What would you do?

[imasinker]

This comes from something that happened to me this year. After reading a reply to a post from another thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ge...discussions/263742-air2-octo-inflators-2.html I began to wonder what others would do.
Please read this and only respond with your honest answer and try to place yourself in this situation at this very time. remember the information given is all you have at the time of the incident. This would be dive 37 since your open water 3 months previous.

This is your first dive, day too with two previous dives with this buddy. Your buddy in your opinion is a safe conscious and reliable buddy and still is. You are at 80 feet fresh water wreck. Your buddy has a massive free flow, your right there and he takes your octo. You signal ok, he returns ok. Your holding onto eachother you signal "go up" he signals "ok". Your still at 80 feet and as you start to ascend you soon realize your going to fast, your in an uncontrolled fast ascent, you try everything to slow down but can't, your heading up way to fast....in 24 seconds your going to be at the surface.

What do you do?

 

[CLEAR BLUE]

What do you mean you try everything you can to slow down? What did you try? Sometimes when you are a new diver you are thinking that to go up you need to put air in your BC. But as you are going up, the air that is there is expanding and you need to be letting air out to slow your ascent. I know it sounds simple but in that situation it may have been overlooked. Could he have used his own octo? Did reg stop free flowing as you were ascending?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

How much air do you have left? Why can't he breath off the freeflowing reg? Why would you be in an uncontrolled ascent? If you have been properly trained then you are venting as you ascend and so is the other diver. A freeflow is not a life or death emergency unless you are at a depth where it will make it impossible to safely reach the surface and still have air left. If this is the case your gas planning was poor. If the other diver runs out of air on ascent while breathing from the freeflowing reg or his/her octo then you go to an air share situation. Also is this a free ascent? If so you have other issues as well. If it's on the upline then YOU GRAB THE LINE AND STOP! But if a free ascent it clearly demonstrates the advantage of a long hose since you don't need to be holding on to each other and thereby have hands free to dump air to slow your ascent.

 

[imasinker]

I don't need to have this analized as poor gas managment, or diver training, I just want to know what you would do faced with this situation. If your answere is I wouldn't because I manage my gas better or trained better so be it. Remember I am a new diver faced with a situation unlike all you experienced divers. I will read your post and then let you know what happened. i just want to see what you would do. So now YOU have done what your training has taught you, you now have a decision to make, never mind the same amount of time it took you to read this post your already at the surface.

Ok so...do you ride up with him?,
do you pull the octo from his mouth so you can stop yourself?

 

[WVDiver]

I just want to know what you would do faced with this situation.

In an uncontrolled ascent to the surface while sharing air you should be flaring, dumping your air and your buddies and exhaling until you get yourselves under control.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Never create a second victim. Basic rescue class lesson 1. you flare, dump all your air, dump his/her air. If this does not slow you enough hope you have good rescuers on the surface and a fast ambulance. Also if this is starting at 80 feet you have more than enough time to react. Even if it's at 50. You start dumping as soon as you start up and this is the time to be swimming up as opposed to riding the elevator. This should be no issue if you are properly weighted. And even a new diver should know how to do this. What you are setting up is a situation that is easily managed. A little nerve racking but not beyond the skills of any AOW diver. If you are at 80 feet as an OW diver you are beyond your recommended limits. Not that I would care about another team, but if you are diving with me I want to know you have the training and experience to be there. When you did freeflowing reg breathing in the pool it should have shown the person that this is NOT a life or death situation at recreational levels. It's an inconvenience that ends the dive. There is no reason for an uncontrolled ascent due to this. If a buddy is present the diver with the freeflow may elect to grab the buddy's octo. Shouldn't but what the hey. Once the octo is grabbed you don't ascend. At this point you try to get the freeflow under control. If you don't you'll be ascending through a cloud of bubbles that obscures the vis and only compounds the problem. If you can't get the reg to stop, shut it down. Get squared away, then make the ascent starting by venting a little air. You should not be running out on the way up but if you do you have the freeflow tank you've just shut down. Again even if it freeflows when you turn it on you can breath from it. If you do all this and are still flying up as the rescuer you are no good if you are a victim. You dump all your air, flare, and let go. Your buddy may have a problem on the surface but you will be in a position to help as opposed to being victim number 2. Hopefully he/she will do the same flare and dump, but if not......

 

[imasinker]

Never create a second victim. Basic rescue class lesson 1. you flare, dump all your air, dump his/her air. If this does not slow you enough hope you have good rescuers on the surface and a fast ambulance. Also if this is starting at 80 feet you have more than enough time to react. Even if it's at 50. You start dumping as soon as you start up and this is the time to be swimming up as opposed to riding the elevator. This should be no issue of you are properly weighted. And even a new diver should know how to do this.

Ok great point...you flare... But while holding a diver in one hand ( as taugh) and inflator dumping air in the other (as taught), what can you flare, your legs. If I let go of him to flare my arms then he ascends faster than I and the octo gets pulled from his mouth? or I get dragged along with him? Flaring isin't going to be much help in this case. If your doing a CESA by yourself ok.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

One thing that is easy to forget is there are times when you need to react quicky in an emergency (like handing off you octo as you did) and times when you need to stop, stabilize yourself, analyze the situation and proceed carefully. You did the first part great, the second part may have been rushed which lead the the uncontrolled ascent (starting the ascent without venting). The failure to stop and stabilize let one emergency domino into another.

At 80' you should be able to control a slightly bouyant buddy by dumping your air unless you have a very thin wetsuit on or he has fully inflated his BCD. I WOULD LET GO OF YOUR BUDDY (they are not going to let go of you for anything) and vent yourself first, then your buddy if possible, at the same time flaring just as the above post mentioned.

 

[redacted]

If WE can't bring the ascent under control, then WE are going to the surface.

 

[WVDiver]

There is always the option of turning and finning down toward the bottom until such time as you can get stabilized. Provided of course you have the necessary forethought and your buddy is intuitive enough to understand what you are trying to do.

This definitely not taught but from 80' you have time to make such conscious decisions. New divers would probably never think of this.