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A broken hose

	A broken hose
Author: d2reid Posted: 21-May-06 IP: Logged	Diving the Spiegel Grove is awesome. This is the dive spot that motivated us to get Nitrox certified so we could stay a little longer. So last week on the Spiegel I kept hearing this gawdawful bubbling noise. Like someone had an open valve or a really bad free flow. I couldn't understand why my dive buddies didn't hear this. I kept looking around to see who was having trouble so I could help them...... My pressure was down to 1500, very unusual for me after only 10 minutes. I finally decided to check my own gear. I found an open section of deck with no growth on it and stopped. Signaled trouble to my buddies (yes I had two on this trip), and proceeded to take my bc off to check my gear. I was one the one making all the noise. My regulator hose was busily making bubbles at the point where it joins the first stage. Shoot, I wondered to myself, how did that get loose. So I grabbed the hose and gave it a big twist to tighten it on the first stage. Imagine my surprise when the hose came off in my hand. No, I am no the type of diver who never gets his gear serviced, it was in for it's annual service the month prior. Ok, now I have no air, or should I say my air was quickly leaving via the open hose connection. I signaled to my buddy that I was out of air and she quickly shared. I turned the air off so I wouldn?t ruin the tank. I figured my regulator was trashed. I decided that this was not a good thing. We where at 110' and there was no way for an emergency ascent without consequences. Not to mention the possibility of blowing off of the boat and relying on others for a ride home. If we could find some others..... I checked both partners air. They each had 2000+. We (I) was in good shape. Lots of air for the three of us to get back to the mooring ball and do a safe ascent. I love the dive industry. Everyone is so nice and helpful. Sometimes to helpful. Being on a popular wreck also means lots of other divers. I was very pleased to see that other divers would notice someone having trouble and take the time from their dive to offer assistance. Unfortunately I spent almost the same amount of time handling the situation as I did letting others know we where ok. My new thing as a rescue diver is to note in the "evaluation" stage of a rescue if the person in trouble is "handling" the situation. If they are, hang close in case more assistance is necessary, but don't get in their way, it only complicates things. We made our way back to the mooring line and made a safe ascent. A couple of key factors that I reflect on: Don't stop training after you get certified. My wife ( my main dive partner) and our friend will occasionally do drills. We signal low our out of air and share. The first couple of times it was a little un-nerving. But it actually got to be a relaxed event after a few times. This practice is what made my event un-phenomenal. We already knew what we where going to do and where comfortable with it. My other new thing is new hoses every 2 years, no matter what?..     Reply | Report to Moderator
Author: Howard Posted: 21-Aug-06 IP: Logged	Note for Reid: Diving with a pony mount that hold a 6 cu ft. bottle and an independent regulator is cheap life insurance. We dive Palm Beach Area and fortunately not to often an equipment failure. My wife blew the o ring from her tank 50' below the surface which is rear ( it usually goes at the surface when you turn your air on ). She calmly made an accent to the surface on her pony and switched tanks. Then she rejoined us. I was diving with equipment that just had an over haul and the high pressure seat (wrong size) was put into my regulator. It was close but not the right size. This was the third dive after service. When that blew my air was gone, an octopus would not help since it runs off of the first stage as well. I switched to my other regulator attached to my 6 cu ft. pony and made it safely to the boat from ll0'. Keep diving safely. Howard     Reply | Report to Moderator