Plan C - The Twilight Zone.

[MattS]

I had a little moment yesterday and in view of some of the critiques I have made on here I thought it only fair I write it up. I expect some people will recoil at a few of my choices but I am not so sure I learnt anything new from it. This is here mainly for the benefit of others. Feel free to post what you may have done differently and prove me wrong.

It is worth mentioning at this point where I am with the rebreather thing. After 10 years of OC diving in a technical stylee the switch to CCR has not been easy. I am a lot more at ease than I was this time last year and starting to do the sort of bottom times that attracted me to technical diving in the first place, and which make willing buddies hard to find. After 100 hours in the water I am still not satisfied with my midwater buoyancy skills particularly in currents where they are most useful. This is not something a buddy has ever noticed though.

I was booked to dive the Prince Leopald yesterday so spent Saturday prepping my Evolution and associated paraphernalia. Thanks to being unusually busy with work this year it has been close to a month since I was last in the water. This might not worry some people but I would normally be diving a couple times a week this time of year and I really do not like leaving it so long between 30m+ dives.

First problem was finding my strobe had flooded after 12 years of working faultlessly. While not happy about the flooded strobe it was not enough of an issue to blow £40 on a pre-booked dive. My scrubber had about an hour on it but I re-filled it anyway and even treated it to a new scrim. On my last dive I had overcooked the tide by about five minutes and found myself stood on the bottom at 36m in a raging current, struggling to inflate a DSMB using the Auto air to piddle gas in at about the same rate a gnat urinates. So I hauled out the DSMBci I bought cheap a couple years back and freed off the valve. I have had the thing sat around from my OC days having used it once and deciding it was overly complicated. Since switching to CCR I have been trying not to use it but finally conceded it might have a use after all. Bottles were filled and the rest of the prep was unremarkable.

Back to yesterday. 06:30 (Oh My God) wake up time. I loaded the car up feeling a little wary but put it down to the early start and not being as dived up as I would like to be. I had forgot about it by the end of the road.

We loaded the boat and the skipper asked who wanted to do more than an hour run-time. That would be me then. I had planned an hour on the bottom resulting in a 90 minute run time. An independently minded CCR buddy stepped up as being prepared to do something similar. We were diving near high water so I did not think it likely that we would make the full hour before the tide became too uncomfortable even on neaps. The skipper mentioned that he would probably pull the shot out before slack finished, and while not completely happy with the loss of choice I can compromise.

On the way to the site I kitted up as usual. Clipping my two reels to their D-Rings exactly as I have done hundreds of times before. A bit closer to the off I went back to turn on the Evolution and complete the pre-dive checks. Du, du, du, du (in a Twilight Zone style) my primary reel was sat next to my kit unclipped. Never mind, I clipped it on again and checked it to be certain. I finished my checks and pre-breathe and my buddy (stretching the term) was ready about the same time. We jumped in, descended to 3m and completed descent checks before heading down the shot at a nice steady pace. The shot line was vertical and slack was already upon us. Vis was about 5m but it was a tad dark due to the overcast sky on the surface.

At the bottom I flipped the set-point up and headed off to look around. Although I have dived the Leopald a number of times I was not at all sure of my bearings but headed off fairly certain we were on the starboard side which I had spent the least time exploring on previous dives. I was aware my buddy was in the vicinity and could see a hint of yellow and the white of his LED torch every time I looked for it. About 15 minutes into the dive I found an interesting little swim through and a bit of tat that demanded closer examination. Once satisfied I had a look for my buddy and spotted a white torch beam with a hint of yellow about it. I swam toward it closing the distance only to be rewarded by a camera strobe going off in my face. That would be a yellow dry-suit and a big modelling light then. It pretty much put paid to my night vision and the hope of finding my buddy any time within the next few minutes. So I carried on as usual for another 30 minutes, exploring swim throughs and generally feeling pretty chilled about it all. The other divers thinned out and I soon had sight of my buddy again heading toward the bow. The current was picking up and it was getting a little harder to swim against. We found a big lobster hiding under a plate but could not convince him to come out and play. I lost sight of my buddy again as we rounded the bow. There is a choice of directions at the bow, either up and over or around to the port side. With the current quickening I decided on the up and over drifting back along the deck with the possibility of catching my buddy and ascending together. Around mid ships I saw the last of the OC divers leaving. It took under five minutes to drift the entire length of the wreck by which time I was the last man down.

When I reached the depth charge rack on the stern I briefly considered turning back to the gun but by now it was really difficult to swim against the rising current. I was not confident of sending a DSMB on the drift so once again I ended up standing on the seabed to shelter behind the wreck. This time I had no worries about inflating the DSMBci.

Plan A for hAllelujah - everything is going fine: Hand down to my hip....du, du, du, du...Bloody reel is not there. Checked three times...no definitely not there.

Plan-B for Bugger - something is not quite right: Use my backup reel. My backup reel is a spool from a spear fishing gun with 50m of line on it. There is no ratchet but it has a friction lock which I adjusted to help prevent the line from bird nesting. The ascent profile helps to explain what happened next...

So I am 50 minutes in following plan B with my backup reel attached to the DSMBci and stood on the bottom at 35m cowering behind the Leopald with a feeling of de-ja-vue. The screen shot shows 17 minutes of ascent but my VR3 was showing 25 minutes. I put a couple squirts into the DSMB and left the bottle open a tad and off the buoy went. It picked up speed with the reel spinning like a Dervish on amphetamines. About the time I expected the reel to slow, it suddenly stopped spinning and the hand holding it was pulled skyward. First thought was that it could not possibly be out of line. I started to ascend but pulled the reel into view. The black spindle was visible but there was still white line refusing to despool. Nothing obvious was caught but a sharp tug revealed the line was stuck fast. I allowed myself to ascend a bit further, venting the counter lung by breathing it off rapidly to keep things under control, as the buoy had to be close to breaking the surface. At 29m the Vision electronics and VR3 were both complaining at the ascent speed so I let the reel slide from my finger and slipped back to 32m before pumping gas into the wing arresting the descent. Plan-B for bugger just failed!

Plan-C for oh Crap. Crap that my contingency plan has failed. Crap because I am solo and what should be an embarrassing problem could now seriously affect my health. Crap because it forces me to fall back on a technique which is virtually impossible to practise with any sense of realism. Crap because the odds of going home on the boat just got a lot longer.

Ascending without a reference, in marginal vis, with 25 minutes of stops to complete, in a roaring current. I was not that confident at making a free ascent because I have seen and heard of a lot of people cocking them up. It is one of those things I had been hoping to avoid ever having to do for real. A few moments of self doubt quickly gave way to a well practised mantra.

Deal with the problem in front of you.

There is no point sitting on the bottom wishing for things to be different. You are in the situation you are in and it will not improve without action directed toward reaching the surface.

So a couple squirts in the dry-suit and I start finning upwards quite convinced I will be going home in a chopper if I go home at all. My dry-suit boots started squeezing and it struck me this is something that is impossible to do while horizontal Approaching the first deep stop I had one of those 'Why am I not going anywhere' moments. The little diver on my VR3 kept sinking away from the bucket his head should be in. With hindsight I was probably just getting nervous about hitting the stop. I pushed the irrational fear to the back of my head, squirted in some gas and finned like buggery.

I recently changed to a colour VR3 it has a quirk. When you exceed the deco ceiling the back-light flashes. On the mono VR3 this is not a problem as the display is still fairly legible without the back-light. On the colour model the display is unreadable while the back-light is off so it is difficult to judge any over-compensation when arresting the ascent - spot the hiccups in the deep stops on the profile.

The first stop cleared and I started finning for the next one emptying my wing completely on the way. On the next stop I noticed my breathing rate had picked up, so I used the two minutes to slow things down and try to chill out a bit. Another hiccup in the profile and I was on my way again. At 10m I turned the set-point down as I was a bit wary of the O2 injector upsetting my buoyancy. After what felt like ages since leaving the bottom the divers head entered the bucket at 6m and I just had to keep it there for 20 minutes. I adopted a roughly horizontal posture for the duration. It was not what you call perfect trim as I seesawed between getting gas into my boots to relieve the squeeze and trying to keep my auto dump at the highest point.

With the surface visible I was a bit more relaxed and started contemplating my predicament. Not a pretty one. I was floating alone at 6m, on a CCR, making no bubbles, with no mark above me. The boat was probably following my main buoy, which has no name on it (cos I don't normally use it), and would not know there was anything wrong until I was overdue in another 30 minutes. The notion of splitting my stops and surfacing was quickly discarded as I didn't fancy being bent waiting for a search party to find my sorry ass. The only bit of good news was the EPIRB on my waist band.

Resolving to finish stops I settled into watching the Vision and manually topping up the O2 to keep it around 1.00. I hold depth and make the odd correction by gently finning and slightly changing attitude up or down. I imagined the DSMB reel floating in front of me as it has done on hundreds of previous stops and safety stops - I like to think of them as opportunities to practise neutral buoyancy. Thinking about the reel reminded me that the best part of £100 quid was likely sitting somewhere next to the Leopald as a prize for the next magpie diver...du, du, du, du...was that the reel laughing at me. I loved that reel

A couple times I found myself fixating on the PPO numbers and drifting up and down until my ears complained. A couple times I attempted to get a bit shallower but found the task loading of managing the lung uncomfortable. A couple times I remembered the Dive Leader course I had taught over the winter and the dozen Without Reference Ascents I had completed for the benefit of students.

The VR3 was still at the high set point but showed a good 5 minutes more deco. As I was losing depth control every time I looked away from the Vision I decided to keep it simple, leave the VR3 alone and just clear it anyway.

It is the fastest 20 minute deco I have ever done...if you know what I mean.

With both computers clear thoughts turned to surfacing but petulant determination stopped me from going to the surface unmarked. I got my Jon line out and tied on the small DSMB reserved for shallow deployments, leaving just another 2 in my pocket Only problem was being uncertain about the length of the line. The last little hiccup in the profile was caused by unsuccessfully trying to use the Auto air to inflate the buoy and finding that managing the loop, dry-suit and Auto air purge while holding the buoy was a little ambitious. On the next attempt I blew a bit of gas from around the mouthpiece which worked much better.

I broke the surface at 83 minutes still concerned that I could be adrift and started looking around. A wave of relief came over me as the boat was less than 100m behind...dutifully waiting next to the buoy I was not under. It turns out one of the divers saw my little DSMB a minute before I surfaced and the skipper was already preparing to motor over.

I stepped aboard and lo and behold...du, du, du, du. There is my main reel sat where I had kitted up!

I was in a bit of shock and at the same time elated at pulling off plan Crapper. I was a bit concerned about the less than perfect ascent after a fairly lengthy bottom time and it was an easy decision to forego the second dive on the Mulberry. When I am having a bad day I believe it is a good idea to quit while ahead. Call it superstition if you like.

Epilogue
I have no idea how my reel managed to become detached twice! My best guess is that the clip snagged on the kit of the diver next to me. You might think that I was sloppy clipping it on, but I know I checked it twice. A snag or the Twilight Zone is the best I can come up with.
The jammed reel was recovered. I measured 34m of line before the jam. The jam was down to a loop in the line probably there since I last re-wound it and compressed by half a dozen dives since. It took me a couple minutes to free off.
Maximum ascent speed was 12m/min.
I used 50 bar of O2 and a whopping 120 bar of dil.
My big toe was sore from being squeezed into my toenail during the vertical part of the ascent. This turned out to be the most painful part of the episode.

Lessons

1. Solo diving is not big and it is not clever. Never ever dive solo. The thing with solo diving is that you might think you can handle anything but then one day something very minor becomes life threatening. I know this. I remind myself of it every time I jump in with a view to finishing a dive alone. Being prepared to dive alone is quite different to dealing with a problem on your own.
2. You can carry all the spares in the World and still be left facing Plan C, relying on basic skills to keep you alive.
3. Had my midwater buoyancy skills been up to my previous OC abilities I would have floated off the wreck, gently ascending as the buoy was deployed. The line would have gone up closer to vertical and the buoy would have hit the surface before the jam. If only... Clearly there is a lesson here and I am taking it onboard.
4. Preparation. My backup reel has not been re-wound completely for a couple months.
5. If you have the opportunity to become an instructor take it. Instructing forces you to practise to demonstration quality skills you would otherwise avoid - like ascents without a reference. This is one area where I agree with the GU-We, practise, practise, practise...and practise some more. It also trains you to keep thinking and to make decisions when faced with unpredictable problems. I suspect years of demoing CBLs and the DL instructing earlier this year had a great deal to do with my pulling it off on the day
6. The VR3 diver on a shot line is the work of genius. It is just so easy to follow when things are going bad around you.
7. You can orally inflate on a CCR (but I would not rely on it).
8. My Jon line is 3m long.
9. I should cut my toe nails more often.
10. I still can't write a short post.
11. That's down to you lot to decide.

What will I change.

• Another 3m webbing strap is going into the kangaroo pouch.
• I will to stop overcooking tides until my mid-water skills are back where they were.
• I may do a reel check during the descent check.
• I may buy one of those safety spools to stick in a pocket.
• I will resolve not to dive solo...until the next time.

Thanks for taking the time and I hope it is a good read along with proof positive that I am far from perfect

[MattS]

The profile

[Adrian Kelland]

Glad to see you kept your wits about you Matt.

You need them

Adrian

[Sparky750]

Good write up glad you got out ok and love the jon line idea thats one i'm steeling

[TerryH]

We were very close to you on Trojan doing the Higland Brigade about the
same time, so that 5m and dark estimate was pretty accurate.

Apart from the obvious you've mentioned here's my No.11.

Having loads of OC gas or a CCR doesnt exempt you from the tide. Ok you
can stay down longer, but often that means doing things like DSMB's at
the wrong time.

I was on OC/32% on the Brigade and after 30+ mins, up goes the DSMB
as I just started to feel the tide turning.
5 minute slow drift over top of wreck and then up we went.

IMO when you went top of wreck and felt the tide picking up, that's when
you should have deployed, not wait another 5 mins. Ok the same fubar
sequence would have happened, but you'd have less deco and less tide to
contend with.

Ok agreed, this does take a bit of planning to ensure you deploy uptide
so you can drift back, but considering the consequences of not being able
to deply, the inconvienience of an SMB for 5 mins is a price I'm willing to
pay.

T.

We did 3 dives on Saturday - Highland Brigade, P12 & Luis

[JasonP]

Originally Posted by MattS

[*]I may buy one of those safety spools to stick in a pocket.

How about a drop weight on about 6m of line? It's something I've thought about mainly for diving abroad where it seems a bit over the top to use a reel when you're bagging up to do a safety stop. No got round to doing it yet though. It would be alright for the majority of your stops and you're not going to have drifted too far off the wreck by then.

Jason

[MattS]

Originally Posted by JasonP

How about a drop weight on about 6m of line? It's something I've thought about mainly for diving abroad where it seems a bit over the top to use a reel when you're bagging up to do a safety stop. No got round to doing it yet though. It would be alright for the majority of your stops and you're not going to have drifted too far off the wreck by then.

Funnily enough that little DSMB started life with a 12m drop line on it. I replaced it with the speargun spool which is a bit lighter than the drop weight and ideal for travelling. The drop line was a bit of a pain, forever getting tangled up.

My Jon line is actually a bit of packing crate webbing that was wrapped around a big HP printer we put in a few years ago. It made it's way into my dive kit when I needed a tether for a video camera at short notice. It folds up nice and tight without getting knotted. I clipped a double ender on to act as a weight. Just need to find another 3m of the stuff.

[GLOC]

Nice report Matt, glad you kept your wits about you and you came up.

Lots of lessons learned, and hopefully others can learn from your issues and be suitabley prepared.

Regards

[BobK]

Excellent write up Matt.

I have just had a 3 month gap, in using my YBOD. I was up to 70 hours,
but the very first dive back in the water made me feel like a novice
again. 4 dives on, and things are coming together.

I am still very envious of those who make a mid water deco stop look effortless.

Super idea with the jon line

[Skiverdiver]

Matt,

Great write up.

TBH did not realise things got that serious in your head - you, IMHO are a very good diver and seem so relaxed at dealing with issues. You also seemed to play it down a bit on the boat - (probably to make me feel less of a tw*t for buggering off on the wreck! ) You also made a very wise decision to miss the 2nd dive of the day - quit whilst ahead!.

Bottom line is that I/we should have made more effort to stay together on the dive....then:

1. I could have laughed my arse of at you when you went for the manta reel that was still on the boat

2. I could have pulled one of my 2 reels and deployed - problem sorted.

I guess this goes to prove that being prepared to dive solo and being self-sufficient are two very different things......and that the consequences of me diving solo (fine for me - I excepted the risks - stupid? - YES) could have resulted in a very bad day for you, me and your family!....

Lesson learnt m8.

ATB

Roy.