TobyFish (Online)

my point is I think you can get blinded other ways - although the mask is the most common. You are right that in a standard team you need 4 masks to fail before one of you is blind for the rest of the dive, but I have a prescription mask so I only need two to fail before I am seriously compromised

contact lens wash-out would be fun to rectify under water

I think the blind ascent is a great team-building exercise (including building trust) but you're right that unconcious diver would achieve much the same with more practical use. In reality. I think I'd be prefer a trusted buddy to "fly" me to the surface as a blind diver in the same way as he would for an unconcious one. signalling my buoyancy rather than just fixing it is a potential failure point

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Brian Allen(Offline)

Have not had a problem with contact lense washout, I'm -5.0 in each eye and did long mask off swims with my eyes wide open on the ITC. The first swim was fine but on the second I lost one lense. So I took the opportunity to see if I could dive blind, and didn't have a problem reading gauges or getting visuals on my team with the good eye shut anyway... I think you and Clare hit the nail on the head really, i found the drill taught me trust as well as making me get my buoyancy/trim while stressed nailed.

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Joe Hesketh(Offline)

Also remember it’s not just a blind diver drill. There are other failures on that drill, usually some combination of valve, light and gas (or a runaway inflate as well if the instructor’s feeing mean) which are the “real” issues to deal with on that dive. The no mask may be a bit extreme, but is easily and authentically simulated, is a really good test of teamwork and adds task loading to the other issues. The actual scenarios themselves are less important than their impact on the dive and the way they can be triaged.

No-mask can happen albeit it is normally dealt with before surfacing. However the same is true of light failures, but no-one would try to argue that overhead training might sufficiently prepare you to deal with a light failure by banking on having more lights available. The chances of having to exit a cave on the back of 9 light failures is about 1.95 quadrillion to one[1] but you still train for a no-lights exits. I’d argue no-mask in open water followed similar logic.

I think a deep rescue would be worthwhile to practice, but is in a slightly different category. The idea behind the hump day dives, as with the multiple scenarios you get in cave training, is that you are forced to triage problems and then make an otherwise normal exit/ascent, rather than any kind of emergency ascent.

Theorising about this on the internet without actually having done it is a potential bullsh*t point

Joe

[1] Based on a light having a one in fifty chance of failure, which I believe was the figure used to arrive at three lights being a reasonable balance, according to Bill Gavin anyway.

Janos(Offline)

Good point.

Not in Dover in the winter!

Janos

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Dave Dowson(Offline)

I understand that you can train and make this quick, but also I've seen people task loaded and concequently struggle with the loop and double ender.

Really though, can someone explain why a permenantly connected small bolt snap instead of the loop won't work - then it's always there and it's a single step task to clip it off.

I currently dive this config, i.e. two bolt snaps on the light, the one on the Goodmans been the "normal" size and the one on the cable protector being the "small" size - I've had no problems with this. Does anyone know what's wrong with this and why we need to have the bungee? (Sorry in advance if I've missed this in the previous 8 pages!)

Dave

Divingniknaks(Offline)

Dave this one goes back to earlier this year, before you joined I think.

Updates from GUE - Lampheads

Thats the original thread that kind of explained the thinking behind it.

HTH

.

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