My umbilical hose burst 60 feet down off the coast of Morro Bay

I was doing a hull inspection on a boat anchor chain last Tuesday when my air hose just let go. Felt like a punch in the back and suddenly I was breathing nothing but saltwater. Had to do a controlled emergency ascent because my buddy was too far to reach me in time. Got the bends pretty bad, spent 3 days in the chamber at the dive hospital. Turns out the hose had a tiny abrasion from rubbing against a rusty chain on the last job. I should have checked it better before diving. Anyone else had a hose failure like that or am I just unlucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant13024d ago

Actually that's not really how the bends work in that kind of scenario. A controlled emergency ascent from 60 feet usually won't give you the bends unless you held your breath or went up way too fast. Most divers can come up from 60 feet pretty safely as long as they breathe out on the way up. What you probably had was arterial gas embolism from that panic ascent, not decompression sickness. The symptoms can feel similar but the treatment in the chamber is a bit different. Next time try to stay calm and come up slowly while exhaling if you can. That hose failure was bad luck but the real mistake might have been how you handled the ascent.

ryan_kim6323d ago

You mentioned "next time try to stay calm" and that's easier said than done when your hose blows. I read somewhere that panic is actually the leading cause of diving accidents, even more than equipment failure. It's hard to think about proper ascent technique when your brain is screaming at you.