Silliest/Most dangerous mistakes during cave Training

[sskasser]

<snip>
Then, our boat wouldn't start so we paddled back to Edd's.

Mike

Dang! And I thought my cave instructor caused a lot of equipment failures...but the boat?! That's harsh!

[bdoxey]

LOL. we did the same think at Ginnie and with a three man team. We were exiting the Bone Tunnel and doing a variety of skills between the three of us - out of air, no lights, and reeling in the jump spool. Somehow whie removing our line arrow and spool, we ended up on the opposite side of the line and went to our left which took us back into the cave and against the current. We soon saw a line arrow and realized our mistake. Our instructor was wondering what we were doing but just watched to see if we would notice. I guess we got lost without his help. The next day at Peacock in the Crossover Tunnel, we paid damn close attention to line line arrows and jumps from another team.

I don't know. I think the loafer story is better than that.

[tmcdonal]

Apprentice class, diving Little River. Everything is falling into place. I've got my buoyancy and trim perfect and am finally "in the zone" on the pull and glide. I'm leading the team and cruising along. Pull, glide, look around, glance at the line, repeat...)

Out of the blue, my buddy signals me and shines his light at the gold line. I look down and give him a "yes, that's the line" look. With his light, he traces it back to where it ends, a jump reel is attached, and about a 5 foot jump to the *real* gold line. I had accidentally jumped to a very stained piece of line that looked like gold line (exit from mud tunnel). I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Gave a "low on brains" signal and easily corrected, but it totally blew my confidence. We continued at a *much* slower pace.

-Tom

[LCF]

Silly: First day of class, we're in open water, we go down to do valve drills and S-drills. I'm going first. I'm a little nervous, but feeling okay because the last time I was in front of an instructor, I was being used as the "demo quality" person for valve drills. I stabilize, great trim, perfect buoyancy, and march briskly through the drill, right up to the point where I shut my left post, go to purge my backup reg and realize I'm still breathing it -- I have just shut off all my gas. Oops.

What's worse, I did it the next day, too . . .

Silly (but also scary): My boneheaded INSISTENCE on removing gear from the cave. The joke of the class was that my buddies were worth $110 to me (because that's what I paid for my reel).

Scary and sobering: Swimming off and leaving my "unconscious" buddy lying on a rock. For almost two minutes, before I realized he wasn't behind me. At that point, I just about decided I wouldn't cave dive with me as a teammate.

[MengTze]

Intro class: First lights out and get out drill .......................I got the 'F' out of Dodge, 100 mpH........leaving buddy and instructor. Got my ass handed to me top side.

[sandy]

I don't know. I think the loafer story is better than that.

OK, I'll bite. It was not in a cave but was with our cave instructor on our last day of trimix checkout dives on the Oriskany. If nothing else, my silly mistake will provide some comic relief. The night before, we found a nice gash/dry rot in the neck seal of my drysuit. We tried to patch it but were not confident in our efforts. Rather than risk a flooded drysuit, we stopped at MBT Divers the next morning, and I rented a wetsuit.

We got to the boat, set up our equipment, and made sure all was OK. As we leave the dock, I start to have an Oh Sh-- experience. Since my drysuit had boots, I did not bring nor did I rent any booties. We were running late already so returning to MBT was not an option. No problem. maybe my bare feet will fit inside my fins. Not a chance, I do not even think the spring strap touched my heel. So my Oh Sh-- experience is strengthening as I look at the shoes, my weekend loafers, that I had worn on the boat. Hmmm, do I risk a little salt water in them or throw away my share of boat charter fees, instructor expenses, etc. I did not even have to think about it. The loafers were a perfect fit, and I barely noticed them in the water. My buddy did say that it was a pricless moment as I was climbing the ladder to exit the water wearing a wetsuit complete with loafers.

In case you are wondering, I soaked the loafers in warm water, stuck some shoe trees in them, and I am wearing them now.

Merry Christmas.

[Squirrel Girl]

Great "bootie" story. How's this? It was after cave training, but still....

So I had never owned my own equipment. I'd always borrowed bits and pieces--actually almost all my gear. I knew that was a serious hit on my diving options/skills/etc. So I began to buy my gear, piece by piece--as much as possible used.

So I had partly gotten a few things. I had my own (new) Transpac. My old wetsuit didn't fit, and I'd forgotten to arrange for a decent suit before my trip to FL, so I was stuck renting a 3 mm farmer john (brrr).

We'd driven over to Peacock from Gainesville where we'd been staying and started kitting up. S(#*!! I forgot my booties over in Gainesville. We pack back up and race to Cathy's. I borrow a pair of booties. Then back to Peacock. My buddy is completely kitted up and I'm almost. S#&@!!!!!! I forgot my fins!!!!! (wouldn't you think I would have noticed the booties and fins at the same time?) My buddy drops her rig, jumps into her car with the air conditioning on full blast (*she* has a drysuit) as it's about 90 degrees. She picks up a generic pair of fins (they didn't have to be fitted as the booties did) and brings them back to me.

Down to the water we go, and I am sorting through my gear. Some old, some new (to me), some borrowed. I'm struggling and think, "Hmmm, maybe this would be easier in the water?" So with some air in my BC, I jumped in. S&*#!!!!!! I start sinking like a rock with the doubles on my back. I know I hadn't gotten my regulators sorted and my inflator hose may or may not be plugged in. I do NOT have my borrowed fins on my feet yet. I kick for all I'm worth, grab a breath, and start to sink. I kick and kick and now can barely get my head above water. With that fraction of a second my head is above water, I get a quick breath, I also yell, "HELLLLLLPPPPP!!!" Down I go. It takes me no time at all to dump those tanks off my back! They plummeted down to the bottom. But I was on the surface happily breathing again. My buddy had rushed to help me, and was going to inflate the BC (was it connected?). But I ditched before she arrived. I did take use of her services and she brought them up for me to try again.

The nice ending was that we had a quite pleasant and uneventful dive once we got into the cave. And I have never entered the water again and not KNOWN I wouldn't sink while being unsorted.

[Scubastud16]

Only taken my cavern class so far, but here it goes.

Normal dive. Headed down into the ballroom. 2 teams, each of 2 people. My buddy Sam was my second. I was running line. The plan was to get to the bottom, tie off, thumb the dive, and then reel it back up. Instructor is not in sight as we thumbed the dive, and I started to reel back up. As soon as I started to get a little positive and was dumping some air, my instructor is RIGHT next to me, slashing his throat for an air share. I immediately donate my longhose, and immediately settle back down to start reeling up again. Instructor signals "low on brains," I have a "DUH" moment, and I lock down the reel/drop it as we proceed out of the ballroom. Atleast I can say I was calm and cool during the drill!

[LCF]

I actually forgot the one that was probably the funniest, although not to me.

Doing my cavern class, the second day we did our lights-out line-following exit. We did it at Chac Mool, where the line runs through the middle of a big cavern, well off the floor. There were other divers in the cavern, so we were doing our "lights-out" with our eyes closed. We get the signal, and I close my eyes, go into touch contact with my husband and the line, and we start swimming. At first, everything is fine.

Slowly, I get the feeling that there just isn't room for me between my husband and the line (and there may not have been). I feel like I'm being pushed on my side. Then the line starts to push up into my hand, so I figure I'm negative and add some air to my wing. Still pushing, so I add more. Weird; it's getting WORSE, not better, and I KNOW I didn't add or vent that much air from my wing getting IN here. About this time, I feel my instructor's "cut drill" signal and I open my eyes . . . to discover that I'm upside-down and have pushed the line about ten feet up in the water! Lesson learned -- if you're going to use the line as a buoyancy indicator, you'd better know if you're right side up or not

[Squirrel Girl]

I open my eyes . . . to discover that I'm upside-down and have pushed the line about ten feet up in the air!

Good story. But did you really mean "air"? That'd be really impressive!