Scuba Diving Training Tips: Alone and Out of Air
Scott Hagen Dec 17, 2019
When it comes to dive prep, slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
Incident Report DIVERS: Bill (instructor, 800-plus dives), Edgar (instructor, 500-plus dives) and Breanna (divemaster, 300-plus dives)
SITE: Breakwater, California, Channel Islands
CONDITIONS: Visibility 100 feet, 68°F
For their third dive at the site that day, the trio planned a dusk dive transitioning into a night dive. Getting ready more quickly than the others, Bill swapped out cylinders, fished his dive light out of his gear bag and zipped up his wetsuit. After getting his rig on, he told Edgar and Breanna he’d meet them on the bottom. Bill entered the water, swam about 100 feet offshore and started down in 60 feet of water. Passing 10 feet, his regulator began breathing hard, then stopped altogether. Pressing his BC inflator did nothing. Bill kicked firmly to the surface and orally inflated his BC. He found he’d accidentally set up on an empty cylinder. He turned to signal Edgar and Breanna that he’d miss the dive, but they were already underwater. Their bubbles passed him as he swam shoreward; they had an uneventful 40-minute dive.
WHAT THEY DID WRONG Only experience and luck prevented a serious incident. Bill failed to conduct a proper predive check and obviously never checked his gas pressure before descending. He started the dive without a buddy, making him very lucky the cylinder didn’t have more air. Otherwise, he would have run out much deeper, without a buddy to provide an alternate air source. Breanna and Edgar didn’t ask Bill to wait for them. They also stayed down instead of surfacing to check and reunite when they didn’t find Bill waiting at the bottom. Overall, they all were complacent, diving a familiar dive site with highly experienced buddies.
WHAT THEY DID RIGHT Bill was not overweighted, which could have made swimming up difficult. Although he created the predicament himself, he kept his head together and solved the problem.
FIVE TIPS FROM THIS INCIDENT
- INCIDENTS OFTEN HAPPEN on an easy or routine dive because people let their guard down. Don’t become complacent. Follow your training on every dive.
- CHECK YOUR GEAR before every dive. Predive checks have prevented hundreds of incidents, and would have prevented many that did happen.
- SPEAK UP if you think something’s not safe or according to procedure. Even experienced divers need reminders from time to time.
- BECOMING A PADI SIDEMOUNT DIVER gives you the option of having two life-support systems with you at all times.
- DON’T RUSH. Take the time you need to get ready. This not only reduces the likelihood of a mistake, but also makes it less stressful and more fun.
