Eastern Kings and What went wrong!

[Martin Burnard]

Eastern Kings and what went wrong.

The intrepid trio meet up to do Eastern Kings The night before the highest tide for 20 years. Now what could possibly go wrong?

I’ll write the report first then go through the errors for those that haven’t spotted them.

Kit configuration as below

Tim single 15ltr Air, BCD, torch (used night before), dry suit, dive computer etc

Trotters Twin 12s, air, wing, HID torch, wing, dry suit, dive computer etc.

Me, twin 12s, nitrox 32, Hid torch, wing dry suit, dive computer etc.

The dive

So peering over the edge into the water the vis appears to be less then 1m, no worries as we can get below the crud, current is obviously running fast. We kit up and head around to Nazareth House where we went down the steps.

All kitted up and in the water we head off with Trotters in the lead and Tim and I trundling along behind. We were right the vis as we dropped over the edge was better at 4m. The current was odd at initially it was taking us East when it should have been moving us West. So we had a bit of a current to work with but nothing enough to cause us a problem.

We worked our way around the wall running at approx 30m until we came to go around a promontory, here Trotters was looking at something and I was in the wrong place and getting pummelled by the current, so I moved ahead of him and Tim to get me into some shelter. Had a look at some crabs then looked back to see what they were doing.

As I looked behind me I noticed they were actually off to my left and kneeling (!) on the bottom, easily identified by the yellow twins and single white cylinder. Due to the low vis I couldn’t see what they were doing but it was apparent that all was not perfect. So lots of light signals to and though, all OK. But they were still there.. So I thought they are taking the micky, knowing that I’m on 32% my max depth is 32m I guessed they were at 34m, so they are playing silly buggers. Oh well I can do ##m on 32% as a contingency, so I go over to see what is going on.

Now this is where things are changing, it’s not Trotters and Tim, it’s Greekbird and Ginger Taxi, they were just getting their breath back and wondering what I was doing diving Solo (me being the one who ALWAYS says dive in a team). So now I have lost my team completely.

OK I decided to head for the cables with GB and GT, ascend the wall to 12m. Wait there for a few minutes , then if I hadn’t rejoined my team send a DSMB up. Surface and look there.

As I came to the top of the cables there were my fellow team members waiting for me. Quick exchange of OK’s and we head in.

Overall a lovely dive, but with lots of mistakes, did you spot them?

See below……..










Here are the stages of the slippery incident pit as I see them…

1. The team had a mismatch of cylinders and gas. Basically we were all playing cricket but on different pitches!.

Me twin 12’s with 32 %, Ian twin 12s air, Tim single 15 air. Not such a team after all.

2. Team layout.. Not discussed properly, the team order should have been set out as follows..

Tim should have been in the front because he had the weaker torch, less gas and on air, Trotters next as he had strong torch and plenty of gas, me at the rear twin 12s, nitrox strong torch. and lower SAC

3. Team layout not observed, when I went ahead of the other 2 I broke what little team planning was in place.

4. Lost the team and we had no plan for this. PADI says 1 minute search then surface, those of you who know this dive will know that sending up a DSMB and ascending from the foot of the wall here is not a good call, we should have had a plan in place.

My instinct was the procedure I followed and Ian had done the same ( after many, many dives together we think in a similar fashion), but this is not acceptable, plans should be in place.

The dive was a success because we all came back together , no harm done. BUT is this an acceptable way to dive? I don’t think so. On the one occasion I was lax, I was bitten. Not badly, but enough to make me sit up and take notice.


Go to Heaven, Dive like Hell.

Martin

[TerryH]

Well you've come to the same sorts of conclusions in anger so to speak,
but dont think you need to worry so much about "mismatched" divers.
Unless you are DIR you will always get that.

Just use basic principles.

If only one on Nx, set all computers to air and everybody gets an MOD for
that mix.

If one is on a single then his gas is watched closely.

Finally if the viz is less than 1.5m go onto a webbing strop or buddy line.
Definately dont use a reel/DSMB line.

Have a bailout/seperation plan that suits the area and agree beforehand.

T.

[Martin Burnard]

[[i][u]B]These bits are my comments

Hmmm interresting, and the report is not in anger, the lack of planning was my call as I always plan, except for some reason on this dive!!!. I do not worry about mismatch only pointed out that it should be dealt with in planning.


Well you've come to the same sorts of conclusions in anger so to speak,
but dont think you need to worry so much about "mismatched" divers.
Unless you are DIR you will always get that.

Just use basic principles.

If only one on Nx, set all computers to air and everybody gets an MOD for
that mix.

\All very well but then if I end up in the chamber the my dive computer is incorrect, and so is my log of dives which gets printed off of the computer.

If one is on a single then his gas is watched closely.
He did but it is still poor planning

Finally if the viz is less than 1.5m go onto a webbing strop or buddy line.
Definately dont use a reel/DSMB line.

Not sure where you got the idea of using a reel/DSMB from, but buddy lines are a NOOOOOO in my book!

Have a bailout/seperation plan that suits the area and agree beforehand.
That was part of my point I didn't!
T.

[Janos]

I think you're over analysing it too. The mistake you made was getting seperated and not having a plan what to do if you're seperated. I don't see how tank size / gas mix would have affected this.

Janos

[Martin Burnard]

Janos you are correct.

But it was just the start of what was not a planned dive.

The different cylinders would I my planning affect team order, not perhaps somebody elses planning.

Over analysing YES, because the planning was poor,, and I now have that luxury.

If perfect then the team order would have been different and therefore torch intensity would have also played its part, and separation would have been less likely.

[Miss Roxy Chablis]

Ok mate - but you're honest enough to share it with everyone and your post mortem suggests you're very unlikely to make the same mistakes again - so what's the problem? Don't beat yerself up to much. I'd go diving with you anytime (but then I am a strokey old dive slut )

[Martin Burnard]

I am not beating myself up!!!!!!!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the dive from start to finish. So did my buddies.

The point of the post was to show just how easily things can go wrong, not a disaster, really quite good fun.

How is "Team Doughnut" doing?

If I get enough for a team down here, I think I might suggest "Team Numbnuts".

[TerryH]

Hmmm interresting, and the report is not in anger, the lack of planning was my call as I always plan, except for some reason on this dive!!!. I do not worry about mismatch only pointed out that it should be dealt with in planning.

"In anger" is an expression, it doesnt actually mean you were angry, just
that choices were made while you were doing it and not before, which is
what I thought the thread was about.


[i]If only one on Nx, set all computers to air and everybody gets an MOD for
that mix.[i]

\All very well but then if I end up in the chamber the my dive computer is incorrect, and so is my log of dives which gets printed off of the computer.

Your dive computer will show your profile and include all the neccessary
data, which is all that the chamber requires. The fact it was set to air will
build in an even greater safety margin with longer deco times. Ok you might
have to watch CNS on a liveaboard etc. but the sort of dives we are talking
about here, that isnt an issue.

The log bit? Well all logs even electronic ones have facilties for adding
a comment. The profile and data is the same, so whats the big deal,
just put the mix and that you dived it as air.

[i]If one is on a single then his gas is watched closely.[i]
He did but it is still poor planning

Disagree. You seem to equate a single vs twins as some sort of faus pas.
I know one very experienced diver that will suck twin 12's on a 35m/50min
deco dive while buddied with a single 12 diver that comes back with 90 bar
on the same dive!!! Good planning is taking unequal elements and coming
up with a plan that suits. It's ok thinking that you might try and match up
in some sort of ideal pairings, but that rarely happens and just makes it
harder when you do have a mismatched pair.


[i]Finally if the viz is less than 1.5m go onto a webbing strop or buddy line.
Definately dont use a reel/DSMB line.[i]

Not sure where you got the idea of using a reel/DSMB from, but buddy lines are a NOOOOOO in my book!

If you are in bad viz and dont have a buddy line a DSMB line is often used
as a substitute. The buddy line is clipped on one, but only wrapped round
the hand of the other. If there's a problem then it can easily be ditched.

[i]Have a bailout/seperation plan that suits the area and agree beforehand.[i]
That was part of my point I didn't!
[/quote]

Yep, but have a bailout/seperation plan using what you have available.
If that's a twinsetted 32% diver buddied up with an air 10lt, then have a
plan for that.

I know what you are saying and yes it would be nice to have a mirror image
buddy, but life isnt like that, so better IMO to get used to planning for
what you have.

BTW if any of the above sounds adversarial, its not. Just expressing an
opinion based on an awful lot of dive planning for a lot (and I mean a lot)
of dives/divers a year.

Rgds
TerryH

[Martin Burnard]

TerryH, I agree.

We are both "barking up the same tree".

The reason behind the post was just to highlight how easy it is to slip into the incident pit. The dive and the variations were nothing that a group of level headed astute divers wouldn't take in their stride, as you point out.

Happy diving.