My eye opener

[skdvr]

I just read Cummings66 post here http://www.scubatoys.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=531 and it made me think of something kind of similar that happened to me. Not quite as dramatic but scary.

Well I was going to go out and do my fist dive after completing my OW. I had already bought some gear and was renting the rest. I had gotten certified in Jamaica (I know how some people feel about that, but I feel that I did actually get some pretty good instruction and I have learned a lot since then and hope to continue to learn) so I was wearing just shorts and a t-shirt during my certification. I live in Mo and so I cannot dive here in just shorts and a t-shirt so I asked the guy at my LDS about how much weight I should wear in fresh water with this 7mm suit. He told me 10% of my weight plus 10 lbs for the suit. So I take him at his word and when we get to the lake I want to check my bouyancy first so I get everything on and get into the water with 25lbs thinking that if I take 5 lbs off what he told me I should float at about eye level with an empty BC and normal breath. So I jump in hold my breath and dump all the air out of my BC. Next thing I know I am rocketing twards the bottom, and stupid me I did nto even keep my 2nd in my mouth. I figured that I would be still floating so I took it out when I held my breath. Next thing I know I am sitting on the bottom in about 15 ft of water straight on my but and cannto find my main (I can only assume that it was still floating above me because of how fast I went down). I did not panic and I did find my backup second and got that in my mouth and then got some air in my BC so I could move around on the bottom. After about 15 more sec I was able to find my main 2nd and swaped the two and then headed for the surface. When I got to the surface I kind of laughed about it, and later realized just how bad things could have been if I had not taked a second to grab my reserve 2nd. It was pretty stupid of me to take the LDS opinion so sternly when they have never been diving with me. It was also EXTREMELY stupid to do the bouyancy check with no reg in my mouth. It just goes to show that something that seems like it is reallybasic can turn really ugly in a hurry.

Phil

[medic001918]

A good reminder that not everyone is an "expert" when it comes to advice. Even if they work at the shop.

Shane

[przeor]

That could have been really bad if it were a 60 or 100' deep area.... at least you were able to stay calm enough to get out of it.

[frankc420]

OOPS!

[jacewindu]

yes - that seemed like a relatively harmless but potentially very bad situation

[Lucky(AR)]

glad ya made it we all learn from mistakes

[cummings66]

Glad you made it, sometimes the tough lessons are the ones that nearly cost us everything.

[skdvr]

Well I must say that I am glad that I made it too

Phil

[Rascal1933]

Hi Phil, Glad that you are O.K.
Yes...Way to Go,excellent that you had the presence to stay calm.
Live and learn > bet that will never happen again.
Good News is,thatit all turned out alright!

[quarrydiver]

I tend to go in underweighted and have the DM pass weight to me if I need it. Glad you were OK.