Worst Mishap

[SolarStorm]

We were sitting around having a beer after a weekend at the mx track on the weekend and started talking about some of the "accidents" that we have been in. Most of them were "on the easy stuff". Even stuff like riding back to the pits riding between trailers, etc. IE, the stuff that was too easy to "plan and prep" for, stuff we all knew better, but hey, what could go wrong?

Now I have yet to have one of these diving, but I am wondering...

When situations arise with you experienced divers, is on a simple tropical drift dive at 60' that you felt you really didnt have to prep much for or a 3000' technical cave dive inside the titanic where there was one item you didnt account for? And if you did have one of these, is there something you do different to ensure it wont happen again?

 

[Poggus]

It can happen on any dive. I think you're more at risk when you start getting complacent. I'll go ahead and throw up an embarrassing and dangerous scenario that happened to me awhile back.

Some friends and I were fun diving off a day trip boat near Phuket. The policy is to inflate your SMB's during your safety stops so that by the time you surface, the boat is there to pick you up. I was with two instructors at the time, but I was not yet a professional. Anyways, I prefer to put a bit of air in my SMB at depth, so that as it ascends it inflates fully (I attach it to my reel). My reel jammed, however, and I instinctively let go so as to not be pulled to the surface. Somehow, it caught one of my D-Rings and I was nearly pulled to the surface. Luckily my buddies saw me struggling with it and we managed to get me untangled. It was our second dive of the day, and we were deep enough for it to be dangerous. It spooked me a bit, and I thanked them over and over.

I considered myself an experienced diver at the time. I had done the exact same maneuver hundreds of times in the past. As I said, I think I just got complacent and made a stupid mistake. I've learned from it though, and share it with people to show that crazy things can happen to anyone.

 

[knowone]

Falling in a rock pool whilst spitting in my mask.

 

[diver 85]

anytime you are in an overhead situation, it's more dangerous....

 

[BioLogic]

So far (I wouldn't call myself 'experienced' but not a total newbie either), what would have been most dangerous wasn't because of controlled, training circumstances: Getting tangled in my line while trying to shoot an SMB, losing buoyancy control in a drysuit... no harm in either case, but enough to convince me to pay attention and train with a backup plan in case it goes badly.

 

[tstormdiver]

I have had many since I started diving & in several, I'm very lucky to still be here. Most of my mishaps have stemmed from my ignorance that I was diving out of my training & comfort levels.
1. First deep dive- First time in a wetsuit, let alone a 2pc 7mm suit. It was only my 5th dive. Lost one fin at depth & became overly task loaded trying to get it back on & came very near to panic. Thank goodness a watchful dive master came & assisted me to the surface. Lesson learned- should have gotten more experience first in both diving & in using a wetsuit.
2. First time in double steel cylinders- I had no clue as to the negative buoyancy. My buddies didn't have a huge amount of experience either. Thinking as a rec diver, I let all the air out of my wings, I found myself on an E- ticket ride to the bottom (95ft) in less than a minute with a nice plume of silt rising up around me, once I reached the bottom. Lesson learned- start off in small steps when drastically changing things, have more experienced buddies or an experienced instructor to assist me if needed & get more information when drastically changing things.
3. Making an untrained dive to the grate in Vortex's Cavern/ Cave at dusk- It turned dark whilst in the cave. Had trouble finding the way out & ran low on air. Lessons learned- There were so many wrongs in this I really don't know where to start. The biggest is Get Proper Training!!!!!! if I want to dives like that. I was immensely lucky on that dive, it really humbled me & have since been pursuing the proper training.
4. Mask failure in a cave- During one of my training sessions, I had a mask that kept leaking on me. After doing a traverse & popping up in another sink hole, I went back down. As soon as I ducked under into the cave, the locking mechanism on my mask failed causing an instant flood of the mask. I tried to get off to the side to take care of the issue, but wound up stirring up some silt. My instructor got me back to the sink hole & to the surface where I got a chewing for using defective equipment & not signaling him quickly enough of a problem. The mask had been a problem all week. Lesson learned- make sure my equipment is in tip top shape before beginning a dive, especially a technical dive. Make sure I signal my team immediately of ANY problems.

Those are probably the ones that stick out the most in my mind.

 

[Aerosynth]

Mine was pretty scary... but nothing too dangerous.

Was having weighting problems before the dive even started, during a weight check. Ended up somewhat overweighted.

Got to the bottom, cruising along, on what I now realize was a slight upward slope. Buoyancy was okay at depth after I put a little air in my BC. As I slowly ascended the upward slope, the air expanded. Due to my lack of diligence in paying attention to depth and my surroundings, I became positively buoyant and had a somewhat out-of-control ascent. Luckily at that point, I wasn't deep enough for it to be dangerous and it ended up becoming a lesson. My buddy, the divemaster, was very cool about the whole thing.

Now I am very conscious about using my lungs more to control buoyancy, using as little weight as possible, and only adding air to my BC in small amounts when absolutely necessary. I've also become intimately acquainted with the exact location of my rear dump valve, LOL

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Let's just say I double-check that my drysuit is zipped up before I do a giant stride entry off of a dive boat now.

 

[on_two_wheels]

Mine wasn't that dangerous to me but those around me was very bad. I was on my required deep dive getting the AOW cert. There were four other students. Instructor's wife (also an instructor) acted as DM. I had a LP 95, everyone else was on AL 80s. One student was doing her first ever drysuit dive also (i.e. first dry AND first deep).

I started with an overfill so at least 95 cf of air. When I used just over half 1200 psi remained, I told DM. When I got down to 1000 psi I advised again knowing the others had to be close to 1/3 of gas remaining. Finally, I gave a thumb and began my ascent alone. Seconds later, the instructor grabbed my fin and had me follow him as they finally began their ascent.

On the boat it was revealed TWO of the other four ran out of air on this dive, one obviously being the drysuit diver. Then the instructor got angry because we were talking about it on the boat and the actual boat DM & captain overheard it. The instructor actually tried to justify it pointing out that as we ascend, the shortage of gas wouldn't be an issue as pressure decreases. He also blamed the students stating that since there were certified divers, they should be able to take care of themselves. This was their sixth dive.

Lessons learned: 1) Narcosis can happen to anyone. 2) Take care of me (and my buddy). If I know there's a problem, regardless of the other guy's experience, fix it. 3) Vet instructors thoroughly.

 

[TSandM]

I almost drowned myself in my swimming pool. No kidding. We were doing the gear exchange for my DM class, and we made some modifications to the equipment to make the whole thing a bit less complicated. I lost my balance and fell over with no mask on, lost track of where my buddy was with the regulator, couldn't sort out the Air2 that was on his BC, and got vertigo due to everything in my visual field being uniformly white, so I wasn't sure which way was up for a moment. I was air hungry from doing the buddy breathing, so I didn't have much comfortable time at all without breathing.

I learned a lot from that experience. Don't take shallow water lightly; you can drown in it just like you can in deep.