Close Call

[bsktcase93]

Everyone is always talking about that happened cause they have no experience and a lack of training, but that stuff means noting when you panic. A public safety diver last month was doing a training and during the training he had a problem and started panicing. He surfaced and took his reg out of his mouth but was so paniced didnt remove weights and went back under and couldnt get the reg back in his mouth. the last thing that he remember was saying to himself this is it when he saw his rescue diver swim over him. the rescue diver got him over to the boat where the crew got him out and began CPR. By the time they got back to shore the crew had got him back and he is alive today...My point is that this diver had alot of training and experience but when something really happens to you you cant always control when you panic...And a job well done to the crew on board for saving his life

[baywatch106]

It's easy to tell someone something from a book on how and what to do but until the time comes you never know how you will really react.

[navyhmc]

The incident does beg the question: What was the trigger? What was it that caused him to panic?

[Splitlip]

Originally Posted by bsktcase93

Everyone is always talking about that happened cause they have no experience and a lack of training, but that stuff means noting when you panic. A public safety diver last month was doing a training and during the training he had a problem and started panicing. He surfaced and took his reg out of his mouth but was so paniced didnt remove weights and went back under and couldnt get the reg back in his mouth. the last thing that he remember was saying to himself this is it when he saw his rescue diver swim over him. the rescue diver got him over to the boat where the crew got him out and began CPR. By the time they got back to shore the crew had got him back and he is alive today...My point is that this diver had alot of training and experience but when something really happens to you you cant always control when you panic...And a job well done to the crew on board for saving his life

[crosseyed95]

Originally Posted by Splitlip

[Recon]

Well I can say this from experiance... after not being able to locate my primary 2nd stage.. and running out of air in my lungs at 25 feet... the first thing that came to mind was NOT the octo on my bc, it was how fast can I cover these 25 feet and get to the darn surface. Thankfully, the DM was awesome, saw me trying to shoot for the surface, and shoved my octo in my mouth, now that I know how I reacted (not thinking clearly, and thinking about my training), I know what to look for and what the "symptoms" of "panic" are, and (I hope) will be able to avoid it if it ever happens again. Bullets zipping past you is one thing, you "deaden" your nerves against that, so you ignore it, however, you can not ignore the FACT that you are OOA... I wish that I could perfect that trick, but if I could, I would be a Jedi, and would have no need for scuba gear, as the water would just bond with me, and we would become one with each other... I think the rum and diet coke is taking effect again.

~Recon

[scubastud]

Panic is a concern not only for divers, but many other activities both for fun and business.
I am happy to see Recon talk about his experience here, it isn't "macho" to admit you are human I guess. No one would say Recon isn't a tough guy-but panic is a tricky thing.
I had a similar experience during OW training, the mouthpiece came off my buddies octo while we were doing the "buddy breathing" drill and and like Recon said, I didn't think hey I can just put my reg back in my mouth, I not only had no air, I sucked in a bunch of lovely pool water before realizing the mouthpiece wasn't attached to anything! Yes I swam to the surface and had a nice coughing fit.

Had a reg start freeflowing at about 75 feet in cold water.. at first I freaked a little, but quickly calmed and controlled air flow best I could with my tounge while ascending.. it sure used up air in a hurry and cut the dive short, but hey I ascended safe, did safety stop and all is well.. I like to think the incident in the pool made me more aware about panic.

It is important to remember we have redundancy and buddies for a reason, things that may go wrong we are trained to deal with, as long as we keep our heads..
Good post, and a nice reminder to all divers no matter the experience level.

[Recon]

As you say, it is not "macho" to admit that you freaked out, but hey, we are ALL human (i think) and the important thing is to realize that you are in a "panic" situation and KNOW how to deal with it. Training is there to provide a base for you to expand your knowledge, that is all, practice is there for you know not have to think about an issue, but to make it second nature, so you do not have to think, you just do. Look at it from an engineering mind set (as I always do), before you run, you walk, before you walk, you crawl. By practicing your OOA drills, and your emergency drills they become second nature to you. One thing that I have done to practice for an OOA / hose burst / reg getting knocked out of your mouth by a set of fins, is to exhale ALL of the air in my lungs, then yank the reg out and toss it, so my only option is to go for my octo (which is now bungeed around my neck). This way, I train myself not to panic when I am OOA but I know there is another air source around. Another thing is I AM an air HOG period.. I know this, a few people that I have dove with recently know this, and me and Devil Diver got to practice buddy breathing on his 5' hose.. the dive was almost over, I was down past my preset 300 psi signaled him, and he passed off his primary to me, and we to his octo (which is also bungeed around his neck) and we headed back to the dock, did a safty stop, and surfaced. Moral of the story, is practice, no amount of training can prepair you for an emergency when your adrenaline kicks in, and seconds turn to hours. My dives listed do not accurately reflect the true amount of dives that I have done, however, as I have stated before, I just started diving again, after a LONG time, and I was not a "good" diver before, I would have concidered myself and "ok" diver before. My S.A.C. rate sucks!!, probably cause I smoke more then a chiminey and I am overweight, my bouency sucks (but getting better ).. so I have a long road ahead of me, but never the less, this time diving is fun, the last time... it was a hastle, cool at first, but a hastle, I was young and didn't care about knowing all the little "details" about diving, now I do, thus I LOVE IT!!

I know that this is a little off topic but I have recently started reading up on DIR diving... and I am sure that this is the route that I will be going maybe not to the exact lengths that DIR divers go to but pretty darn close. I will keep diving my computer but I will also know what my dive profile is supposed to be, deco times (if I get to that) and things of that nature.. just do not know if I can do the whole crotch strap thing, sounds a little.... uncomfortable.

Long story short... don't think that you are to "macho" to run out of gas and panic the hell out of yourself trying to get to where you know air is above you.. practice for the event that may happen one day, and know how to react via muscle memory, not ... step 1. spit out primary, step 2. remove octo from clip on bc, step 3. shove octo in mouth, step 4... do i purge first, or breath first, shoot, i knew i shouldn't have stayed up late before class.... *glug* it was purge first... darn it...

~Recon

** Note ** When practicing your drills do it in a comfortable environment for you, and practice responsibly PLEASE, I can not be held liable for your mistakes cause you screwed up and got hurt **

[scubastud]

Have to laugh recon your post could have been written by me.. I was certified in late seventies with NASDS, after a couple years I joined navy, then got married, had kids and diving just went the wayside.
Last year my son got me back into diving, and am so glad he did! Now we are working on getting the wife to try it.. she loved snorkling in the Virgin Islands, but says she has issue with breating underwater.. we are working on it.
Really laughed about the crotch strap thing.. my thoughts exactly.. I decided to go with a Zeagle Brigade, Back inflate, lower profile.. we will see,I am going to the lake to try it out today.
Oh I am going to practice in the pool the exhale, then lose regulator drill... good idea!

[Recon]

Oh yeah, maybe I should say this. ** NOTE ** DO NOT INTENTIONALLY DITCH YOUR REG IN OPEN WATER UNLESS YOU HAVE TO! This way I cover myself.... I can see it now "this guy named recon said to do it, so I did, and nearly killed myself"... Please practice responsibly .. and this is not for all you old farts that have been diving for a billion years (Navy *cough* navy *cough* or Mr. Naui himself (my instructor on page 200 of the Naui OW book) j/k ) or for people with over a billion dives under your belt.. if you do something that "recon" said to do and you get hurt... well wth are you listening to someone with less then 100 dives under their belt for... good god man/woman (for the PC people out there). When practicing, please do so, at a comfortable place for you, be it in a pool, your bathtub, your sink, whatever... do it to your comfort level. I tend to take things to the extreme, as I train like I fight and fight like I train, there is no difference for me between the lake, the ocean, the pool, whatever.. 100% always otherwise, don't even bother doing it, go sit on the couch, watch reruns of all in the family and the odd couple on tv throw in a little ALF, mork and mindy, some threes company... and you will have the time of your life. sorry... rum has finally taken over... night night time for the recon...

~Recon