OP
TN-Steve
Contributor
Well, this has gotten interesting. 
Things that got drilled into me this weekend...
You've got to get the victim to the surface. You can't become a victim yourself. Using their BCD means that worst case, they go up, you start to sink, but no big deal, you adjust. This does mean being familiar with different equipment, I wasn't familiar with the I3 on one victim, he was highly negative, so I used some positive buoyancy in my BC and mainly swam him up until his started to expand, then I vented a bit. I also made sure that I had a very good grip on him.
You can't do anything for them on the bottom. They are already in the worst shape possible, get them to the surface as safely as possible, and then you can start providing some level of aid while moving them to shore.
Before you do anything else... STOP, BREATHE, THINK, ACT. (at first we tended to act, then breathe, them maybe at some point think about what we were doing). A few seconds one way or another to formulate a plan, get an idea of what you need to do will probably be of more benefit than immediate and ineffectual action.
And my DiveRite fins rocked.
RBS
Things that got drilled into me this weekend...
You've got to get the victim to the surface. You can't become a victim yourself. Using their BCD means that worst case, they go up, you start to sink, but no big deal, you adjust. This does mean being familiar with different equipment, I wasn't familiar with the I3 on one victim, he was highly negative, so I used some positive buoyancy in my BC and mainly swam him up until his started to expand, then I vented a bit. I also made sure that I had a very good grip on him.
You can't do anything for them on the bottom. They are already in the worst shape possible, get them to the surface as safely as possible, and then you can start providing some level of aid while moving them to shore.
Before you do anything else... STOP, BREATHE, THINK, ACT. (at first we tended to act, then breathe, them maybe at some point think about what we were doing). A few seconds one way or another to formulate a plan, get an idea of what you need to do will probably be of more benefit than immediate and ineffectual action.
And my DiveRite fins rocked.
RBS
