I like a rule mark made and I follow it religiously. It was something like "every time you see something somewhat interesting look at your gauge." Never had an issue with my gas management.
Good advice. I had an OOA experience a couple of years ago, I took my last breath at 11m and had to ascend. It was a culmination of error’s that caused it. 1. New diver ran low on air during the dive and since I had the most left he used my occy for a while (he used a lot!) 2. Found out on that dive that my spg was faulty, reading high by 30bar. Was it an enjoyable experience? No but I’m proud of myself for the way I handled the situation most important thing to do is not panic, remember your training and again don’t panic.
Why did you continue the dive while sharing air? I was under the impression that as soon as you start sharing air, you ascend. Unless it was a simple fix that could be done at depth.
Got low once...I was being careful but started breathing heavier toward the end of a dive. I was coughing for some reason and panicked a little, hit 500 and was worried about that which was a catch 22 since I breathed heavier (was turned around trying to altert buddy too). Got down to 300 and had to suck harder. Shortened the safety stop and did a shallower dive next dive to be off gas. Moral of the story is you can suddenly increase air usage and if you hit 500 don't panic...you'll get up doing normal procedures but a panic can make you use your air way faster.
You should ALWAYS have a mental estimate of the amount of gas you have. Tell yourself how much gas you think you have before you look at you SPG. Then, you can tell if you're going through your gas faster or slower than expected. It'll also alert you to faulty gauges and short fills. Plus, it will instill the habit of checking regularly and actually reading the gauge.
Only happened once. Second ocean dive after certification, didn't know anyone else on the boat. Hit turn around pressure but dive buddy didn't want to go back, stayed with him a few minutes longer than I should've, had to leave him alone because I was getting too low. Couldn't find the anchor line and the visibility was poor with a medium strength current, started to mildly panic but I found the line and accended to my safety stop and thankfully there were other divers there. We had to do an air sharing accent and I needed to orally inflate on the surface. I learned to always either have an actual friend with me, or stick to the dive guide
I ran out of air on my 2nd check out dive. I was maybe 6 feet deep. I signaled my buddy who didn't surface with me. I didn't exhale as I had no air at all. My instructor asked me to inflate BC which I had to catch breath to do then he promptly yelled at my buddy. in 1984 we did have pressure gauges on our checkout. So glad they changed that when I went thru class again 2 years ago when I got back into it.
The only close call I was there for was the deep dive on my AOW class. 3 students and the instructor. After the skills at depth it was discovered the husband was very low. This was at about 80ft. Instructor buddied me up with the guy's wife, took a compass heading to the boat and did an assent while generally headed in the direction of the boat. He was buddy breathing before we got to the safety stop but there was enough air for the full stop. I learned to pay better attention to my air, got hp120 tanks, safety stops in open ocean are tricky to stay at depth with no line to hold on to and learned that it is a bit disorienting when in good visibility you can't see the bottom or surface because you are in the middle...
All good advice. Another reason for getting short of gas is unexpected exertion or stress that increases your breathing rate. Examples might be swimmng against current or even mental stress from being a bit off colour or just unhappy about the dive. As you say, as always, just check your gauges often.
no, problem starts by not checking your gauges when the tank is low on air for a safe exit no matter what you started with ... anyone can dive on a half tank but the point is to always need to check gauges before you are too low for safety .... here in California many panic when get tangle in the kelp (they wrap around like ropes if in the thick of it) that hang on the top and drown close to the surface because they where too low on air to exit and did not leave anything in case a emergency ... you gauges are your warnings.
@@frankc6430 You'd be surprised of how many people that I saw going OOA just minutes after submerging, just because they thought their tank was full (personal tanks, mostly). That's what I see most of the time. Where I dive, conditions are not very friendly for newbie reckless divers, so I don't see a lot of very very stupid mistakes commited like not checking gauges. On the half-tank diving: it depends on the type of dive and on the capacity of said tank. I'm perfectly fine with diving a half-full 2x10L on a 20 meters dive in the ND limits with no overhead environment (wreck penetration/cave) as long as you respect the thirds rule: 1/3rd for half of the dive, 1/3rd for return, 1/3rd for unexpected. I you want to be safer, or in an overhead environment, a quarter or a fifth rule is the least recommended. That's calculated in case if you get tangled, lost, or have an equipment malfunction. If you know these rules, that means you're at least basically trained. People who go OOA because they were not checking their gauges should not be diving in my opinion. The only "acceptable" way to go OOA for me is gear malfunction (which can be mostly resolved by diving twins or sidemount, and using DIN regulators). On the kelp-tangling subject, I've only witnessed people getting sea-sick watching kelp moving with the waves underwater. I'm not saying it's impossible, but that's improbable especially if you dive in a group of at least two. Getiing tangled in line or a net, that I've seen. I've seen pretty close calls on videos from the US and PADI diving centers in general. I understand why they limit their divers to 30M, because a lot of "certified" AOW divers just bought their diploma. If they had a 60M certification like we do in France, they'd just be dead... Cheers!
Some really good advise, one from me. Test your computer. Years ago I had a Uwatec Air Z Nitrox. I had finished the dive and was in about 4 feet of water. I dumped my air to 30 Bar and started sucking. At 19 Bar by the computer my gas was gone.
I had a new diver, who I did not know, on a 110 ft dive hw should not have attempted. He ran out of air at 50 feet. Was on another divers octo, but he panicked, and tried to swim to the surface with no air and no reg. I has one of those stupid integrated reg/power inflator set ups. I got to him, and gave him my "spare air". It got him to the surface just fine. At the surface he started yelling help me, help me, I am going to die, and let my spare air go which floated off. He had a panic attack at 50 feet under water. All was well in the end, but you should mention the "Spare Air" option. It saved the day in my situation. Jack W
I haven't had it myself but have had a few dive buddies who have had problems and one major one where I now dive with a S40 as a pony on every dive rather have to much gas then not enough
Yea, I have a pony bottle but I only bring it if I am planning a dive deeper than 80 feet, less than that you shouldnt have too much of an issue getting to the surface. Especially if you have buddies which you should.
@@divewithderek fair enough. I often get to enjoy a few deep freshwater dive sites in Florida (90’-100’). They’re easy to get to, fairly constant/relatively warm water temps, and no need for a boat. For those (and the deeper ocean dives) it’s nice to have buddies with ponies...until it’s my turn to buy. Lol. Safe diving to you!
@@MikeR_DiveR If you regularly dive deeper than 80 feet I would recommend picking up a pony bottle, if you always keep it shallow its just extra baggage.
Tech/cave diver here, I personally dive a twinset on all but the most shallow of recreational dives. Redundancy is your friend. Edit: technically that's not right, I'm usually on a breather with bailout, but my twin hp120s are a hell of a lot of gas to deal with problems.
I was on a dive with my buddy and a instructor, I got to 700 psi before the both of them we were at about 60ft deep. In order to stay under a few more minute the instructor lend me breath from his tank. Then I went back to my own air tank and we did our safety stop just fine.
The only OOA situation I have ever experienced was that someone just yanked my reg out of my mounth cause he was in some sort of survival mode... fun dive but the end was less fun😅😂 btw great video's keep up the good work I realy enjoy it😊😊
When I was diving with my instructor, just after my open water he had an catastrophic regulator freeflow and got out of gas within like 20 seconds. That's why we stay close. I mean within 2 or 3 meters. But I really don't get the point of dropping a weight belt when your already at the surface. The gas in your bcd and suite will expand during your ascent and increase buoyancy. You should float.
Dropping weight means that no matter what the situation(numerous scenarios with BCD failure, inflator failure,OOA(you cant fill a BC without air in your tank except for oral)) you will remain positively bouyant because of your wetsuit and whatever air may be in the BCD. it also makes it easier for someone helping you to get you out of the water. Keep in mind im talking about a true emergency situation not a "near miss".
@@michaelholliday2028 If you get a bcd failure at the bottom and get out of gas. You should probably drop your weight belt at the bottom. But when you already resched the surface? You must be a really unlucky basted. Oral inflation generally should be enough. But yeah I get it. If you don't float and for some reason you can't inflate your bcd, yeah by all means drop your weights. But I really can't imagine you could have reached the surface with it. Generally swimming up just a little bit should be enough to get positive buoyancy to get to the surface (although may take a bit long when OOG).
@@timgosling6189 Yeah depending on how much weights you have, you may pop out the water like a humpback whale and have a serious chance to get a type 2 deco or AGE. But still it might be better than drowning. Personally I don't even have a weight belt or other weights i can drop. Just swim up a bit and expanding gasses will do the rest.
@@forgot_my_name_again Agreed. If you have no droppable weight and are neutrally buoyant at depth then it’s just a normal ascent for you. And as you say if you do. drop a bunch of lead you will likely find yourself imitating an ICBM. So the only time to drop weight should be if you find yourself uncontrollably negative, due to a ripped BC or flooded dry suit. But a balanced rig should allow you to swim up with weight in place and under control. I once had to do a course which involved swimming up from 100ft on a single breath. It’s not as bad as it sounds😊
I've never completely run out of air but I came close. I'm a heavy user of air and on a trip my tank got down so low, at 100 psi, my dive computer stopped reading the pressure. I was just at the boat when this happened.
First never panic and think, think think .... if you don`t have a redundant system , then your buddy will be your air tank for a safe ascent or other divers around , just get close enough and signal or grab the octopus not "his" regulator from his mouth or both will panic !... A panicked diver is a danger to everyone around !
1972, J valve Tank, J valve activated, no spg, very first dive not in a pool, inside a small cave in a spring. Class Dive buddy not ready to leave cave, too busy carving his name in rock wall! Finally had to buddy breath out and up, No deco / no safety stop. Stupid ! NEVER again, continuously upgraded to latest safety equipment and practices through the years. After 48 years diving, SPG, + two air integrated dive computers + 3 cu.ft. Spare Air AND religiously monitoring dive profile and AIR on all three devices.
air integrated computer and spg and regular looking at them both wile diving ,am kinda safety minded, is the way to go for me ,one dos NOT wanna be suprised with out of air senario ,better to see it comming he
My only out of air experience was when my instructor during OW found it funny to sneak up on me at 12M and turn it off. Worked out fine and she is now a good friend of mine.
I don't check the guage. I don't have a buddy, and are usually in under 20 feet. I usually wait till I feel it in my mouth. I run out of air fully 10% of the time. And below 500 60%, but I'm special, a commercial diver. If you're doing fun diving don't do what I do. About 10 times I have had to dump my gear. I've been getting better over the years.
Wouldn't it be better to let go of the lead immediately and not only after ascending? It's really hard to ascend without air but with kilograms of lead
No, absolutely not. If you are correctly weighted you should always be able to swim up without dropping your weights. Remember that you get more buoyant as soon as you start up. Dropping your weights at the bottom is the first step in an uncontrolled ascent where even with a completely empty BC and/or suit you will continue to accelerate and risk DCI. Even on the surface, you should be able to inflate your BC orally even with no gas in your cylinder. The average Jacket BCD has about 40lb of lift which is far more than the average single-tank diver ever needs so dropping weight is only needed if your BC has a leak or the valve is malfunctioning.
I like a rule mark made and I follow it religiously. It was something like "every time you see something somewhat interesting look at your gauge." Never had an issue with my gas management.
Good advice.
I had an OOA experience a couple of years ago, I took my last breath at 11m and had to ascend. It was a culmination of error’s that caused it.
1. New diver ran low on air during the dive and since I had the most left he used my occy for a while (he used a lot!)
2. Found out on that dive that my spg was faulty, reading high by 30bar.
Was it an enjoyable experience? No but I’m proud of myself for the way I handled the situation most important thing to do is not panic, remember your training and again don’t panic.
Why did you continue the dive while sharing air? I was under the impression that as soon as you start sharing air, you ascend. Unless it was a simple fix that could be done at depth.
@@Knoxie89 , I was trying to come up but the rest of the group wanted nothing to do with it, it was my first and last dive with that group.
Now this is crazy, when ever I look at this channel I learn something & I remember it. Thanks Mark.
As always a great explanation Mark!!! Thanks a lot
Got low once...I was being careful but started breathing heavier toward the end of a dive. I was coughing for some reason and panicked a little, hit 500 and was worried about that which was a catch 22 since I breathed heavier (was turned around trying to altert buddy too). Got down to 300 and had to suck harder. Shortened the safety stop and did a shallower dive next dive to be off gas. Moral of the story is you can suddenly increase air usage and if you hit 500 don't panic...you'll get up doing normal procedures but a panic can make you use your air way faster.
You should ALWAYS have a mental estimate of the amount of gas you have. Tell yourself how much gas you think you have before you look at you SPG. Then, you can tell if you're going through your gas faster or slower than expected. It'll also alert you to faulty gauges and short fills. Plus, it will instill the habit of checking regularly and actually reading the gauge.
Only happened once. Second ocean dive after certification, didn't know anyone else on the boat. Hit turn around pressure but dive buddy didn't want to go back, stayed with him a few minutes longer than I should've, had to leave him alone because I was getting too low. Couldn't find the anchor line and the visibility was poor with a medium strength current, started to mildly panic but I found the line and accended to my safety stop and thankfully there were other divers there. We had to do an air sharing accent and I needed to orally inflate on the surface. I learned to always either have an actual friend with me, or stick to the dive guide
I ran out of air on my 2nd check out dive. I was maybe 6 feet deep. I signaled my buddy who didn't surface with me. I didn't exhale as I had no air at all. My instructor asked me to inflate BC which I had to catch breath to do then he promptly yelled at my buddy. in 1984 we did have pressure gauges on our checkout. So glad they changed that when I went thru class again 2 years ago when I got back into it.
The only close call I was there for was the deep dive on my AOW class. 3 students and the instructor. After the skills at depth it was discovered the husband was very low. This was at about 80ft. Instructor buddied me up with the guy's wife, took a compass heading to the boat and did an assent while generally headed in the direction of the boat. He was buddy breathing before we got to the safety stop but there was enough air for the full stop. I learned to pay better attention to my air, got hp120 tanks, safety stops in open ocean are tricky to stay at depth with no line to hold on to and learned that it is a bit disorienting when in good visibility you can't see the bottom or surface because you are in the middle...
I’m a teenager PADI rescue diver. Always amazing to learn something new, especially since we can’t dive 😅
Same as Hophansen, in the training pool and 4 feet of water, the Instructor wanted to see how I coped before going open water.
Excellent advice! I really appreciate the Deep Dive videos.
All good advice. Another reason for getting short of gas is unexpected exertion or stress that increases your breathing rate. Examples might be swimmng against current or even mental stress from being a bit off colour or just unhappy about the dive. As you say, as always, just check your gauges often.
This happened to me on my second dive after a long hiatus. I kept telling my self not to panic.
Pre-dive checks, period. Most of OOA situations are just people not checking their tank pressure before the dive!
no, problem starts by not checking your gauges when the tank is low on air for a safe exit no matter what you started with ... anyone can dive on a half tank but the point is to always need to check gauges before you are too low for safety .... here in California many panic when get tangle in the kelp (they wrap around like ropes if in the thick of it) that hang on the top and drown close to the surface because they where too low on air to exit and did not leave anything in case a emergency ... you gauges are your warnings.
@@frankc6430 You'd be surprised of how many people that I saw going OOA just minutes after submerging, just because they thought their tank was full (personal tanks, mostly). That's what I see most of the time. Where I dive, conditions are not very friendly for newbie reckless divers, so I don't see a lot of very very stupid mistakes commited like not checking gauges.
On the half-tank diving: it depends on the type of dive and on the capacity of said tank. I'm perfectly fine with diving a half-full 2x10L on a 20 meters dive in the ND limits with no overhead environment (wreck penetration/cave) as long as you respect the thirds rule: 1/3rd for half of the dive, 1/3rd for return, 1/3rd for unexpected. I you want to be safer, or in an overhead environment, a quarter or a fifth rule is the least recommended. That's calculated in case if you get tangled, lost, or have an equipment malfunction.
If you know these rules, that means you're at least basically trained. People who go OOA because they were not checking their gauges should not be diving in my opinion. The only "acceptable" way to go OOA for me is gear malfunction (which can be mostly resolved by diving twins or sidemount, and using DIN regulators).
On the kelp-tangling subject, I've only witnessed people getting sea-sick watching kelp moving with the waves underwater. I'm not saying it's impossible, but that's improbable especially if you dive in a group of at least two. Getiing tangled in line or a net, that I've seen.
I've seen pretty close calls on videos from the US and PADI diving centers in general. I understand why they limit their divers to 30M, because a lot of "certified" AOW divers just bought their diploma. If they had a 60M certification like we do in France, they'd just be dead...
Cheers!
Some really good advise, one from me. Test your computer. Years ago I had a Uwatec Air Z Nitrox. I had finished the dive and was in about 4 feet of water. I dumped my air to 30 Bar and started sucking. At 19 Bar by the computer my gas was gone.
I had a new diver, who I did not know, on a 110 ft dive hw should not have attempted. He ran out of air at 50 feet. Was on another divers octo, but he panicked, and tried to swim to the surface with no air and no reg. I has one of those stupid integrated reg/power inflator set ups. I got to him, and gave him my "spare air". It got him to the surface just fine. At the surface he started yelling help me, help me, I am going to die, and let my spare air go which floated off. He had a panic attack at 50 feet under water. All was well in the end, but you should mention the "Spare Air" option. It saved the day in my situation. Jack W
I haven't had it myself but have had a few dive buddies who have had problems and one major one where I now dive with a S40 as a pony on every dive rather have to much gas then not enough
This is why “pony bottle” is on my future purchase list. Figure if my buddy, my gear, or I screw up it’s a good way to get home safely.
Yea, I have a pony bottle but I only bring it if I am planning a dive deeper than 80 feet, less than that you shouldnt have too much of an issue getting to the surface. Especially if you have buddies which you should.
@@divewithderek fair enough. I often get to enjoy a few deep freshwater dive sites in Florida (90’-100’). They’re easy to get to, fairly constant/relatively warm water temps, and no need for a boat. For those (and the deeper ocean dives) it’s nice to have buddies with ponies...until it’s my turn to buy. Lol. Safe diving to you!
@@MikeR_DiveR If you regularly dive deeper than 80 feet I would recommend picking up a pony bottle, if you always keep it shallow its just extra baggage.
@@divewithderek considering I’m doing Advanced Nitrox this month, have a feeling there will be extra bottles in my very near future. Can’t wait! :)
Tech/cave diver here, I personally dive a twinset on all but the most shallow of recreational dives. Redundancy is your friend.
Edit: technically that's not right, I'm usually on a breather with bailout, but my twin hp120s are a hell of a lot of gas to deal with problems.
if you use AI I recommend a SPG as backup.
I was on a dive with my buddy and a instructor, I got to 700 psi before the both of them we were at about 60ft deep. In order to stay under a few more minute the instructor lend me breath from his tank. Then I went back to my own air tank and we did our safety stop just fine.
The only OOA situation I have ever experienced was that someone just yanked my reg out of my mounth cause he was in some sort of survival mode... fun dive but the end was less fun😅😂 btw great video's keep up the good work I realy enjoy it😊😊
When I was diving with my instructor, just after my open water he had an catastrophic regulator freeflow and got out of gas within like 20 seconds. That's why we stay close. I mean within 2 or 3 meters. But I really don't get the point of dropping a weight belt when your already at the surface. The gas in your bcd and suite will expand during your ascent and increase buoyancy. You should float.
Dropping weight means that no matter what the situation(numerous scenarios with BCD failure, inflator failure,OOA(you cant fill a BC without air in your tank except for oral)) you will remain positively bouyant because of your wetsuit and whatever air may be in the BCD. it also makes it easier for someone helping you to get you out of the water. Keep in mind im talking about a true emergency situation not a "near miss".
@@michaelholliday2028 If you get a bcd failure at the bottom and get out of gas. You should probably drop your weight belt at the bottom. But when you already resched the surface? You must be a really unlucky basted. Oral inflation generally should be enough. But yeah I get it. If you don't float and for some reason you can't inflate your bcd, yeah by all means drop your weights. But I really can't imagine you could have reached the surface with it. Generally swimming up just a little bit should be enough to get positive buoyancy to get to the surface (although may take a bit long when OOG).
@@forgot_my_name_again See reply above on dropping weight when still on the bottom. It can be very dangerous.
@@timgosling6189 Yeah depending on how much weights you have, you may pop out the water like a humpback whale and have a serious chance to get a type 2 deco or AGE. But still it might be better than drowning. Personally I don't even have a weight belt or other weights i can drop. Just swim up a bit and expanding gasses will do the rest.
@@forgot_my_name_again Agreed. If you have no droppable weight and are neutrally buoyant at depth then it’s just a normal ascent for you. And as you say if you do. drop a bunch of lead you will likely find yourself imitating an ICBM. So the only time to drop weight should be if you find yourself uncontrollably negative, due to a ripped BC or flooded dry suit. But a balanced rig should allow you to swim up with weight in place and under control. I once had to do a course which involved swimming up from 100ft on a single breath. It’s not as bad as it sounds😊
I've never completely run out of air but I came close. I'm a heavy user of air and on a trip my tank got down so low, at 100 psi, my dive computer stopped reading the pressure. I was just at the boat when this happened.
First never panic and think, think think .... if you don`t have a redundant system , then your buddy will be your air tank for a safe ascent or other divers around , just get close enough and signal or grab the octopus not "his" regulator from his mouth or both will panic !... A panicked diver is a danger to everyone around !
Mark a low pressure hose failure will empty your tank in 2 to 3 mins!
1972, J valve Tank, J valve activated, no spg, very first dive not in a pool, inside a small cave in a spring. Class Dive buddy not ready to leave cave, too busy carving his name in rock wall! Finally had to buddy breath out and up, No deco / no safety stop. Stupid ! NEVER again, continuously upgraded to latest safety equipment and practices through the years. After 48 years diving, SPG, + two air integrated dive computers + 3 cu.ft. Spare Air AND religiously monitoring dive profile and AIR on all three devices.
air integrated computer and spg and regular looking at them both wile diving ,am kinda safety minded,
is the way to go for me ,one dos NOT wanna be suprised with out of air senario ,better to see it comming he
Regulator R 2 ICE from tecline made in the Czech republic is the reg i use ,anny evaluation on your part on this reg wood be enormously apreciated
My only out of air experience was when my instructor during OW found it funny to sneak up on me at 12M and turn it off. Worked out fine and she is now a good friend of mine.
Most ads I’ve seen in an 11 minute video
if you got a bad d.m telling. you its ok your fine with. 200 psi before the 5 minute stop
I don't check the guage. I don't have a buddy, and are usually in under 20 feet. I usually wait till I feel it in my mouth. I run out of air fully 10% of the time. And below 500 60%, but I'm special, a commercial diver. If you're doing fun diving don't do what I do. About 10 times I have had to dump my gear. I've been getting better over the years.
Waaaaaay too many ads for such a short video
Wouldn't it be better to let go of the lead immediately and not only after ascending? It's really hard to ascend without air but with kilograms of lead
No, absolutely not. If you are correctly weighted you should always be able to swim up without dropping your weights. Remember that you get more buoyant as soon as you start up. Dropping your weights at the bottom is the first step in an uncontrolled ascent where even with a completely empty BC and/or suit you will continue to accelerate and risk DCI. Even on the surface, you should be able to inflate your BC orally even with no gas in your cylinder. The average Jacket BCD has about 40lb of lift which is far more than the average single-tank diver ever needs so dropping weight is only needed if your BC has a leak or the valve is malfunctioning.
@@timgosling6189 Okay thank you for the good explanation
The adds are about to make me unsubscribe