Emergency Drills

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Emergency Drills

Post by Tangfish »

Today I busted out an emergency 'out of air' scenario on Nailer, mid dive. At about 35fsw I swam at him with the out of air signal. He promptly gave me his octo and we did a free ascent (slowly) to about 20' to do our safety stop. During our safety stop I motioned for him to swim horizontally away from the no dive zone, which we did - a little awkwardly - and then we finished out the safety stop and surfaced with about 200-300 psi left in his tank (and 1200 in mine). So, we both watched depth, he watched his air and I navigated us in the right direction. It actually went very well and neither of us lost composure or buoyancy control.

I think it's a good idea to do these drills once in a while. Also, if you go into the dive expecting it, it won't be a very real test of whether you're prepared or not. Of course, you don't want to jeopardize your or your buddy's safety while doing it, and it is nice if you can do it after you've had a healthy dive (i.e., it's not very nice to pull a stunt like that 5 minutes into the dive). Make sure you have enough air if you're going to try something like this (both divers). I chose to do it when he had about 700psi left, so that he'd have to keep an eye on our consumption and judge whether the safety stop was still a priority (knowing that I had plenty of air for both of us if we got too low).

Good job Nailer =D>

Instructors, what say you? :book:
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Grateful Diver
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Post by Grateful Diver »

I say "great idea"! You're learning more than just OOA skills ... you're also reinforcing the notion that there's more to being a dive buddy than just staying close to each other. Communication and learning "predictable behavior" skills are important to a good buddy team.

It's also a good idea to practice this in shallow water ... for your own safety just in case something doesn't go so well.

Nice going to both of you ... more divers need to be thinking about these things.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
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Post by Joshua Smith »

That was cool. I'm really glad we did that. I wasn't 100% certain it was a drill, actually. but I was pretty sure it was.
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Post by BDub »

I say "great job" as well.

In addition to the buddy skills Bob mentioned, repetition is the best teacher, IMO. Doing these skills over and over is going to teach muscle memory so, if the situation ever does happen, at least you'll be well versed in the mechanics of it.

I agree with Bob that more divers need to think about these things. I think there are too many divers who take the class, get their cards, then just go dive. I try to stress that the class teaches you how to practice the skills. You won't stay proficient with most of the skills unless you practice, as they are perishable skills. You don't have to practice skills the entire dive, just doing a skill or 2 at the end of your dive, like you did Calvin, is perfect.

I practice skills on every single dive I do, whether it's OOA, mask, midwaters, shooting a bag, etc. As an instructor I get the luxury of doing it often in classes, but I also do it on every fun dive.

Good job both of you!

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Post by Tangfish »

Thanks for the encouragement fellas. GD, what depth would you recommend such a procedure? I chose about 30+ish feet or so because I wanted to simulate having to ascend slowly to our SS depth and then also having to swim horizontally while timing our stop. But, I can see what you mean about not endangering ourselves. I definitely was keeping one eye on my own octo in the event that he ran too low on air (which we later realized, we needed an unmistakable sign for - or perhaps just an understanding of what the usual one means while sharing air).

I figure that it is reasonable to do something like this at least one out of every ten dives or so, just to stay sharp on the skill, even better if we can practice other skills inbetween. Any others you guys recommend that involve buddy cooperation?
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Post by BDub »

I typically encourage my students to practice skills in 30' or above, after they've allowed time to offgas. That way, if they do lose control of their buoyancy (not uncommon when you first start practicing), they've already offgassed sufficiently.
Any others you guys recommend that involve buddy cooperation?
I think a very basic skill that is often overlooked by divers is simply descending and ascending together. Try a free descent in 30' - 40' of water together, facing each other, descending at the same rate (pace of the slowest diver).

You can do the same with ascent. Practice ascending together, again, facing each other, holding your stops together, and ascend to the surface together.
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Post by Grateful Diver »

I'm pretty much with Brian on this one (can you tell we had some of the same instructor trainers?) Descents while facing each other are particularly important ... too many recreational divers split up on the descent, which means that if one of you has a problem on the descent (a place where problems are more likely to occur), the other is not there to help. Pace each other, maintaining eye contact and approximate depth all the way down.

Some other skills I practice with my buddies ...

- Do an OOA drill during safety stop, then continue the safety stop and swim in together while sharing air (assumes a shore dive).

- Mask clear and mask removal drills ... have one buddy watch while the other buddy does the skill. Again, this is a great skill to practice at safety-stop depth.

- Free ascents ... particularly useful if you deploy an SMB and use the reel or spool as an ascent line. This is a great skill to have for those times when you're boat diving and can't find the ascent line ... or when doing an ascent on a drift ... or if diving in a place where there's boat traffic. I usually practice deploying the bag at 30-35 feet, then ascend making a 1-minute stop every 5 feet or so.

- Hovering ... the key to good buoyancy control is learning how to control your depth with your breathing. To practice this skill, stop all motion ... don't even twitch your fin tips ... and practice maintaining your position using your "built-in" BCD. This assumes open circuit scuba ... it doesn't work with a rebreather.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
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Post by BDub »

have one buddy watch while the other buddy does the skill.
Bob makes a very good point, as usual...Many times I see a diver practicing a skill and that becomes their #1 focus. In other words, breathing patterns change and buddy contact is brushed aside as well.

Remember, when you're practicing a skill you are vulnerable. That's when you need your buddy the most. Communicating beforehand that you are going to practice a skill and signaling to them what skill you are going to practice, and that you want them to watch you are extremely important.

When you're doing the skill, maintain your buddy awareness too. If it were a real situation, your buddy may need you as much as you need them. If you're doing a mask drill and your mask is off you can still see the general shape of your buddy. Practice keeping track of where your buddy is at when doing the skill, regardless of skill it is (shooting a bag, mask, etc).

Also, keep in mind that your breathing is most important. Focus on your breathing and buddy contact, the skill is secondary to those.
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Post by thelawgoddess »

wow, calvin - nailer is lucky to have you for a buddy! =D>

i really want to get back in the water and practice skills so that i can feel more comfortable underwater. bdub and jeanna were my instructors and i remember a that they would occasionally approach me to do something that i wasn't expecting - either because they hadn't told us we were going to do it that session, or we had already done it that session, or i thought we were going to do it later that session or in another session, etc. it would totally take me by surprise, but afterwards i really felt like that was a very important part of my training ... not to mention confidence-building.
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Post by Joshua Smith »

thelawgoddess wrote:wow, nailer , calvin is lucky to have you for a buddy! =D>

Yes, he is! :supz:

Seriously, I've been thinking about this all day- we should all practice this more often. It was cool to see how we handled it. As I mentioned to Calvin, we were probably within a hundred yards or so of where that woman died a couple weeks ago. I wasn't there, and I don't want to speculate too much, but it sounds as if there was some kind of problem sharing air.....which is what we were practicing, of course.
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Post by John Rawlings »

Kudos to Calvin and Nailer!!!!!

It's a good idea to practice skills that might be a wee bit (ahem) unpleasant as well.

(Hopefully Calvin will forgive me for this, but here goes....) When the club had its get-together at Calvin's office a couple of weeks ago I recall him saying that he REALLY hadn't liked the part of his Open Water training in which he had to remove his mask underwater and replace it. I have known many divers that felt the same and they never felt the need to practice that skill until they started tech training and were (again) forced to do so.

It's a good thing to practice skills because they might be needed, not just because they are fun, (for example, the mask replacement drill mentioned above). Practice them as often as you can, so that they will be almost second-nature to you when needed. You might also have your buddy time you during some of the skills....if it takes too long to do what is necessary the end result might just be the same as if you didn't do it at all.

I'm VERY happy to see the way discussions such as this are going amongst NWDC members. =D>

- John
Last edited by John Rawlings on Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Tangfish »

Great comments all around. Actually John, I had the pleasure of doing many mask removals while recently doing my divemaster certification. It seemed that after I displayed some patience with the first student who had trouble, I became the default mask removal trainer #-o

I would like to do it some more, especially in cold water and with a hood, since most of my recent practices were in the pool. Next Nailer, I'm going to have you remove your fins at 60' and walk like a doggie on all fours all the way out of the water :violent3: (I'm kidding, don't try this!)
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Post by thelawgoddess »

Sounder wrote:I'm looking forward to incorporating skill practice into my dives too. While at Edmonds last Friday, my mask came off my head all on it's own. It seems while clearing my mask, I filled my hood with air... which pushed my mask strap forward. Anyway, swimming right along and oops - there goes my mask! Back on and cleared, I was able to enjoy the rest of the dive.
:evil4: that is quite an amusing visual? how did you fill your hood with air???
Sounder wrote:I was watching a video of 3 technical divers doing drills recently.
can i ask what video? is it something i could rent from somewhere???
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Post by sparky »

John your right on the money I have taken latly to pratcing takeing my BCD on and off onder water and on the surface a skill I hate to do and have some trouble with at the surface seems my tummy gets in the way on the surface

I have been thinking along these lines for a while and was thinking it was just me

Grate job Calvin and Nailer
Jay and I pratice our skills all the time we try to do at least one skill drill on every dive

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Post by Joshua Smith »

Calvin Tang wrote: Next Nailer, I'm going to have you remove your fins at 60' and walk like a doggie on all fours all the way out of the water :violent3: (I'm kidding, don't try this!)
You'd like that, wouldn't you, you freak! Look, keep your perverted fantasies out of this or I won't give you any more after-dive piggy-back rides!
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Post by BASSMAN »

Great Posting! =D>
Thanks Calvin!
Tom Nic and I are Talking about starting these drills on our dives as well.
We definetly need to work on our decents together skill.
We were just talking about the whole "looking for your buddy" routine when he is actually above you. Tom was directly above me, watching me whip my head around looking in all directions, except for up.
Why do we do that? Is it a lack of three dimentional thinking?
Do I need to get in the habit of looking Left,Right and Up....then behind? :dontknow:
What is a good way to practice / remember?


I like the idea of doing a few OOA practices, after a Safety Stop.
or At least around the 20' mark.
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Post by John Rawlings »

You guys might want to practice sharing air while swimming along a compass azimuth. After all, sharing air in an OOA situation is merely the first part of the equation.....the other part is being able to calmly and efficiently share your breathing gas while "getting out of Dodge" and moving toward safety - rather it be to shallower water, toward shore, or upward to the surface.

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Post by Tangfish »

John, Nailer and I were able to do such a thing (swimming/navigating while sharing air), but I wonder if having an octopus that is set up for the buddy to breathe would've made this easier. To have it right side up, we had to be somewhat twisted around with me right side up and nailer swimming backward and facing up. It wasn't the most organized procedure (we wouldn't have gotten points for grace) but we did execute it all without corking. Or, perhaps this could've been solved by turning the octo upside down. Is there a sacrifice in performance by doing this? I guess I've just never tried it.
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Post by Joshua Smith »

This might be a good argument for the bungied secondary/ long hose configuration. I'm planing on going that way, after I make some other changes to my gear.
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Post by Tangfish »

I think you should get a 8' primary hose when you do that, just in case. :bootyshake:
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Post by Joshua Smith »

Maybe I'll go 11 feet, just to be sure. :bounce:
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Post by John Rawlings »

Calvin Tang wrote:John, Nailer and I were able to do such a thing (swimming/navigating while sharing air), but I wonder if having an octopus that is set up for the buddy to breathe would've made this easier. To have it right side up, we had to be somewhat twisted around with me right side up and nailer swimming backward and facing up. It wasn't the most organized procedure (we wouldn't have gotten points for grace) but we did execute it all without corking. Or, perhaps this could've been solved by turning the octo upside down. Is there a sacrifice in performance by doing this? I guess I've just never tried it.
Ahhh, Grasshopper......in your search for wisdom you have accidentally found the benefit of the "long hose".

Can you imagine discovering all of the above issues that you mention all at once if this had been a real "shit-hits-the-fan" incident? Someone facing an OOA emergency really, REALLY needs for the rescue effort to be easy, fast, and smoothly done.....struggling to invert a regulator, on a short hose, with the probable corresponding decline in regulator performance (depends on the reg - some will be more "wet breathing" than others) can easily and quickly push someone over the edge into full-blown panic. Since during this time the rescuer has been getting extremely close to the distressed diver in an effort to share gas, this puts the rescuer in an extremely dangerous situation as well because there is no telling what a panic-stricken diver will do.

So.....what we want to have is a regulator that is reliable and will breathe well.....one that can easily be physically accepted by the distressed diver without the need to contort him/herself or spend time clumsily adjusting its position while getting water in his/her mouth with each attempted breath......and one that will allow for adequate freedom of movement for both divers.

An octopus regulator, (or pony bottle regulator, etc.), whether it be standard length or "long hose", should be selected with as much care as when you select and purchase your primary regulator. Your life and that of others may someday depend upon the performance of that regulator. Divers should have absolute confidence in the reliability and performance of their equipment.....but I think that all too often Octopus regs are bought more as a cheap afterthought with little consideration given to their quality or performance at depth.

Just my 2 cents worth......

- John
Last edited by John Rawlings on Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by BDub »

Perfectly said John!
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Post by Tangfish »

John Rawlings wrote:Ahhh, Grasshopper......in your search for wisdom you have accidentally found the benefit of the "long hose".
That statment made me think of this funny commercial:
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NE7h8zCWBU8"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NE7h8zCWBU8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Jedi Master Rawlings, how does a paduon learner select a longer hose length? :smt027 I wonder why it is either 'standard' or 7'. Surely, there must be something in the middle that is suitable, yet reasonable. I remember one tenet of Buddhism being 'the middle path'.
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Post by Tangfish »

I believe the 7' length comes from that being the right length for the average height divers to be able to share air while cave diving (i.e., swimming one after another). I'm wondering what is a reasonable length for non-cave diving.
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