Question about getting a blackoutee to the surface.

[naiad]

That sounds like a serious blackout. It must have been very scary. Well done for sorting it out.

It's important to make sure that your weightbelt can be released quickly.

Lucia

[DeepThought]

Originally Posted by ROBERT REYES

his weighbelt had to be cut from him, because he used to lock it some way,

It is important to share those kind of things with your partner... for example when diving with all those special buckled weightbelts...

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by ROBERT REYES

Well, I had to kiss my Frech buddy to wake him up, at least that is the
way everybody laugh at me about it, but his lips were black, he was not
breathing, his weighbelt had to be cut from him, because he used to lock it some way, and in rough weather it was harder than you would think or do on a normal practice.
Not a joke when you are spearing.

Good for you ...& your friend . [I had to read that twice, I thought it said you French kissed your buddy first time!].

A dive instructor pal suggested I switch from a Marseille buckle to a more secure snake-belt style buckle, after loosing my weight belt recently. I was quite surprised as he is very safety conscious. Personally, I would rather loose the belt than risk the lives of myself and my companions.

[For the record, the belt was probably knocked undone crossing a wide, hidden rock barrier in a swell...having just fitted 4 new scuba weights (I had been unable to find the better, closer-fitting, in-line freediver, Old Man Dave bullet or Rob Allen-style D-weights) the belt had become much shorter -- apparently a common contributing factor for weight belts releasing.]

[portinfer]

Roland - we tried it on Saturday - it wasn't planned but it turned out that there were no fish around so we went out for some deeper dives.

We had weighted outrselves for about 6m for shallow water fishing and then swam out into the bay at 13m.

We had a line and a float with a weight at the bottom - this ended at 10m. But the visibility was exceptional (for here) and it was crystal to 13m - we were going to head further out as I was keen to try some dives at 16m (which I believe is the starting level for aida level one certification) but it was rough further out and we were happy at 13m anyway.

So I dropped down and noticed that after about 8m you really dropped quite fast. We had 7mm jackets and 5mm trousers that I guess were compressing a fair bit. Anyway, at the bottom we were over hard rippling sand and like I say it was crystal clear so it was a good time to observe the other diver (one up one down).

Felt pretty heavy down there and the kick off the bottom was hard for the first few kicks. We didn't try any rescuing but probably should have done. I am not sure how easy it would have been to get back to the bottom with a 7mm/5mm and no weight belt ? Any ideas anyone ? (ie practice rescue : one goes down and the other follows shortly and attempts to rescue them, ditching both belts and do a complete simulation rescue as described in previous posts).

Anyway the guy I dived with hadn't dived to that depth before and it was good to spot him - could easily see our mistakes when facing the line too. Too much of the classic response to look at the seabed and arch the back and not be hydrodynamic... So a good dive and some useful things learnt.

Will have to try a simulated rescue next time and make sure those I dive with regularly know what to do on these deeper dives.

Ed

[land shark]

I am not sure how easy it would have been to get back to the bottom with a 7mm/5mm and no weight belt ? Any ideas anyone ? (ie practice rescue : one goes down and the other follows shortly and attempts to rescue them, ditching both belts and do a complete simulation rescue as described in previous posts).

Thats why you carry two anchors. Just ride the second anchor down for the belt then pull it up.

[DeepThought]

If there is some current you can go down afterwards to take your weightbelt and discover it isn't there (or actually that you are someplace else).
Maybe you can tie a line between them and your float just for this practice.

[Bill Adkins]

I dont remember exactly but I think it was in my DM training here in So Cal but we did have to master a decent in wet suit without any weight. It was a basic jack knife scenerio head down and raising the legs completely vertical out of the water to create as much weight as possible. You will sink and when your fins hit the water its all about the kick to start the decent. With maybe 20 feet your suit will be compressing and its all down from there. As far as rescue procedures I would aquire the victim from behind allowing me to control the airway with one hand and lose the weights simply with the other if the belt is attached with the normal release. A weight belt is the cheepest piece of dive gear to aquire and many treat them like gold. A number of yrs ago I was at a Dive N Surf parking lot sale looking at some weights and one of the Meistral brothers advised me not to get to attached to my weights because I would probably need to replace them more than once, he was correct. Just a thought.
Bill

[land shark]

hey Sara ?? How many years did Alison dive with the same weights??? like 20??

[island_sands]

Originally Posted by land shark

hey Sara ?? How many years did Alison dive with the same weights??? like 20??

what do you mean?

[naiad]

It's here.

[immerlustig]

BUMP

since more than a year has passed since the thread was opened by deepthought i'd be interested in maybe some experiences anyone had, problems encountered, solutions, etc.

i'd especially be curious to hear some first hand experience of freedivers who act as safeties during competitions, especially regarding the issue of when you grab the victim. since the athlete is dq'd when a safety diver grabs him that probably is an issue.

regards,

roland

[cebaztian]

Since we see and hear about more BO (on and below surface) I took some time and read the whole thread.

My comments:
A freediver BO is NOT what is usually refered to as a "drowning or even near drowning incident" (only potentially). So whatever scubadivers, swimmers and others teach regarding this we freedivers should rely on our own experience and knowledge.

Laryngospsasm is acording to my knowledge "guaranteed" in a freediver BO. Not many (any?) deep BO have complained about water in their lungs after being brought to surface and revived by BTT.

If you do the following you have probably saved the persons life:

1) Be there!
2) Bring victim to the surface.

In whatever style you can, and of course its an advantage to cover mouth and drop belt if that is an advantage in the situation.

A real case:
fridykning

Sebastian