Posted by MHK on April 09, 2001 at 12:04:48:
In Reply to: Re: how I understand it posted by Steve on April 09, 2001 at 11:21:36:
Steve,
I agree that OOA's should never happen, however they do and one should be prepared for them.
I had a good friend of mine a few years ago have a really bad problem ( fast forward to the end he's OK).
But he was a very experienced diver, 2,000+ and was diving solo. It was the 4th dive of the day during lobster season so he was shallow, less than 40'. His SPG was reading 800 psi when he took a breath nothing came out. Fortunatley he was shallow enough were he *shot* to the surface. I'll note he was solo, but that's for another time ;-)
Anyway, the point is that for the 1st three dives of the day, apparently, his SPG was fine.. Fortunatley he was shallow enough were he didn't get seriously harmed ( he very well could have embolized or drown), but shit happens..
Furthermore, many do monitor air supplies diligently whereas as many do not. SOme are so consumed with lobsters or photos and have been *diving for a long time* so they can estimate air consumption that checking SPG's become less important than that arm in the hole after the bug...
Absent the back up reg bungeed under the chin, it is possible that a *octo* could have a minor leak and/or more dangeroulsy a free flow that goes unnoticed since it may very well be trailing the diver..
OOA's should well in fact be the exception rather than the rule, but given that the consequences of an OOA are generally a fatality prudent contingency planning is a must...
Hopefully you'll never need to use these suggestions but it only takes once...
Later
PS. I'll run the Moody numbers later I'm a little busy at work now..