Originally Posted by
LCF
Forrest, I totally agree with you. Any experience in stifling panic is useful in the next stressful situation. I had years of dealing with situations spiraling out of control (patients have a way of doing that) and we said about our second year of residency, that your panic button got pushed so often it didn't work any more. Certainly, the high-stress situations I've been in underwater have each worked to give me greater self-control for the next.
However, I will say that, if you are air-hungry enough, you may remove your regulator. I had a cold water immersion experience that left me severely short of breath, and damned if I didn't take my regulator out to see if I could breathe better without it. (I couldn't.) I was on the surface, though . . .