What would you have done?

hroark2112

hroark2112

Bah humbug!
Last weekend I was on a wreck in Florida. When we got to the shop they told us the conditions were "sporty" and expected to get worse in the afternoon. No big deal, we were planning on being back in by noon. The dive was a 130' dive, planned bottom time was 85 minutes. There was as very stiff current on the surface with 4-6' waves. The current on the wreck was significant, but the dive was still doable. The captain asked us to reduce our dive plan to 100 minutes total, which we did. The dive went great, deco was a bit rough because of the current. it was a rough ride and my hands were sore!

Here's where the question comes in. I was the only rebreather diver on the boat and I was the last one to hit the surface. As I hit the sunlight I was getting tossed around pretty badly. The boat had tied in to the float ball at the bow, there were 2 lines coming off the boat going to a single line which connected to the float ball. The ball was about 10' underwater. When I surfaced, I started to turn to head to the stern of the boat. One of the mates shouted at me to stop and turn around, and connect a caribener to the float ball. I didn't think about the logistics of doing this, I just turned around and tried to get back down. After 3 minutes or so, it was really obvious that I wasn't able to get back down to the float ball due to the current and the waves. I turned around and that was when the proverbial poo hit the turbine. One of the lines from the boat grabbed me by the DSV, ripping it out of my mouth. After that, my mask was dislodged and flooded. Since I had been trying to get back down to the float ball, my wing was empty so I started sinking. My loop flooded. Luckily I kept my head about me, grabbed my bailout reg and then cleared my mask. Once I was breathing and could see, I grabbed my inflator and filled my wing, and closed my DSV. By this time I was well past the reach of the boat. I grabbed my SMB and filled it as best I could and tried to make sure the boat could see me. Eventually they untied from the wreck and came to get me.

All in all, I think I handled the bad parts of the incident well. However, my question is this. Should I have told them there was no way I could even attempt to get that line connected to the float? Should I have told them that doing so on a rebreather, after a strenuous 39 minute deco, was a bad idea to even attempt? Or should I have done as I did, and try to connect the line to the float ball?

Thanks!!
 
If I wasn't confident in my ability to pull it off safely, I would have passed on it. Sometimes this is easier said than done however when you are feeling the pressure of the rest of the team depending on you to accomplish something important.

Glad it turned out OK for you by the way!
 
hroark2112 said:
Last weekend I was on a wreck in Florida. When we got to the shop they told us the conditions were "sporty" and expected to get worse in the afternoon. No big deal, we were planning on being back in by noon. The dive was a 130' dive, planned bottom time was 85 minutes. There was as very stiff current on the surface with 4-6' waves. The current on the wreck was significant, but the dive was still doable. The captain asked us to reduce our dive plan to 100 minutes total, which we did. The dive went great, deco was a bit rough because of the current. it was a rough ride and my hands were sore!

Here's where the question comes in. I was the only rebreather diver on the boat and I was the last one to hit the surface. As I hit the sunlight I was getting tossed around pretty badly. The boat had tied in to the float ball at the bow, there were 2 lines coming off the boat going to a single line which connected to the float ball. The ball was about 10' underwater. When I surfaced, I started to turn to head to the stern of the boat. One of the mates shouted at me to stop and turn around, and connect a caribener to the float ball. I didn't think about the logistics of doing this, I just turned around and tried to get back down. After 3 minutes or so, it was really obvious that I wasn't able to get back down to the float ball due to the current and the waves. I turned around and that was when the proverbial poo hit the turbine. One of the lines from the boat grabbed me by the DSV, ripping it out of my mouth. After that, my mask was dislodged and flooded. Since I had been trying to get back down to the float ball, my wing was empty so I started sinking. My loop flooded. Luckily I kept my head about me, grabbed my bailout reg and then cleared my mask. Once I was breathing and could see, I grabbed my inflator and filled my wing, and closed my DSV. By this time I was well past the reach of the boat. I grabbed my SMB and filled it as best I could and tried to make sure the boat could see me. Eventually they untied from the wreck and came to get me.

All in all, I think I handled the bad parts of the incident well. However, my question is this. Should I have told them there was no way I could even attempt to get that line connected to the float? Should I have told them that doing so on a rebreather, after a strenuous 39 minute deco, was a bad idea to even attempt? Or should I have done as I did, and try to connect the line to the float ball?

Thanks!!
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I probably would have done the same thing you did except I'd bring a scooter.

They're game changers in current.
 
Nice if you could have tied on but you were quickly in a survival situation, no time to faff about. I am happy you are ok some others may not have fared as well.
 
hroark2112 said:
... The boat had tied in to the float ball at the bow, there were 2 lines coming off the boat going to a single line which connected to the float ball. The ball was about 10' underwater. When I surfaced, I started to turn to head to the stern of the boat. One of the mates shouted at me to stop and turn around, and connect a caribener to the float ball. ...
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Why in the hell did he tell you to do that? If the ball is 10' underwater then that seems just plain stupid to me.

Did he really mean for you to clip the carabiner to the line coming from the float to the boat?
 
sunnyboy said:
Why in the hell did he tell you to do that? If the ball is 10' underwater then that seems just plain stupid to me.

Did he really mean for you to clip the carabiner to the line coming from the float to the boat?
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Either way seems unwise to me. I never attach myself to an upline or a tagline like that. Bring a scooter or a chase boat IMO
 
I'm also curious why you were supposed to clip into a submerged float ball, and what the reasoning behind that was.

No matter what the reasoning was, that should have been made clear during the dive briefing, NOT as you were getting tossed about in the waves after surfacing. At that point, they should have thrown you a line (or had the mate swim one out to you) as soon as it was clear you weren't going to make it to the ball or the boat. Especially if you were the last diver, one would hope they would've been keeping an eye out for you.

In any case, so glad you made it out ok!
 
rjack said:
Either way seems unwise to me. I never attach myself to an upline or a tagline like that. Bring a scooter or a chase boat IMO
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I was asking only because they wanted him to clip to something. I agree with you - I always have just grabbed the granny line, or if I miss that try for the tag line.
 
He told me to clip the carabiner to the eye where the ball was connected to the down line. The reason they wanted me to do that was so that the boat DM could follow that line to the float ball when he went in to untie the line.

Stupid is what I thought as well. The worse part is that the 2 divers who finished their deco right before me were both on scooters!

I just bought a scooter last week. I already see the potential benefit!
 
Like a couple of others have already said if it wasn't part of the original dive briefing the last thing you want to be figuring out is some new procedure while being bounced around in 4 to 6 footers.

Also, once you are at the surface from a deco dive you are up. You shouldn't even consider going back down even if only to 10 feet.

You probably were trying to do the right thing by following the crews instructions. You did the right thing by getting positive and putting a marker up. Hopefully the loop didn't flood to bad.
 
hroark2112 said:
He told me to clip the carabiner to the eye where the ball was connected to the down line. The reason they wanted me to do that was so that the boat DM could follow that line to the float ball when he went in to untie the line.
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Sure if all is casual, I will help out the boat/DM/crew with stuff like this once I am on the surface. Apparently they had no idea of your level of stress - and recognizing stress is like the #1 job of the DM on a technical charter (any charter but even moreso in this case). Fail.

What boat is this so I can avoid them please?
 
hroark2112 said:
so that the boat DM could follow that line to the float ball when he went in to untie the line.
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Yep. DM's problem, not mine. Unless I'm working, getting a discount, or feel like being a nice guy, tasks like these are why we pay the shop and tip the crew.

From a liability standpoint, I would think it's a really bad decision to ask your customers to do things your crew should be doing.
 
I agree Andrew's comments here...

On the back side of a high exertion dive, I would passed on the request of the mate. You are the only one that really knows the conditions and how you feel.

Glad that you sorted it out successfully!

And yup... I would have been the water with a scooter :)

Dive Safe and thanks for sharing!!!

AndrewDonn said:
Like a couple of others have already said if it wasn't part of the original dive briefing the last thing you want to be figuring out is some new procedure while being bounced around in 4 to 6 footers.

Also, once you are at the surface from a deco dive you are up. You shouldn't even consider going back down even if only to 10 feet.

You probably were trying to do the right thing by following the crews instructions. You did the right thing by getting positive and putting a marker up. Hopefully the loop didn't flood to bad.
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I still can't for the life of me work out why you lot dive like this.

I once did a similar dive in Florida where it was starting to get like an average UK diving day with about 4 foot waves and I suggested they just throw me in upstream of the buoy and let me drift on to it then I'd come up the line at the end of the dive and hang on the buoy till they were ready before letting go so they could pick me up at their leisure. the skipper was having none of it and insisted on tying the boat to the buoy which very nearly cost the crewman his fingers and made for a very uncomfortable time kitting up with the boat snatching hard on the wreck.

is it some sort of perceived 'safety thing' to stop boats running over divers?
 
Since the current can change from 0 to screaming during a normal Fl. Dive most of the experienced captains would suggest that you blow a bag rather than have you put yourself at undue risk and exertion while ascending.

When you start mixing groups of Tech and advanced open water on the same dive then the Shit gets beyond safe.....IMHO :-)

I think you did pretty Dam good.. Although Dpv's and or a good buddy team would solve a lot of problems.


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