dive with others, I prefer to be a "bit" overweighted to be able to help and save in these potential scenarios.
2. Not an emergency, but scary, I had someone giant stride off of a boat while I was already below waiting at 30 feet and looking up. They got to about 15 feet above me when suddenly their integrated weight pouch with 12 lbs of lead in it (cold water/drysuit) dislodged and came whizzing past my head and missed my skull by about 3 inches. That could have been fatal given how fast it was coming. I still think about it.
3. I had a middle ear barotrauma. Super early in my diving (12 dives) and still getting buoyancy dialed in. Cold water, dry suit, horrible viz in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Ascended too quickly at the end of a dive. Hearing loss and equilibrium issues lasted for 3 weeks and then resolved. I was very lucky and back in the water diving after 2 months.
4. Underweighted diver in Cozumel was in my group. We started to ascend to our safety stop at the end of a dive and she was just rocketing up. Between my buddy, me and the DM, we were able to grab her and get her controlled for the entirety of the safety stop.
5. Also had another diver in my group in Cozumel (different group, different year, different everything) have a weight pouch come dislodged at 85 feet. She was in the midst of an uncontrolled ascent when I grabbed her and got everything sorted.
Properly weighted is always the ideal. Overweighted divers seem to be an unfortunate norm and is dangerous. But, working as a DM, not to mention 4 of the 5 scenarios mentioned here, have taught me that as much as I personally prefer to be properly weighted and I always am when diving solo and have no other concerns or responsibilities; when I dive with others, I prefer to be a "bit" overweighted to be able to help and save in these potential scenarios.