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> As I turned to face Jeff I found him facing me with bubbles flooding
> out of his mask, he was having some sort of problem, this first thing
> Jeff did was to signal UP, I through Jeff was just having problems
> clearing his mask, I singled Wait, to try and calm him down, I did not
> want to spoil my day out due to Jeff having a mask problem
#I don't mean to flame, but what do people think about this? I've
#always been taught and firmly believe that if someone gives an ABORT
#sign, then the dive is over. No questions or delays.
Though the motive for not wanting to abort the dive immediately may
sound wrong (not wanting to miss rest of dive) I have some sympathy
with the approach of stopping for a few seconds to assess the situation
before starting an ascent ... it may well be that the above mask flood
could have been dealt with quite easily by the buddy in a way not
apparent to the casualty.
"STOP - ASSESS SITUATION - REGAIN CONTROL" ?
The casualty mentioned was not a seasoned Tech-diver (wrong list for
original posting ?) and the UP signal he gave may not have been the
most rational solution to his problem - especially if he was near to
panic. In general it's a lot easier to cope/deal with a problem (regain
control) on the bottom than in mid water.
#Telling Jeff to stay when his mental/physical state is unknown could
#increase his stress and put both him and you at more risk.
Allowing him to make a bolt for the surface has its problems too and
can just reinforce the panic spiral.
#This seems to go against the whole purpose of a buddy.
We don't know the whole story, but attempting to take control of the
incident seems a fairly buddy-like thing to do.
#It seems to me that if you aren't willing to accept an aborted dive
#for any reason then you should either dive solo or make this fact very
#clear before the dive.
That goes without saying.
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