35m drysuit full of air and who the hell are you?!

[gingerstu]

this happened a while back, early on in the season of 2006. I had planned to do a club dive to a U-Boat (cant remember which one) on Neptune out of Dover.

Conditions on the day were perfect and I was really looking forward to the dive.

All pre-dive checks were completed with my Buddy and we were ready to dive. So in we jump.

We were both diving on air so decided on a quick decent down to the U boat at about 35m. We exchanged Ok's on the way down and everything seemed fine. It gradually got darker and darker so on came the torches and then we hit the bottom of the shot, and this is where it all went wrong.

I put the brakes on using my drysuit, and began to settle down into the dive. I felt a little floaty so attempted to dump air from the cuff dump in my suit. Nothing... no air came out and no matter how much I tried I couldnt get any air out.

By this time I become very bouyant and could no longer maintain my position on the bottom and had started to ascend. Fortunately I managed to grab a handful of metal and hung on for dear life. I was now starting to really panic and was flapping my arm around to no avail. All I remember thinking was "hold on to that bit of metal". I had got caught up in the moment, totally forgot my training and was becoming engulfed by narcosis.

I then had the light bulb moment and went for my neck seal, the English Channel came in and no air came out. Bugger, now im still very bouyant and soaked through to boot. After much gesticulating from one of the members of my club I finally let go of the wreck and opened up the cuff seal with my free hand. Again the Channel came in but this time the air came out. Thank christ for that.

I then returned the chaps OK and continued the dive. The next few minutes were a complete daze for me. All I remember thinking was that the bloke next to me wasnt my buddy (he was) and that I really had to find him. Who the hell is this bloke following me!! Im not really sure what happened from here on but I do have a few memories of the U - Boat.

Clarity returned at about 15m and my drysuit then started working normally again. At this point I began to recognise my buddy! I recon that my undersuit had got sucked into the dump valve on the descent.

Back on the boat I was shivering uncontrollably and feeling a little sorry for myself. It could have gone very wrong indeed but as luck would have it my only ailments were a dented pride and being f'ing cold.

That must have been around dive 80 or 90 and until then I maintained that I had never suffered from narcosis. Looking back I think I have done but on this occassion it manifested itself in such a different way, it was bloody scary.

Lessons learned:

1. Make a more controlled descent and dont rely on injecting air as a brake
2. Narcosis does exist and can be bad
3. Do a Nitrox course quick sharp

Like I said, this happened quite some time ago but the memory still rears its ugly head everytime Im about to hit the water. This is good as it makes me take stock of the situation and ensures that Im in control

Stuart

[nickb]

Originally Posted by gingerstu

Lessons learned:

1. Make a more controlled descent and dont rely on injecting air as a brake
2. Narcosis does exist and can be bad
3. Do a Nitrox course quick sharp

Not sure 3 will help, I'm still in two minds about O2 being narcotic, but many here have made up their minds that it is.

How about adding:

4. Use your wing/BCD for buoyancy rather than pissing about with your drysuit, after all that's what they are designed for

[gingerstu]

Originally Posted by nickb

How about adding:

4. Use your wing/BCD for buoyancy rather than pissing about with your drysuit, after all that's what they are designed for

Yep, started doing that from this year since moving to a wing and twin indies. Much more controlled.

[MattS]

Originally Posted by gingerstu

Again the Channel came in but this time the air came out. Thank christ for that.

I then returned the chaps OK and continued the dive.

Maybe this would be the time to call it a day rather than continuing?

[Adrian Kelland]

Originally Posted by gingerstu

I then returned the chaps OK and continued the dive. The next few minutes were a complete daze for me. All I remember thinking was that the bloke next to me wasnt my buddy (he was) and that I really had to find him. Who the hell is this bloke following me!! Im not really sure what happened from here on but I do have a few memories of the U - Boat.

Why did you contnue the dive Stuart? I've only had a suit flood in the ascent phase and had deco to do. A flood at any other time for me would almost certainly be an abort reason, moreso with kit playing up. I don't need a repeat of a problem further into the dive.

Adrian

[gingerstu]

Originally Posted by Adrian Kelland

Why did you contnue the dive Stuart? I've only had a suit flood in the ascent phase and had deco to do. A flood at any other time for me would almost certainly be an abort reason, moreso with kit playing up. I don't need a repeat of a problem further into the dive.

Adrian

You're quite right, the dive should have been thumbed. I dont know why I didnt If it happened again I would be out of there. I suppose that once I had the bouyancy issues under control I felt able to carry on, despite not knowing if the bloke next to me was my buddy or not? Makes no sense at all really.

The only rational explanation would be the narcosis. I cant think of any other.

Stu

[Finless]

Originally Posted by nickb

4. Use your wing/BCD for buoyancy rather than pissing about with your drysuit, after all that's what they are designed for

Aaaargh! I've lied to myself and joined "one of these debates" again .

Rather than learning a new method of buoyancy control and having two sources of expanding gas on ascent (or possibly a completely empty suit on the ascent having dumped all possible air) why don't you just correct the one minor problem you had?

I would have thought that a rapid ascent from your dive that early wouldn't have killed you? I wonder how long you have to be in/down before .......................

[gingerstu]

[quote=Finless;770008]Rather than learning a new method of buoyancy control and having two sources of expanding gas on ascent (or possibly a completely empty suit on the ascent having dumped all possible air) why don't you just correct the one minor problem you had?QUOTE]

Problem resolved - I changed dry suit to one with shoulder dump (old one failed beyond repair) and have gaffa (sp?) taped the section of undersuit that potentially could become sucked into dump valve.

Re using wing for bouyancy - I now prefer this and find it much more comfortable to dive like this. Horses and courses. I put a small squirt in the suit to take the squeeze off, and it just vents from the auto dump on ascent.

Stu

[BobK]

To be fair to Stuart, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

From all he has said, this was 'his' first experience of 'real' narcosis, i.e. not the 'nice warm buzz', but the 'Oh shit' type, so I am not surprised that he did not thumb the dive.

As for buoyancy control, on a single cylinder, I really see no problem with using the suit alone for control.

[gingerstu]

Originally Posted by Finless

I would have thought that a rapid ascent from your dive that early wouldn't have killed you? I wonder how long you have to be in/down before .......................

No idea but I dont fancy being the one to find out. After you sir...