OOA buddy...

[Geek]

So out on my #2 dive fresh from Meg class.. about an hour into the dive at Les Davis at around 50fsw and I get this frantic light waving at me and my buddy giving me the out of air signal

All those bail out drill's during class certianly kicked in fast, I had my bailout reg in my hand to his mouth so fast I didn't even think about it, didn't even search for the reg, hand knew right where it was, kinda erie in a way.. anyway the post dive analysis:

During the dive my buddy showed me his computer that has a wireless transmitter showing him he had 1050-ish psi, this was a not possible number as he was diving double 100's and his tanks where full, we checked before the dive and there was no bubbles at bubble check or during the dive. I looked at his spg and it read 3300... yeah, you know what happened, but underwater I failed to think about it. I was consentrating on the Rebreather and making sure I was right and he is an expierenced diver although hasn't been in the water in a bit. So during the dive I just thought the transmiter was being wonky again I should have known better, I have more experience diving doubles then he does but I had tunnel vision.. mind clicked that transmiter wasn't right and that was the problem, spg read fine (if 3300 after 35 minutes was fine) so we continued the dive instead of solving the problem.

During the dive his neckless back up reg came lose, I'm not a big fan of those stupid rubbery neckless's and now he isn't either so when the shit hit the fan, it wasn't there..

Before the dive I was doing my thing, getting the Meg situated, making sure I wasn't missing anything, getting hot as hell, so instead of checking him out before we both headed to the water I headed down to get in while prebreathing..

His Isolater valve was closed, we don't know how but it was. Everything turned out ok but I feel like a Moron for not knowing what was going on when he noticed a problem that could have turned out very badly, He don't blame anyone but himself for it, he knows he should have checked when he was getting everything together but still, I was his buddy and was so focused on my thing that it could have gotten him killed.

CHECK that your Iso valve is OPEN

CHECK that your back up reg is where it's supposed to be

WHEN something isn't right underwater STOP and FIX it or call the dive.

If your the buddy, BE a BUDDY, just because your distracted doesn't mean someone elses life wont be in your hands..

I'm a bad buddy and feel like crap but like every other OS moment I've had underwater I will never make that mistake again and I know he won't either.

[Mattleycrue76]

Don't beat yourself up. Sounds to me like you were there for him when it mattered. Glad it turned out ok.

[Joshua Smith]

Hey, you both made it back to the surface without getting bent, right? And you both learned something, by the sound of it. Good job, dude.

I will just add that you MAY not be the very best buddy in the world while you're getting your first 50 hours on a ccr under your belt, 'cause you have a whole lot of new stuff on your plate; but you gave an OOA diver something to breathe when it really counted.....and that's the important thing.

[Geek]

Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable on it as long as I'm the only one I have to keep track of and I did make him aware of this, he was all worried about me on my "Death Machine" that will show him

[ArcticDiver]

Good On Ya'

Anyone with experience in just about any activity knows that bad things happen. All of us try to prevent it. But they still will happen. You both successfully dealt with the problem. NBD. Tuck it in the memory bank. Pat yourselves on the back for doing the right thing and move on.

Skill isn't displayed when all goes well, or even during drills. It is displayed when things go bad for real. You guys have skill.

[April]

I'm glad you guys came out of it ok!

Sometimes the dive shops think they need to close the isolator valve when filling, which is beyond frustrating considering how dangerous it is.

I guess the lesson is: treat your scuba gear like airport luggage, if it ever leaves your sight there must be a bomb in it.

[Geek]

I know it wasn't the dive shop, we narrowed it down to "people" standing around bs-ing and touching shit they shouldn't be fiddleing with..

[CaptnJack]

I know it wasn't the dive shop, we narrowed it down to "people" standing around bs-ing and touching shit they shouldn't be fiddleing with..

Who filled these doubles? Fill stations really should be seperated from random customers standing around BSing. Isolators get closed, different mixes potentially end up in different sides, people die or get paralyzed this way. If there's any chance of anyone fiddling with it at any time, analyze both sides when you pick them up and check that the isolator's open at the same time.

I fill all my own gas at home and I am still checking isolators alot. Nothing but evil comes from playing with isolators.

[ljjames]

post deleted. thanks for reminding me where i was richard, my bad.

[CaptnJack]

For the love of god make it stop.

[CaptnJack]

You mean an opt-in technical diving forum of people who actually cave and deco dive and don't need to be "converted" or preached to?

[Geek]

I ignore people who knock on the door to preach too

[CaptnJack]

I ignore people who knock on the door to preach too

Devil worshiping idolatry I tell ya.

[Joshua Smith]

You mean an opt-in technical diving forum of people who actually cave and deco dive and don't need to be "converted" or preached to?

I think I'm missing part of the coversation or something. The non sequiturs are flying all over the place.

[CaptnJack]

You mean an opt-in technical diving forum of people who actually cave and deco dive and don't need to be "converted" or preached to?

I think I'm missing part of the coversation or something. The non sequiturs are flying all over the place.

You lost? :( I think this is a first.

[ArcticDiver]

I know it wasn't the dive shop, we narrowed it down to "people" standing around bs-ing and touching shit they shouldn't be fiddleing with..

I ignored all the posts following this as they seemed to be off on a tangent. But this post seems to be trying to shift responsibility for improper operation of the cylinder's valves to bystanders from y'all. Am I reading correctly? If so, I truly don't understand why?

[Joshua Smith]

You mean an opt-in technical diving forum of people who actually cave and deco dive and don't need to be "converted" or preached to?

I think I'm missing part of the coversation or something. The non sequiturs are flying all over the place.

You lost? :( I think this is a first.

Touche, etc.

[Joshua Smith]

I know it wasn't the dive shop, we narrowed it down to "people" standing around bs-ing and touching shit they shouldn't be fiddleing with..

I ignored all the posts following this as they seemed to be off on a tangent. But this post seems to be trying to shift responsibility for improper operation of the cylinder's valves to bystanders from y'all. Am I reading correctly? If so, I truly don't understand why?

Don't think it was a blame shift as much as it was an explanation. IMO, each diver takes responsibility for their own gear before they get in the water- tank contents should be analyzed and labeled, regs checked, and so on. Anything less than this is akin to walking into traffic assuming the cars will see you and stop because you have the right of way as a pedestrian.

[spatman]

Anything less than this is akin to walking into traffic assuming the cars will see you and stop because you have the right of way as a pedestrian.

Which explains a lot of Oregon divers.

[ArcticDiver]

I certainly hope it wasn't presented as an explanaton. Maybe as an item in the Lessons Learned review. But, the only explanation is that the people responsible for checking the kit didn't do it. The original post points out what went wrong and what they did to successfully cope. That was a good post. This one, if either of us is correct, detracts from the original.

[browntown]

So once you got air to him were you able to open the isolation valve up and get air from the other tank under water, or switch to the regulator that had air? Or did he use the bailout tank to the surface? Still learning, thank you for sharing.

[CaptnJack]

So once you got air to him were you able to open the isolation valve up and get air from the other tank under water, or switch to the regulator that had air? Or did he use the bailout tank to the surface? Still learning, thank you for sharing.

Do NOT open the isolator underwater unless you have analyzed both tanks (which most people rarely do) and positively know with analysis tape what is in the other tank.

[Geek]

I know it wasn't the dive shop, we narrowed it down to "people" standing around bs-ing and touching shit they shouldn't be fiddleing with..

I ignored all the posts following this as they seemed to be off on a tangent. But this post seems to be trying to shift responsibility for improper operation of the cylinder's valves to bystanders from y'all. Am I reading correctly? If so, I truly don't understand why?

We wanted to know how the valve got closed. The point was that HE didn't close it so anyone else that touched it should be shot (with a tazer, nicely ) Ya, he should have checked, ya it's his fault, doesn't mean we didn't want to know how it happened and correct the person/people that didn't know or realize what they did.

So once you got air to him were you able to open the isolation valve up and get air from the other tank under water, or switch to the regulator that had air? Or did he use the bailout tank to the surface? Still learning, thank you for sharing.

We were shallow enough and didn't have any deco so we just went to the surface. To many things were going wrong (OOA, back up reg, etc) to stay under at that depth and fiddle with anything.. now if it was 150' and we had 20 min of deco still.. we probably would have figured it out on the bottom.

So once you got air to him were you able to open the isolation valve up and get air from the other tank under water, or switch to the regulator that had air? Or did he use the bailout tank to the surface? Still learning, thank you for sharing.

Do NOT open the isolator underwater unless you have analyzed both tanks (which most people rarely do) and positively know with analysis tape what is in the other tank.

LOL, funny thing was I thought about this. I did open the center valve.... Only because I was the one that picked up the tanks and analyzed it and your right, I only analyzed one (I'll keep this in mind) BUT as I thought about it I analyzed the tank he hadn't been breathing on so I knew what was in that one

[ArcticDiver]

Geek

Thanks for the explanation. It fits with the original post. If I understand you are just trying to track down the chain of events for your, and others', education. That is, as a famous jailbird says, A Good Thing.


Note:
Everyone makes mistakes. You are just a bit more socially concicious than most and are posting so others can learn from yours. A pat on the back again for successfully coping when it came up snake eyes.

[CaptnJack]

We were shallow enough and didn't have any deco so we just went to the surface. To many things were going wrong (OOA, back up reg, etc) to stay under at that depth and fiddle with anything.. now if it was 150' and we had 20 min of deco still.. we probably would have figured it out on the bottom.

I think you mean on the ascent...
Unless you are bringing mad volumes of bailout.

LOL, funny thing was I thought about this. I did open the center valve.... Only because I was the one that picked up the tanks and analyzed it and your right, I only analyzed one (I'll keep this in mind) BUT as I thought about it I analyzed the tank he hadn't been breathing on so I knew what was in that one

Ummm your doubles wearing buddy didn't analyze his own doubles either?