Hi,
I have been lurking for a few weeks but this is my first post.
I am signed up to get my SSI OW Cert (first class is tonight), and have gotten through all of the study guides.
I have been giving some thought to how to deal with various scenarios (seems like now is a better time than when they come up) and have some questions.
I am hesitant to bring them all up in class as 1) My girlfriend, who is also in the class, is already nervous enough about what can go wrong and 2) I am concerned that I will convince the instrutor that I am a morbid freak.
Anyway here are some things I have thought about and I would be happy for any feedback.
I do realize that all of these are very unlikely, but I'm still curious about how to handle them.
1) Vomiting. What happens if my breakfast suddenly decides to make a U-turn? Breathing through my nose doesn't seem promising, and it seems unlikely that I would be able to vomit, purge, breath and repeat without asperating seawater or vomit. Should I just take my chances with an emergency buoyant ascent?
2) Failure of first stage. My octo (by the way, why are they called that anyway?) isn't going to help. I suppose the ideal solution is to get air from my buddy or use a pony bottle if I have one, but what about buoyancy? My BC is probably empty if I am on the bottom, will my buddys BC be able to lift both of us and the equipment? Or worse yet if I am separated from my body? Should I just shed the scuba unit/weights and try to swim up?
2B) Assuming my buddy did share air with me (for whatever reason), am I obligated to reimburse him for an air-fill? If I share air should I expect re-imbursement? And is the re-imbursement pro-rated?
3) LP Hose failure. In the event of a LP hose failing, especially if it happens at the connection to the first stage, will I still have use of my power inflator? I suspect the LP pressure as seen by the 2nd stage and power inflator will be pretty close to ambient pressure. It seems that I should be able to generate enough partial vacuum (by inhaling) to get air out of the second stage (although I have my doubts about purging), but will there be enough pressure to inflate the BC?
Thanks!
I have been lurking for a few weeks but this is my first post.
I am signed up to get my SSI OW Cert (first class is tonight), and have gotten through all of the study guides.
I have been giving some thought to how to deal with various scenarios (seems like now is a better time than when they come up) and have some questions.
I am hesitant to bring them all up in class as 1) My girlfriend, who is also in the class, is already nervous enough about what can go wrong and 2) I am concerned that I will convince the instrutor that I am a morbid freak.
Anyway here are some things I have thought about and I would be happy for any feedback.
I do realize that all of these are very unlikely, but I'm still curious about how to handle them.
1) Vomiting. What happens if my breakfast suddenly decides to make a U-turn? Breathing through my nose doesn't seem promising, and it seems unlikely that I would be able to vomit, purge, breath and repeat without asperating seawater or vomit. Should I just take my chances with an emergency buoyant ascent?
2) Failure of first stage. My octo (by the way, why are they called that anyway?) isn't going to help. I suppose the ideal solution is to get air from my buddy or use a pony bottle if I have one, but what about buoyancy? My BC is probably empty if I am on the bottom, will my buddys BC be able to lift both of us and the equipment? Or worse yet if I am separated from my body? Should I just shed the scuba unit/weights and try to swim up?
2B) Assuming my buddy did share air with me (for whatever reason), am I obligated to reimburse him for an air-fill? If I share air should I expect re-imbursement? And is the re-imbursement pro-rated?
3) LP Hose failure. In the event of a LP hose failing, especially if it happens at the connection to the first stage, will I still have use of my power inflator? I suspect the LP pressure as seen by the 2nd stage and power inflator will be pretty close to ambient pressure. It seems that I should be able to generate enough partial vacuum (by inhaling) to get air out of the second stage (although I have my doubts about purging), but will there be enough pressure to inflate the BC?
Thanks!