Ok, so i am big enough and ugly enough to know what i did wrong here, but thought i would share it with you too.
First dive this year for me was on the Brummer, once i managed to assemble all my kit, hunt out all the relevant bits and get the regs serviced etc. I dive with a Halcyon 40lb wing, and it has been known for the inflator to bleed gas into the wing itself very slowly (a good clean sorts it out). I was worried about this, so inflated the wing to almost totally full and left it for 10 minutes. Coming back to it, it was exactly the same as when i had left - so no problems there.
Stepping off the side of the boat and swimming to the shotline I feel the unpleasant rush of water into my mask. I pull the skirt flatter against my face and begin my descent but it really has no effect, water is still pouring in. Once I start to sink I add a little gas to the wing to slow me down, but it seems to make no difference (although the French guys who jumped just before me sank like stones). I press the button for longer, hearing the hiss of the gas as it leaves the inflator.
The wreck looms from the green below and I still seem to be adding gas to slow the descent, but it is making no difference. I end up having to use the suit to make any odds, not just a quick squirt to take the squeeze off. All a little task loaded, a flooding mask and then a mysterious buoyancy failure there is no way I am leaving the top of the wreck to explore the deck.
Surely I don’t need a lot less lead? Nothing has changed in a big way. Hmmm. I try adding more gas and then I hear it - the sound of bubbles behind my head. Not the gushing freeflowing o-ring blown sphincter tightening type bubbles, more the kind of “you have got a hole in your wing you f*cking muppet” type bubbles. Oh fannies. I mooch around on the top of the Brummer for 20 minutes getting to the bow and then making my way back again.
I follow the line of the deck back to the bridge deciding to can the dive before I get anywhere near a deco stop. No point in that when you are not sure about your kit and you are solo. I find the pale line of the shot next to the bridge and head back up. On de-kitting I find that the legacy of the rather quick descent is a fine set of dry suit hickies all down my shoulder, a perfect imprint of my bra strap in bruise. Lurvely. Wing dropped into Ben at Scapa Scuba and patched, so all fixed now.
I also dived yesterday (solo again) on the Dresden and then on the Doyle (one of the blockships in Burra Sound). I had my regs serviced last week and they are pretty much perfect, so i wasnt really expecting to find this....
following my second dive. Because i did some GUE training i had removed the hose protectors from my regs and now i see why i did it. This is on the 2nd stage end of the hose - the first time i had seen one go at that end. A hose protector would have obscured this from view, meaning it could have all ended in tears one dive soon. Not something a service would have picked up on, as i am 100% sure it wasnt there before the second dive and the hose looked in good condition too.
Moral of the story - just because your kit has had one problem once, doesnt mean something totally different wont come along too. Servicing doesnt stop problems from happening either. Oh yeah, and a solo dive is possibly not a good idea too.
