Wth?

[Colliam7]

Has anyone had that sort of thing happen? It struck me as mighty strange. The DM was a very nice guy otherwise and I didn't want to go off at him, so let it slide.

All kidding aside, it is hard to imagine what he thought he was doing, if you were at 15 ft, and had just completed a safety stop without any probloems. I probably wouldn't 'go off at him' about it, but I would certainly ask what he was doing. Out of curiosity,. what was the minor equipment issue? Was it related to your inflator?

Like several posters, I do not want / allow / tolerate boat crew touching my gear without permission.

 

[Is_907]

Did you talk with him about it after?

And what was the equipment issue? Did it make him think you would need help ascending?

 

[g1138]

Is there any chance you are a gorgeous young women who had her inflator drapped over her bikini top????

Rofl. I was in a full wetsuit and there were prettier and younger ladies there, so I doubt that was the reason

Sounds to me like he was a bit premature in his.....ahh nevermind.

Keep in mind, you might have been comfortable but he might not have been.

It's a 2 way street when doing DM duties. Sometimes the DM's past day of diving just has them on edge. Sometimes they're new and don't know boundaries yet. Little feedback never hurts the good ones; I would have just mentioned something. Little cheeky humor doesn't hurt either when giving feedback.

You could have offered to buy him a Foster's for saving your neck.

 

[AdivingBel]

Good on you for reacting in the fashion you did. Sounds like you found yourself on a "nanny boat" and he was looking out for your safety. Doesn't make it right, but you were in a relatively benign situation and he didn't want you to cork (a very common issue with new divers). Calm hand signals uw and/or a quiet chat on the boat afterward was the way to go, IMHO. I know many of the responses have been tounge in cheek, but there was no need to go postal or do any hand lopping. Now in a different situation under different circumstances a different response may be indicated, but good use of common sense in this situation, IMHO.

 

[TMHeimer]

Yes, strange. I assume you did nothing during the dive to suggest you could not perform the rocket science (no pun intended) of a 15' ascent from safety. If you dive somewhat regularly after OW cert. it doesn't take 100 dives to get that down. But as suggested, the DM may have thoughts worth discussing.

 

[beaverdivers]

The DM indicates to me that I can go up and then (this is the WTF bit) grabs my inflator hose to start releasing air for my ascent!

I took the inflator off him and tried to indicate by gestures (that didn't include the middle finger) that I was ok executing an ascent from the safety stop! With just under 100 dives I'm not a particularly experienced diver, but I can remember to release air on ascent if necessary!

Has anyone had that sort of thing happen? It struck me as mighty strange.

If you think that was bad, my brother was diving in Jamaica years ago. As he was trying to do a safety stop, without warning the divemaster inflated my brother's B.C. sending him to the surface.

 

[dmaziuk]

You could have offered to buy him a Foster's for saving your neck.

That might be adding insult to injury.

 

[Xta]

Kudos to you for not punching him in the face. Which I'm pretty sure would have been my immediate reaction. I to am curious what your small malfunction was.

 

[KDAD]

Kind of the opposite happened to me. I was with my sister in law whos a vacation diver and as we got our safety stop I I noticed she was a little too buoyant and had not dumped any air on our way up. She started to shoot for the surface when I grabbed her and her inflator and dump some air.

I didn't like that she couldn't control her buoyancy and that I had to touch her equipment and control the rest of her dive. Not to mention the ear pop that I experienced due to the uncontrolled ascent.

Maybe the dive master has seen too much and figures you're better off at the surface in shot you up then to have you down and deal with one other person.

 

[BFRedrocks]

Maybe the dive master has seen too much and figures you're better off at the surface in shot you up then to have you down and deal with one other person.

Yeah, but didn't the OP say the DM RELEASED air from his BC, which would make him negative and actually cause him to descend if he wasn't finning up? What would have happened if you (the OP) weren't a good diver and forgot to fin up, and you started dropping like a stone until the DM dove down to add the air back into your BC? The whole thing makes no sense, especially if it was at the end of a dive and the DM (presumably) was able to assess your diving skills during the dive itself.

Things like this continue to push me towards telling any DM that I dive with that I am a capable diver and would appreciate it if they did not touch my gear unless I am unable to give them the ok sign when asked.