Missed stops protocols?

[Adrian Kelland]

Originally Posted by tom

Important questions - bit of a contrast with what the others are saying, too. I don't know whether what happened was 'right' or 'wrong' - hence the post.

FWIW the diver does have deco training and experience, though I'm not sure of his actual qualification.

I'm not sure of 'right or wrong' either, but if I hope that my training involved suitable methods to come up with the best results so I don't have to make such a decision.

In the end I'd rather have to deal with a problem on the surface if the diver is already there, than put them or me back into that unforgiving environment.

Adrian

[Paul Oliver]

In my experience the choice is never cut and dry, so an assessment of the facts along the lines of Adrian's post is very important.

I had a diver rapid ascend last week from a far shallower profile than yours and he was well outside of any stops. The Experts advice once i had spoken too him was get him to an A&E by Ambulance.

Some on the boat had already assessed (after laying him down and putting him on O2) that he should be fine from his profile - The expert disagreed with that.

So based on that whether you decide to go back down or not, speak to an expert afterwords.

I also feel i may have gone back down if it was me, but not after more than a 3 min delay, so i doubt i would have got onto the boat.

Personally i look at all dives being decompression dives, it's just that a slow and controlled assent rate deals with this instead of stops in 'No stop dives', if you miss the slow assent rate then i feel you have missed the 'stops'.

[MixedUp]

Originally Posted by tom

In most of the rapid ascent / missed deco situations I've witnessed so far, the 'victim' has ended up breathing 02 ........

Now I am worried, that you seem to have witnessed a number of these. Either that or I must be lucky as I have never seen anyone on any boat that I have been on go onto O2 because of a fast ascent/missed stops, and that is in 600 dives.

Steve

[JasonP]

Originally Posted by Steve Jones

Now I am worried, that you seem to have witnessed a number of these. Either that or I must be lucky as I have never seen anyone on any boat that I have been on go onto O2 because of a fast ascent/missed stops, and that is in 600 dives.

I had a guy ask me what 505 meant on his Aladdin once. We had to talk him out of doing his second dive.

Weren't you on the Cornwall trip where someone missed their stops? Mainly because they ran out of air, I think.

Jason

[tom]

Originally Posted by Steve Jones

Now I am worried, that you seem to have witnessed a number of these.

Maybe about 8 total. This was the third this year : one airlift, one novice popping up from his safety stop, and this one. This is the second time it's been my buddy. I was nearby another one yesterday I believe (on another boat). It's not my fault, honest! I'm hoping not to see any more.

[Janos]

Originally Posted by tom

Important questions - bit of a contrast with what the others are saying, too. I don't know whether what happened was 'right' or 'wrong' - hence the post.

Thinking about this further, I'm not convinced that that you executed the procedure properly. Mainly because I don't think you had a proper support diver. If you had stops showing then you're not in a position to surface if your buddy had a problem. [1] Also, were you immediately aware that your buddy had redescended? If there was another diver on board who would be happy to go back down then this is much better, but how quickly can someone kit up?

The danger of redescending is that you have bubbles in your blood which are then compressed as you descend and so get through to the arterial side of your body. If this had happened and your buddy had passed out shortly before descending, then what would have happened? Would you have been aware? Could you have rescued him?

Janos

PS - To be clear, I'm not having a go, as I'm not sure what I would have done in the circumstances. Just throwing up a few more things to think about.

[1] - And if you're happy to blow off your stops then your buddy should be happy to blow off his and therefore should be happy not to redescend.

[MATTBIN]

Before anyone speculates and as Tom has said they werent a member of YD so it wasnt me, I was driving back from Blandford with my wife.

I dived with Tom yesterday.

Steve I think you have been lucky. I have seen a couple of missed stops/rapid ascents and that is in less than 100 UK sea dives. I know Tom to be a good safe and sensible diver, was there an inference he wasnt?? Or am I being paranoid.

Anyway back to the original question. I think the idea (in this case) of going back down was a good one, the skipper as you say is well respected, he/they dropped him onto your smb, the diver concerned was experienced and if it were me I might make the same call. I'm more likely though to have got out and stayed out on O2 and monitored my symptoms.

I believe yopu did the correct thing in not ascending to see what had happened to your buddy and as we discussed yesterday (very briefly) I wouldnt expect you to put yourself at risk because of my stupidity of a rapid ascent and/or missed stops.

Thanks for untying the other guys smb from mine as I completed 'their' stops with them, even though I was clear of stops, by the way .

Matt

[MixedUp]

Originally Posted by JasonP

Weren't you on the Cornwall trip where someone missed their stops? Mainly because they ran out of air, I think.

Jason

Don't recall it Jason

[Paul Oliver]

Originally Posted by tom

Maybe about 8 total. This was the third this year : one airlift, one novice popping up from his safety stop, and this one. This is the second time it's been my buddy. I was nearby another one yesterday I believe (on another boat). It's not my fault, honest! I'm hoping not to see any more.

A word begining with J springs to mind and its not Janos

[MixedUp]

Originally Posted by MATTBIN

Steve I think you have been lucky. I have seen a couple of missed stops/rapid ascents and that is in less than 100 UK sea dives. I know Tom to be a good safe and sensible diver, was there an inference he wasnt?? Or am I being paranoid.

Absolutely no way was I suggesting that Tom was not a good diver. Quite the contrary, it is not Tom that was involved in these instances, but people on the same boat as him. Apologies to Tom if my post inferred otherwise.

Steve