Uncontrolled descent

[WKenny]

Great advice, Thank you

 

[douglasville diver]

My buddy dropped like a rock from about 20 ft to 80 ft one day @ the quarry, I was left with nothing but his bibbles, so I dumped all my air, exhaled went face first like a sky diver through his bubbles [like Spiderman in alkaseltzer] what a ride!
Been dropping like a rock ever since.

 

[SwimJim]

Uncontrolled descent. It hasn't happened to me and I hope it never happens to me or to anyone else.
My questions is as follows: What are possible causes for uncontrolled descent? How do you prevent uncontrolled descent (and I don't mean when you hit the bottom of the ocean floor)?

1. You slept through all your certification classes, did not read any of the material and somehow skipped all your pool sessions and open water dives and still somehow got a C-card.
2. Test your kit according to spec in a pool or shallow water environment as per your courses.

Jeez

jim

 

[Peter McGuinness]

Ahh thanks for pointing that out. You would not believe the amount of people i see who are already vastly overweighted who come out for their first dive of a trip and then thrash around at the surface and can't get down. The reason? Kicking their fins and flapping their arms. Its amazing. They come to the boat, "i need more weight", "how much do you have?" "so and so amount of pounds", "thats plenty, try this instead...
What i do is have them take the air out of their BCD, cross their arms and legs and voila...instant sinking. Best thing about the crossing of arms and legs? Physics of weighting puts that person in to a slightly downward from horizontal position and away you go into the depths in a controlled manner....Nice!

OK, its very naughty of me, but I cannot resist posting this: caution - it is a 27Mbyte file but broadband solves all problems.

To the tune of "I want to ride my bicycle...."

Peter

http://www.mcguinness-family.net/diving/MVI_3476.AVI

 

[serambin]

There is an even simpler way that I have heard of. Basically the story goes the diver gears up, forgets to check their reg/SPG, then giant strides in only to realize they haven't turned on their tank valve.

What happens is that you 'crack' your valve to reduce the chance that you SPG will explode ( by the way, has any one had that happen ) then you dive and at about 15 feet you get the big hard SUCK. Saw it happen to friend. He ascended at twice the speed of sound and got his valve turned on all the way.

Stan

 

[Avic7]

1. You slept through all your certification classes, did not read any of the material and somehow skipped all your pool sessions and open water dives and still somehow got a C-card.
2. Test your kit according to spec in a pool or shallow water environment as per your courses.

Jeez

jim

Dear Jim,

I think you have been diving for too long and do not remember what it was like on your first couple of dives. Did you not feel any insecurities even after you read the materials, attended classes and got your C-card? Did your first 'solo' dive go perfectly? When I post on scubaboard I expect helpful advice (as an example you can read at least the first page of this thread), not attitude (as an example that would be your post). During the time of my post, there was an uncontrolled descent death at my favorite diving spot. My question was posted in the "Basic Scuba Discussions" with the intention of starting a discussion so that experienced divers could share their experiences and hopefully decrease or prevent accidents and fatalities from happening to 'just-starting' or 'very experienced' divers. I don't know if you were having a bad day at the time of your post but I suggest you refrain from giving any more of your "attitude" responses and share some of your diving experiences which I feel safe to assume must be exciting since you dive around wrecks (by the way you have some great pictures of wrecks in your profile).


Sincerely,

Avic7

 

[BarryNL]

What happens is that you 'crack' your valve to reduce the chance that you SPG will explode ( by the way, has any one had that happen ) then you dive and at about 15 feet you get the big hard SUCK. Saw it happen to friend. He ascended at twice the speed of sound and got his valve turned on all the way.

Stan

One of the nice advantages of going to a backplate from a BCD is that it's much easier to reach back and turn the tank valve.

 

[venturediver]

I have noticed that ear squeeze seems to be worse if you descend vertically head first. This is based on the blood flowing from your head which potentiates a quicker pressure change. I've found that the horizontal descent minimizes this. It also gives you a clearer picture of where you are going to hit bottom or stop. The people that have expierenced uncontrolled descent probably had their reaction time hindered by incredibly painful ear squeeze. Anyone who has ever felt it knows how bad it sucks.

 

[rjpv]

This is a newbie question so apologies in advance, but I get the sense from this thread that some people are descending in a horizontal rather than vertical position?

I was taught to descend feet first (vertically), so every time I descend I struggle to resist the tendency to tilt horizontally during descent. If horizontal descent isnt a problem my life would be easier!

 

[mrjimboalaska]

I'M FREE........FREE FALLING.........Horizontally and diggin it......Who sang that anyways? oh, tom petty, nevermind.....