Wreck Penetration?

[easyrider003]

I was sitting around the Fire Station late last night and was just watching videos on youtube of people diving on different wrecks. I noticed in a majority of the videos that all the divers were going in and out of the wrecks. One of the videos was of an airplane wreck. They would just go in one door and out the other or may just turn and go into the cockpit for a very brief period of time. I was always taught that not to go into any overhead environments if your not trained. Now not saying that they werent trained or whatever but could an OW diver still go into something like a small cessna for a very brief period of time and still be ok? I have been on dives before off the coast of panama city and have noticed OW divers doing this very same thing. Just wanting your thought on this. Thanks

[mwhities]

I myself wouldn't do it as I'm not trained to do it but, a lot of OW divers will go into small "swim through" without proper training. I know a swim through it's "technical" but, there is always a danger that someone could freak out and endanger themselves or others behind them. I know on the Oriskany there are swim throughs and a lot of people do them.

I guess a lot of it depends on your comfort level. Am I comfortable to do it? Sure, I don't think I'd have no problem doing it. Actually I'd really love to do it but, I promised myself (and my wife and child) that I wouldn't do anything I was trained in. So far, I've held up my end of the promise. I know I'm always tempted but, the thought of getting hurt/killed because I did something without proper training stops me.

So, I wouldn't recommend doing anything like that without training but, who's going to stop you? No one.

[BouzoukiJoe]

Careful, the dive police will get you. You know, the ones that hang out at 60 feet to keep you from exceeding your training depth limit.

Personally, I'd worry more about the grim reaper. Beside the overhead environment, you also have silt outs, entanglement, entrapment, sharp objects, disorientation, and possibly narcosis to deal with.

It's common sense that some things add very little danger and some things are extremely hazardous. Without experience or training its very hard to know the difference. Some of the dangers of wreck penetration are not obvious. Reading a wreck diving book is a good start. If that doesn't scare you away, then find a mentor or take a course.

[thor]

Diving is one of those activities where things can get really hairy pretty quickly, and it is only your training and experience that you have to rely on, and hopefully a buddy. Heck, OW is basically just a course on what to do when the S hits the fan. Even though your plan is just to swim thorugh a wreck, and 9 times out of 10 nothing will happen, it is the 10th time that gets you in trouble, or killed.

I was swimming through a wreck and the guy in front of me hit the top of his tank on the ceiling of the wreck. He overcompensated and then hit the floor, cut his hand on something, freaked out, and began spreading a tremendous amount of silt everywhere. We only had about 5 feet to go to get to the opening, but we couldn't see anything. Luckily my buddy behind me happened to have his light out and we could just make out the opening (although the light almost made it worse). The guy in front of us actually exited after us, but we didn't even see him until we all exited the wreck. At the time it didn't seem like a big deal, but in retrospect things could have taken a real turn for the worse.

[Kingpatzer]

There really is a great danger in going into a wreck if you don't know what you're doing. As was mentioned, it can get ugly quick.

Does that mean if you do it you will die? Of course not. But it does mean you're increasing your risk substantially, and if you don't know what you don't know, you may be taking on more risk than you really want to through ignorance.

[ianr33]

Its always going to be a judgement call if a particular "swim through" is safe or not. If you dont have the experience and training to make the right call then its better to err on the side of safety.

Even very experienced divers can get it wrong.this article is pretty scary
The Deco Stop

[BSea]

Originally Posted by ianr33

Even very experienced divers can get it wrong.this article is pretty scary
The Deco Stop

Man, that's a creepy story. Anyone who has been in a silt out knows the feeling.

[coyote]

Wow. Just wow.
That raised my heart rate just reading about it.

[DivingCRNA]

Originally Posted by ianr33

Its always going to be a judgement call if a particular "swim through" is safe or not. If you dont have the experience and training to make the right call then its better to err on the side of safety.

Even very experienced divers can get it wrong.this article is pretty scary
The Deco Stop

I have had that feeling once. I thought I was gonna have to wash out the INSIDE of my drysuit when I got to the surface. BTW-I was at 140 ft on open circuit. Thank God I was wearing doubles and had done cavern training. I surfaced with 1700 lb of air left after starting with 2700. It is good to plan by the rule of thirds.

I learned more on that 27 minute dive than I did in the previous 100 dives together.

[ReefHound]

Technically, any overhead at all is beyond your training and I could not tell you it's OK to enter. Realistically, you have to exercise judgment based on your experience and comfort level. I guess I'd say "if you have to ask if it's OK, then it's not OK".