IRAP Administrator
08-03-2007, 10:48 PM
Just arrived for a week's cave-diving, got our rental tanks, and kitted up at Peacock for the first dive. Got into the water, everything felt fine during S-drills, bubble checks etc. near the surface. Went head-down from the entrance to the main line, watched my buddy tie off the reel, and headed into the cave.
From the point I started swimming, I was having to kick to get my head up each time. My tanks were starting to overbalance me, no matter how much I tightened the crotch-strap to get them down my back. The more my head pointed to the floor, the more air got into my legs, the more my head pointed to the floor and the more I got stressed. However, I stupidly kept going until swimming became near-impossible, eventually flashing my buddy, who turned around just in time to see me give the "dodgy" signal, then do two somersaults just to prove the point (lucky that Peacock has decent headroom). Eventually got my hand on the side of the cave and got upright enough to get the air out of my feet. Called the dive and headed back, not caring about the discomfort of diving a compressed undersuit or about anything else going on behind me - my buddy didn't flash, and I never checked once to see if he was okay.
Got out of the water and dropped the tanks on my harness, which allowed me to dive comfortably. The thing I should have recognised straight off was that these things just don't get better during a dive, and had the sense to call it rather than go on through sheer bravado. What had been a minor inconvenience near the entrance escalated into a complete loss of control further in. Once this problem was fixed, diving became an absolute pleasure again - as it should be.
From the point I started swimming, I was having to kick to get my head up each time. My tanks were starting to overbalance me, no matter how much I tightened the crotch-strap to get them down my back. The more my head pointed to the floor, the more air got into my legs, the more my head pointed to the floor and the more I got stressed. However, I stupidly kept going until swimming became near-impossible, eventually flashing my buddy, who turned around just in time to see me give the "dodgy" signal, then do two somersaults just to prove the point (lucky that Peacock has decent headroom). Eventually got my hand on the side of the cave and got upright enough to get the air out of my feet. Called the dive and headed back, not caring about the discomfort of diving a compressed undersuit or about anything else going on behind me - my buddy didn't flash, and I never checked once to see if he was okay.
Got out of the water and dropped the tanks on my harness, which allowed me to dive comfortably. The thing I should have recognised straight off was that these things just don't get better during a dive, and had the sense to call it rather than go on through sheer bravado. What had been a minor inconvenience near the entrance escalated into a complete loss of control further in. Once this problem was fixed, diving became an absolute pleasure again - as it should be.