swander

Had an unfortunate incident a couple of weeks ago. We were at the Chevron rig and had fished for an hour or so. I decided to dive and see if I could shoot some fish. I told my son and daughters boyfreind that I was going to the top section of the rig and would be back in about 20 min. I descended the anchor rope and checked to see that the anchor was not hungup. It was ok so I swam into the rig and took a shot. I was having a little trouble reloading due to the current so I backed up against a horizontal pipe and proceeded to reload. Checked my safety looked at my computer and just as I was going to swim away my airjust shutoff.I pushed my purge valve and nothing.Still calm I grabbed my second and tried it. No luck. I just saw that I had 1700 lbs left so I assumed my 1st stage failed. Still calm I decided to get to my anchor rope and get to the surface. No luck,I was stuck tight to the rig. Now I panicked!! I unbuckled my BC and swam for the surface. Didn't no if I was going to make it andI was sucking in water but I made it to the surface. All was well but my gear and speargun were gone. I stopped into MBT looking for some help and got hooked up with Paul Pierce and Jerry West. I took them out there the next morning and they got my gear back. Paul even found my speargun laying on the bottom. An old anchor rope stuck on the rig was under my 1st stage and over the tank valve. It had ratcheded the valve shut as I was loading my gun. Thanks guys!! I owe you big time!After they got my stuff we went to the Antares and jerry shot ths nice AJ. Long story but a great lesson learned. Steve

countryjwh

wow, glad nothing happened to you. glad you got your gear back.

Telum Pisces

A swim from the top of the Chevron 75' feet down straight up and you are not bent and alive is a blessing to say the least. Glad everything turned out ok. That could have been a tragedy to say the least. Glad you got your gear back in the end. Jerry and Pierce are top notch guys every now and then.oke Just kidding.

choppedliver

holy schnike. Stories like that from experienced people are enough to make me stay in the boat. That and I cant afford another hobby

Mike aka FishWerks

Air Embolism would be the greater concern...



Glad everything worked out!

BADBOY69

Steve...good to hear from ya! I can say that it was an experience! We need to get out and put some blood on the deck of that nice boat! When we dropped down on the Chevron and your entire rig was just hanging there at 80fsw, it was spooky! No diver, just an empty BC with tank and reg attached! I checked the SPG, "0"...Paul turned the air and the valve was closed completely! SPG then read 1500-1700 psi! Again, we were at 80 ft! Steve also had the cummerbund strap and his quick release on his waist give him hell so he had to peel outta his rig byjustforcing the shoulder straps apart and tearing out, then he had to make in up 80 ft to the surface!After recovery, I sat at the spot where we found his equipment,(tied up by the damn anchor rope someone had to cut!), and played out the scenario. I imagined the entire incident as Steve described and then applied all the variables I had learned during the recovery. When I got back on the boat I very solemnly told Steve, "Right now I'm talking to a dead man." A combination of luck, divine intervention, and calm reaction on Steve's part is the only explanation I have as to how he escaped injury, or worse. I was glad it was only a gear recovery exercise and not something more morbid. Thanks for sharing the incident, bro! Now, let's go kill some fish! Oh, BTW, did you tell the guys down the way, "Hell no I ain't selling gear, I just got mine back and have two new dive buddies!"

swander

I didn't really say much to the other dive shop as they were nice enough to not charge me an extra day on tank rental(lol)! I waited a while to post this cause I know how some people really get down on others mistakeson the forum.Ifelt like you guys needed some recognition for what you did. Thanks for the encouragement while we were out there. I felt pretty stupid for what happened. It was almost over for me and getting to the surface was more apealing to me than having that huge cuda eat my face off while I hung on the side of that rig. I know I am lucky and will definately be better aware of my surroundings from now on. I would like to get up with you guys when I get back and dive. I still owe you!! Thanks again. Steve

Corpsman

Glad everything worked out.

PMac

I have been a Divemaster for 18 years and I don't see that you really made a mistake.You could have checked your bottle valve but at 80ft and with no air decisions aren't alwayseasy to make perfectly. The odds of an anchor rope hitting your valve in a manner to turn your bottle off is pretty hard to comprehend. There was no reason for your brain to say, "hey my valve probably got closed, I should open it." In fact a first stage failure while almost unheard of makes allot more sense than a rope magically turning your bottle valve off. You made decisions that resulted in you being alive so it looks to me like you made a reasonable decision and you got lucky. I appreciate you sharing this story, it is a good reminder for all skill levels of divers how fast things can go wrong while diving. This event will take you to a new level of diver, one that they don't make a card for!

gator7_5

Do those little bottles that give you about a minute of air really exist, or were they made for james bond movies? If so why would anyone not carry one? Thought of drowning freaks me out.