Serious OOA question

[J_glenn06]

After reading some posts on here and some others i just had a real question.

How many of you have ACTUALLY had a complete out of gas situation in a cave?

Now to clear things up im not talking about what we all went threw in class when the senario was a complete cluster For example: 3 divers in backmount with 2 primary light faliurs and 1 OOA diver.Not That im talking about a for real "Oh ****" moment.Or maybe Something Real similar Just curious

[Kelly Jessop]

How many of you have ACTUALLY had a complete out of gas situation in a cave?

True OOG situations are very rare fortunately,but there quite a few situations where gas is thought to be exhausted,but not. About 10 years ago I was with someone that experienced a double valve roll off in a bedding plane. Although they had an ample supply of gas,for all practical purposes it was an OOG scenario. Very tough situation because I couldn't swim up to the person due to the tight confines,so I had to feed my long hose along the floor. Reaching back and turning on the valves was an impossibility.

[FW]

Back in the "olden days", before we knew any better, I lost a tank o-ring on a single. I was very lucky, since I had just entered a sump when I heard the LOUD hissing. I turned around and swam fast. I ran out about 10 feet from the surface. It wouldn't have been any better in doubles back then, because we didn't have isolators. If one tank o-ring went, you lost all the gas. Today, it is nearly impossible to loose all your gas, unless you are hard headed, and don't use an isolator (or dive sidemount).

Out of well over 1000 cave dives (and a bunch of OW dives) I have only had to share air a very few times, and all of them were because someone thought they were OOA. One had a leaking exhaust valve, one had the isolator turned off, and one must have had a "head problem" since we never found any problem with his gear.

I had a student shear off the primary regulator hose, right at the 1st stage. he shut off the post and went to his backup. Scared the $#!t out of me, though.

[sam]

my buddy and I were at Ginnie about 2 months ago and just reached the lips when here comes a flashing light comming straight at us.

We were on rebreathers so we donated a 40 and escorted the guy to deco where he had his o2. I stayed with him as my buddy went to notify his "team" that he was ok. Turns out he got seperated and his team made it out without him. (they had to have swam right past us as we were in the gallery for a while before going up the main line.)

while we were putting gear away he came by to thank us and say good bye.

We did not see his gauge but he claimed all the way that he was "out" just as he reached us.

[RN]

I've had a donate a hose in a non-training environment once. It wasn't an out of air situation but the situation did require the deployment of my long hose.

[Michael Stroeck]

I've only seen an OOG situation once, at 30m on a reef in the Maldives. The guy had an unbelievable breathing rate and sucked his Al 80 dry in just shy of 20 minutes. The dive guide sent him up air-sharing with an OW-student(!!!) and continued the dive...

Edit by FW - Remember rule #3!

[FW]

Michael reminded me of an OW, OOA issue. We had done a bounce dive to 240' (yea I know, but the rules were different back then). When we got to the deco stop, half the team of 6 were very low on air. The three of us with good SAC rates had to share with the air hogs

Someone in the boat was watching, and lowered a tank with regs, so we made it through deco fine.

[chicken]

I've had to do it twice this year! Both in Key Largo and both on deep wrecks. In the 15 years prior I have never had to share air in a real emergency and have cursed the 7ft hose. Now, I love my 7 footer and it will be part of not only my cave rig but OW rig as well. The most recent incident was on the Duane last week, turns out the OOA diver was a divemaster candidate for a local shop?

[Kelly Jessop]

Michael reminded me of an OW, OOA issue. We had done a bounce dive to 240' (yea I know, but the rules were different back then). When we got to the deco stop, half the team of 6 were very low on air. The three of us with good SAC rates had to share with the air hogs

Someone in the boat was watching, and lowered a tank with regs, so we made it through deco fine.

I bet you could fill up a whole month's of Rodales Scuba Diver magazine's "I learned from"

[ssmdive]

Cave, No.
OW in a wreck, Yes.

[Commander McBragg voice] There, Marathon, Florida! After a brief visit to mile marker one to catch up with old friends over drinks I began my trek home. Little did I know that the diving in Key West was less than satisfactory, and that the good diving could be found in the middle keys.

While stopping at a local fast food establishment, I happened upon some local intrepid adventurers preparing provisions before they embarked on the days exploration. Quickly recognizing me as the type of leader every expedition needs... They, of course, asked me to come along and guide them.

Upon reaching the dive site we jumped overboard into the deep with the skill of lemmings off a cliff. We quickly descended to the wreck where we found two important issues:

1. The was a massive Jew Fish that liked to bark at visitors... Quite an entertaining little fellow!

2. My compatriots were, unknown to me at the time of course, quite the air hogs.

At a reasonable time I inquired my team as to their current level or remaining supply of air. To my astonishment, one member of the team was already at 750 pounds and the other was at 500 pounds!

[Voice from the crowd] "Good Heavens! What did you do?"[/voice from the crowd]

Assessing our depth, time spent, water conditions, lunar phase, remaining gas supply, and the local customs.... It quickly became clear that starting to surface was our only option.....

At the 30 foot stop the diver that had the 500 pounds grabbed my octo indicating that he was out! Then about 4 mins later the other chap signaled OOA and they buddy shared my air supply till we could surface amid a school of dangerous gifilte fish!

[Voice from the crowd] "That story of running out of air...leaves me breathless"[/voice from the crowd]

Quite.[/Commander McBragg voice]

For those that don't know Commander McBragg

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoid=51732875