SCUBA Safety 101

This weekend we got a great start on our next set of junior divers. There are 3 junior divers going through this class that will get certified very soon. Very exciting!!

Now if you went through your dive classes with Deb &/or Grady Weston, think back to when they were telling you how to set up your equipment. They made it a point to say that you should turn your gage into the back of your BC before turning on the air.

Do you remember why? It was just to make sure that it didn’t explode. Deb told us that she’d never experienced that but it was definitely a possibility.

So Saturday the kids went to the pool over at 5Mile to get their pool classes in. Chuck Beaver, Lee Lake, and Mark Willoughby were in the pool to help Deb. They got all their equipment set up and had it waiting on the side while the kids did their swim test, underwater swim, and float test.

As the kids were getting ready to do the 10 minutes of floating, Deb said 1, 2, 3 and then there was a loud BOOM!

Chuck was on one side of the pool, I was on the other, Deb was on the south side between us and Lee and Mark were in the pool. We all just looked at each other like who had the start gun? The kids weren’t affected by it at all they just started floating/treading water. The rest of us started wondering what happened.

Turns out, we now know why it is a good thing to turn your gauge into the back of your BC when you start airflow to it because Lee’s gauge actually exploded. Lee’s equipment/gauge had been set up and turned on for a good 10-15 minutes at the point the gauge exploded.

We found the plastic portion of the gauge all intact about 15 feet away from where Lee’s equipment was laying. The face wound up on top of the dressing rooms about 30 feet away and we never did find the needle, it was like looking for a needle in a… you get the picture.

No matter how long you have been diving or how much experience you have, you can always learn something new. Take this lesson and apply it the next time you use one of these gauges. And as always have fun Diving!

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