secure your gear

[DivemasterDennis]

Hello potential divers, student divers, and new divers. I just finished a weekend in which I was part of team doing the open water dives for 31 open water students. All passed and are now diving, but we had a problem that occurred way too often. That problem was dropped gear. Several students in weight integrated bcd's dropped a weight pocket. We had two lost masks which they had pushed back to the top of the diver's head, and 3 snorkels were dropped. That might not be a problem in crystal clear water, but we were in a Colorado reservoir with silty bottom and about 8 feet of visibility in the clear spots, and less than 2 feet where divers were entering and exiting. Miraculously, we found all the dropped items except for one weight pocket. So if you are about to go out on your open water dives remember these things:
1. If you take off your mask, wear it like a necklace. Don't park it on top of your head
2. Check to secure your weights are secure, wether in an integrated weight pockt system or using a weight belt. Check it twice. Even three times.
3. Check your snorkel keeper. If it came with the snorkel, it may not be the most secure piece of equipment. Consider getting a figure 8 rubber keeper. Ask you dive shop what that is- they will secure your snorkel better than anything else.
Just trying to help....
DivemasterDennis

 

[TracyN]

You might want to add, secure the consuls to the BC somehow because it's painful to see consuls dragging across the reef and the bottom.

 

[DukeAMO]

Those plastic snorkel keepers are the worst. My daughter has one on her snorkel set, ugh!

 

[Phil_C]

Yep - had that on Sunday, 22 divers doing drills and so on, in the local quarry, I spent the first hour in the water as a safety diver, amazing how many smb's popped up all on their own, still rolled and with just a little trapped air making them buoyant.

Unfortunately the other things that were dropped were not buoyant, but we did find all the weight belts and other bits that were dropped in the shallows, but by the time we had got everything though the visibility was down to about 10 inches


P

 

[00wabbit]

While we are at it. Secure those tanks.

On a boat Friday a tank fell out of the rack and broke a guys foot.

 

[t4e]

#1-check
#2-check
#3-safely stored in my bcd pocket

FWIW i've seen an instructor loosing his mask lol...i guess one should practice what they preach

 

[rick00001967]

31 students ?? holy crap !!

 

[Zen1300]

Was there any buddy checks going on?

I was taught that a mask on the top of the head meant a diver in trouble... not sure why, but was always told to never do that.

You mention you were part of a team - were you one of the DMs - how many were there?

 

[DukeAMO]

I was taught that a mask on the top of the head meant a diver in trouble... not sure why, but was always told to never do that.

Well, putting your mask on the top of your head will fog it up, and you're likely to lose it, so we're all (hopefully) taught not to do it. If you do stick your mask on your forehead, at the very least, it could be a sign that you're too task-loaded, and forgetting the finer points of your training. It could be a warning sign.

Panicked divers who instinctively yank off the mask might also end up with it on their foreheads.

 

[Storker]

Check your snorkel keeper. If it came with the snorkel, it may not be the most secure piece of equipment.

And if your snorkel keeper is like this, I can strongly recommend following DivemasterDennis' advice of getting a figure 8 keeper.

I've got two spare snorkel keepers now, and no snorkel. The first snorkel fell off the keeper during a giant stride, and I didn't notice it before I could see it sinking in a slow spiral, just outside my reach, towards the bottom at 80m depth. The second came off underwater after I'd gotten it entangled with my BCD inflator hose, and I thought I could just stuff it inside my harness until I had surfaced. Yes, I could stuff it there. It didn't stay there, however.

These days I dive without a snorkel and with a shorter BCD inflator hose...