Posted by divingyogini on May 11, 2005 at 16:21:45:
In Reply to: Out of Air Situations - Here's my experience, what's yours? posted by Anonymous on May 11, 2005 at 11:32:39:
1. What are folks' thoughts on Air IIs?
POS. The only time I've had to donate air (outside of practice/training scenarios), I had one of those, early in my diving career. After that I got rid of it. It was subject to frequent free flows and breathed wet. And, if you do need to breathe off it, it makes buoyancy control more difficult. That having been said, you should be able to control your buoyancy with your rear dump valve.
2. How often have you had to donate air? What are your personal ratios, 1 out of 50 dives, one out of 100, one out of 200? What's the deal here.
Once in 600+ dives, and, like you, to an experienced diver who just wasn't practicing good gas management.
3. Do people think running out of air/having to share air is a serious situation? This buddy was fairly nonchalant about the whole deal, even claiming that it was a "great dive". I said it was the "worst f#$%in dive ever" for me because of what happened. The most aggravating part for me is that it was totally avoidable and not due to equipment failure.
Yes. Aside from outright equipment failure, as previous posters here seem to agree, it's an indicator of not paying attention and not embracing sound gas management rules.
Also, I think the hypothetical question you pose to yourself during a dive "at this very moment, if I were to run out of air or have a serious problem..." is an excellent one and one I use in my own diving so as not to grow complacent about the importance of positioning of my buddy team. If the answer is "yikes...I don't know if I could signal my buddy and get to him/her (or he get to me) without being close to real panic.." then you are not close enough. Freedivers and others who routinely practice holding their breath for longer periods of time may have a greater comfort zone, but this doesn't take away from the importance of the question. Ass for emergency swimming ascents, I think it's wise to take a lesson from the tech diving world. Underwater problems need to be solved under water. Even at 20', why blow off a needed 3-5 min. safety stop when you really don't have to.