Sorry about the previous messages. Clicked the "Send" button twice by
mistake. I wanted to agree with this statement :

>> Disconnect the LP inflator hose.
>>   OW class as I recall

but the problem is I did not learn about stuck BCD inflator in my OW class.
As I recall I only practiced OOA and Regulator free flow in my class. BCD
problems and ditching weights was not practiced even once. I don't know,
maybe I'm just saddened by the fact that divers die 'coz they panicked and
did not do things (ditching weights) which could've saved them (I just read
this conclusion - I did not come up with it). One might think that they
panicked but it could've also been because they did not actually know -
even vaguely - what to do.
    Another thing, I saw in the archives some arguments on merits of OW
students actually practicing ditching weights. Some said that if you
practice this enough - it would become sort of automatic in emergency
situations. An a related example, I'll give my personal experience in my OW
class specifically the Oral Inflation of BCD. Sure we read about it in the
manual but we did not practice it in the pool session. The first time we
did it was before our OW controlled emergency ascent, all of us had a
hard-time doing it. For my part, I kept blowing but forgetting to push the
deflator button. I sank/swam up maybe 3 times before realizing my mistake.
And even after the Controlled ascent where we had to orally inflate it
again, a lot in my class still couldn't do it. Now imagine if this happened
it real life - they can't inflate it orally and at the same time cannot
ditch weights.
   Why am I saying all these things ? I don't know - maybe because I'm
soooooooo bored at the office .. :-)

   Anyway, do you guys have any personal "war stories" about these things ?
What problem did you encounter (if any) the most ??

   As for diving practice, I'm going to a buoyancy workshop next week -
this is only a pool session but I'm hoping to fine-tune my buoyancy a bit
more. I'll also try practicing disconnecting the LP hose there. And 2 weeks
after this I'll go diving in Malaysia :-D
Where in Malaysia - Pulau Tioman - just some favorite weekend getaway of
people living in Singapore ('coz it's near) - I'm sure you guys would find
the dive sites boring. :-)


- Angelo




                    Chuck
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                    Sent by:              Subject:     Re: [SCUBA-SE] Emergency Procedures -
                    SouthEast US          where'd u learn ? do you              practice it ?
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                    26/07/2001
                    10:06 AM
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.>      Where'd you learn about "proper" emergency procedures ? I mean
things
> like what to do when the BCD inflator got stuck and it keeps on
inflating,
Disconnect the LP inflator hose.
   OW class as I recall

> when is the best time to ditch your weight belts, what to do when your
BCD
> leaked underwater rendering any attempts to inflate it useless, what to
do
When you have exhausted other possibilities.  Breaching like a humpback
whale or a poseidon missile is hard on your body.  If you cant swim your
tanks and weights to the surface, you are:
   1) Overweighted
   2) Way out of shape - take up knitting
A BCD is not an elevator.  It is an adjunct to bouyancy control.  There is
rarely more than a puff of air in my BCD unless I am on the surface.  If I
am on the surface and it wont inflate... so what?  Dump the weights and
float on the surface.  Lead is cheap.

> if a Vortex was sucking you down (I read this in the archives) etc. Are
Just like a rip tide. Swim across the current to get out of the current
(and
hope that you get out of it before you get too deep.)  Happens in Cozumel
on
some dive sites.  Strong down currents. You can either swim out from the
wall and the current will die very quickly or you can get in behind some
coral and try to work your way out of the current.

> these things taught and practiced in Advance Classes or should I just
> research in the internet ? Are there any books that give examples of
> emergencies that can happen while scuba diving and how to "solve" it ? Do
> you practice it regularly ? Take the BCD inflation problem, do you
actually
> practice flairing and disconnecting the "something" or will you be doing
> these things for the first time if this emergency actually happens to you
?
>
A good instructor at least mentions these things.  Teach them?  Probably
not.  Did have to demonstrate disconnecting hoses with gloves on for a dry
suit cert but that is the only one I remember actually practicing.  I have
disconnected the LP hose on more than a few dives because of a hissy
inflator.

The real way to learn this stuff is to dive with experienced divers and
listen to their war stories.  Pretty soon you will have some of your own.
Instructors (mostly) teach rules and techniques.  Divers and some dive
masters will teach you to dive.  You only learn to dive by diving - not by
sitting in a classroom.

CH
.