| one of those moments
I had one of those moments yesterday. You know, the good ones for a change. The sea was flat, the vis was good, and for once, my buoyancy was spot on. The OC guys were somewhere behind me and I was swimming through one of the J-class submarines. I could see all the way through, and the shoals of fish weren't being disturbed so I just lay there and hovered watching the pretty fishes.
Unfortunately the ascent wasn't quite so much fun. Almost as soon as we started to rise up, I had trouble getting a breath. It felt like the loop was empty. I tried harder, and suddenly I got some air, but the WOB had really gone up. All the way up, and through the deco the WOB was really hard. The loop was venting so there was plenty of gas in it. ADV and manual add didn't make any difference, and there was no gurgling sound. O2 control was spot on and I didn't feel out of breath or anything.
When I stripped the unit, it was again breathing okay. The only odd thing I could find was a very small amount of water in the inhale CL. Everything else was bone dry.
I guess I'm thinking a sticky mushroom valve, but it seems odd that it was working fine on the bottom and just played up on the ascent. Don't know what else would suddenly increase the WOB though, so if anyone's got any ideas I'd be very greatful to hear them
regards
Simon |