Rescue of DIR style Diver

[knowone]

Mask on face, reg in place, fins on feet, till bum in seat
and all other variables associated with the aforementioned
in relation to your circumstances, for those south of the border.


Your best buddy is a mirror

You can always get another mirror

You, won't be able to replicate your image

 

[aquaregia]

Good point, something I never thought about. Would you just do a visual check to see if their head was tilted back on ascent?

Nah. If raising them face-down you can get an arm under there. Face-up should happen as a matter of course.

 

[Crush]

Mask on face, reg in place, fins on feet, till bum in seat

You insist upon wearing your fins while ascending the ladder and trudging to your seat?! That is dedication!

 

[thkhoo]

Good point, something I never thought about. Would you just do a visual check to see if their head was tilted back on ascent?

Hey g1138,

The way I was taught, when rescuing an unconscious diver from depth (ie - not on the surface), as lamont stated, you "ride" the diver up to the surface (similar to how you could position yourself - straddling the tank - in a rescue of a panicked diver at the surface) controlling the ascent with their wing.

As stated by Sat Diver, you keep the airways open during this.

To answer your question, if the second stage is still in their mouth, you "cup" their chin with your palm and hold the regulator in place with the trigger and middle fingers, tilting their head slightly backwards and towards you (remember, you will be straddling their tank from the back at this point). If their regulator has fallen out of their mouths, don't bother trying to put it back in, just surface as quickly as you can while not endangering yourself.

Remember, the first thing about rescue is to ensure you do not put yourself in unnecessary danger.

As per your question about a DIR diver, if said diver is on anything other than singles, chances are they will have some deco requirements. In this case, there is not much you can do but surface the unconscious diver anyway. You can look at it this way: The diver is dead if you do nothing. You can't really make the situation any worse for said diver at this stage. Do the best you can, as you were trained. That's all anyone can expect.

Dive safe!

 

[cloudflint]

Hey g1138,

The way I was taught, when rescuing an unconscious diver from depth (ie - not on the surface), as lamont stated, you "ride" the diver up to the surface (similar to how you could position yourself - straddling the tank - in a rescue of a panicked diver at the surface) controlling the ascent with their wing.

As stated by Sat Diver, you keep the airways open during this.

To answer your question, if the second stage is still in their mouth, you "cup" their chin with your palm and hold the regulator in place with the trigger and middle fingers, tilting their head slightly backwards and towards you (remember, you will be straddling their tank from the back at this point). If their regulator has fallen out of their mouths, don't bother trying to put it back in, just surface as quickly as you can while not endangering yourself.

Remember, the first thing about rescue is to ensure you do not put yourself in unnecessary danger.

As per your question about a DIR diver, if said diver is on anything other than singles, chances are they will have some deco requirements. In this case, there is not much you can do but surface the unconscious diver anyway. You can look at it this way: The diver is dead if you do nothing. You can't really make the situation any worse for said diver at this stage. Do the best you can, as you were trained. That's all anyone can expect.

Dive safe!

Have you rescued someone in a drysuit using this method? I would have thought that if you where holding them from behind they would end up floating away from you as the air in their drysuit expanded?

Years ago there used to be a certain instructor who taught people that during rescue the first thing you had to do was punch the unconscious diver in the chest to get the air out otherwise their lungs would explode

 

[elmer fudd]

Years ago there used to be a certain instructor who taught people that during rescue the first thing you had to do was punch the unconscious diver in the chest to get the air out otherwise their lungs would explode

I'm a huge proponent of the "sucker punch" school of rescue diving. I find it's very effective. The other day my dive buddy seemed to have gone catatonic. He was just floating there doing nothing for what seemed like several minutes. I wanted to slap him upside the head, but that dang camera was in the way, so I hit him hard in the solar plexus. That snapped him right out of it. He doubled up and exhaled then went right for the surface. Let me tell you, there's nothing like a vigorous assault to bring someone to their senses.

 

[victor]

You should have been taught in your rescue course how to bring up an unconscious diver from depth which involves using their wing to inflate them and basically ride them to the surface.

Answer doesn't change at all based on depth.

This assumes that YOU can go directly to the surface, if you have a deco situation this may not be advisable.
I agree that this is more likely to be a recovery than a rescue but assuming that you have an unresponsive diver then dumping their weight belt, or inflating their wing, at depth and sending them on their way to the surface is better that you ignoring a significant deco situation and riding them to the surface and becoming a statistic yourself.

 

[TSandM]

I have read many times on SB Jim Lapenta (and others) post that you should always keep your regulator in your mouth until back on the boat or otherwise well out of the water - very good advice.

This is a very good principle, and one I follow on boats. For shore diving, though, I often walk into the water without a regulator in my mouth, if the entry is easy. But I have barked a shin on an unseen rock in murky water and gone ass over teacup, and I was very glad of my bungied octo!

WRT rescue scenarios during staged decompression diving -- there are often no good answers, and the bigger the dive, the higher the chance of being put in a no-win situation if a rescue is necessary. Read the story of the dual fatality in the California mine from a couple of months ago. There are reasons why such diving is considered advanced and requires a lot of training.

 

[g1138]

Well before this post gets out of hand let me clarify. I titled it "DIR style" to indicate a diver diving semi-DIR. So this supposed diver will not be fully equipped but rather have some config that's inspired by the DIR style.

For this post in general I'm looking at single tank, single hog harness with backplate, weightbelt, drysuit or wetsuit. No doubles, no deco, no bailouts.
In terms of hose length and regulator config, it can be anything, from bungee backups, 40in octos, to Air2's; angle adapters, 32in primary, to 7ft primary. (I don't think we really have to focus on that)

The reason I ask this is because a few divers at my university are getting into Bp/W and some have (or are thinking) of going for configs that are similar to a DIR set-up. I myself would like to go somewhere near this config but our instructor deems it safer to have our weightbelts outside the crotch strap. Reason being if you need to ditch, you can ditch and in the event that a basic OW student (one you're shadowing during checkouts) has to rescue you, they can ditch your belt for you. This is assuming we do my school's style of rescue by ditching a belt at depth; which isn't changing in terms of class instruction.

I feel it would be less of a hassle to have it under the crotch strap, diving wise. Which is why we're here, just looking for some input in rescue scenarios. I see now that ditching a weightbelt at depth is not universal for a rescue so I think I have my answers now. =]

 

[muddiver]

Are you talking scuba diving throught the uiversity club, or the scientific diving program?.

If you are diving in connection with scientific diving program you must follow the diving manual of the university you are diving under. In that manual, as directed by the DSO of your program (i.e. the instructor you mentioned I am assuming), you must have your weight belt outside of any croch strap. This is not a debatable issue. If you think you want to do it your way you need to present your change in diving procedure to the Diving Control Board for your university for approval.