Lost my comms 80 feet down in Port Angeles and had to buddy-breathe my way out

Last Tuesday I was doing a hull inspection on a barge in Port Angeles harbor. Everything was routine until my comms unit went dead mid-check. No surface feed, no backup, just static. I signaled my tender but the current was pushing me sideways around the keel. My buddy Jim dove down with a spare reg and we shared air for maybe 6 minutes while I finned to the ladder. That was the longest 6 minutes of my career. Now I carry a backup UHF radio in a waterproof pouch on my harness, even for shallow jobs. Has anyone else had a comm failure on a simple dive that turned sketchy real fast? What do you keep as your backup?

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1 Comment

joseph_west5921d ago

Whoa, hold on there! You said you had no backup comms, but then you mentioned your tender. That's not the same as having a radio, but it did save you. A tender on the surface is a backup, just not an electronic one. Still, for hull work in current like that, I would never go in without a bailout bottle on my back. Six minutes of buddy breathing is a long time, especially when you are getting pushed around. That spare reg Jim brought down is the real hero here, but a small pony bottle gives you way more options. Glad you made it out safe, that kind of current is no joke.