What ’ s it like to have a regulator suddenly stop working while on a dive ? Yo-Han Cha found out on a recent trip to Indonesia
YO-HANCHA UKDIVING
Preparation , not panic
What ’ s it like to have a regulator suddenly stop working while on a dive ? Yo-Han Cha found out on a recent trip to Indonesia
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heard and felt it at the same time . A ‘ BOOM ’ from the back of my head . My initial reaction was to sigh and think “ I bet that ’ s my first stage ”. I turned round towards my buddy , who had also heard the noise and when I saw Rick ’ s eyes go as big as dinner plates my next thought was , “ Yup , that ’ s definitely my first stage .”
I had no reason to believe I would have any sort of equipment failure . My regulators had been serviced by a reputable centre in January . I had successfully jumped into Vobster a couple of times before flying out to Lembeh , Indonesia and everything had checked out . It was my fifth day of diving in Lembeh and my third dive of the day . The regs had been working just fine until then , but 49 minutes into the dive it all got very dramatic . I have occasionally been asked by nondivers why the Ocean Diver course takes so long . Why is there so much to learn ? And if nothing was to ever go wrong , I guess it would be a much shorter course and easier to pass . But , ultimately , through no fault of your own , things can go wrong underwater .
Like I said earlier , there was no indication that my regulators were going to have an issue . Had I have known that I wouldn ’ t have dived on them . I would have either tried to fix the issue or asked for the spare set of regulators that were on the boat . In over 1,000 dives , I hadn ’ t ever experienced a failure like this and no-one else I know has either . But thankfully , both Rick ’ s training and mine immediately kicked in .
There was no messing about . Rick passed me his alternate source regulator . Once I was on his alternate , we took a hold of each other ’ s BCDs and we both signalled to ascend and did so in a controlled manner from 16.5m . There was no panic from either of us . We both knew what to do and everyone surfaced safely . I orally inflated my BCD and we then waited to be picked up by the dive boat . And we were both diving again the next day . All ’ s well that ends well .
“ I hadn ’ t ever experienced a failure like this and no-one else I know has either ”
It might be tempting to think that the ‘ safety ’ elements of training are instructors being boring and pedantic , but it ’ s all in the entry level diving qualification for a reason . I might have been able to make it to the surface from 16.5m by myself . But would that ascent have been slow and controlled ? Would I have even made it ?
Ultimately , good buddying between Rick and myself ( and both of us remembering our training ) meant that despite the drama , there was no drama . I just had to fend off comments throughout the evening about me owing Rick my life , blah blah blah . I did end up buying him not one but two ‘ thank you ’ cocktails , as I forgot to take a photo of him with the first one . So , here ’ s to being a good buddy , Rick Ayrton . Thank you for the use of your alternate source , and may neither of us never have to go through that ever again ! �
Richard Ayrton , Yo-Han ’ s buddy , enjoys a well earned cocktail at Lembeh ’ s NAD Resort
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