KISS training completed!

Ukon

I completed my KISS CCR course with Tom Huff of Northeast Scuba last week! I got off to a shaky start when on the second day of the class I took what I believe was a light CO2 hit on our second dive in a lake. I had used the unit the night before in the pool for about an hour and a half. I was using 8-12 sofnolime due to the lack of availability of the recommended 4-8 locally. We dove in a lake the next day using the same scrubber. Our first dive went OK, we swam around for about an hour with me dredging the lake bottom with my bailout bottle. Aside from my buoyancy, everything went great! We pulled off to the side of the lake for a 15 minute break before beginning our second dive. After another 30 minutes we popped up to orient ourselves and descended again. Shortly after descent I found that I was having a hard time getting a breath out of the loop. I switched to OC on my BOV and took a few breaths then returned to the loop, blowing that breath into it. Things were OK for a few minutes, then the difficulty getting a breath returned. I repeated the switch to the BOV and again returned to the loop. The problem was alleviated for another few minutes, but soon returned. This time my composure was just about blown. I switched to my BOV, then grabbed Tom and signaled I wanted to ascend. Tom tried to get me to stay on the bottom and switch over to my bailout bottle, but I didn't want any part of it! I wanted to get the **** to the surface ASAP! Once we were on the surface I was useless! I bobbed around, hardly able to keep my head out of the water and was as near utter panic as I have ever been! I had to pee real bad, and well, I don't have a pee valve in my suit...It wasn't pretty! After Tom had towed my worthless ass for about ten minutes I began to come back to normal. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced! I suspect that the finer mesh sonfolime being used over two days may have caused a bit of increased WOB, and that combined with being inexperienced on the unit and a long swim may have caused me to breathe inefficiently and build up CO2. Whatever it was it scarred the shit out of me, and I am not a panicky person! Any thoughts on this would be appreciated!
We didn't dive again until Thursday, which worked out great because I had time to decon my suit! I think Tom was surprised that I returned, and on the ride to the ocean he was giving me the "Some times it takes a few more dives to complete the course" speech. We did two shore dives at Nubble light in York ME. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about diving the unit again, but this time the dives went pretty good! I was starting to get a better hand on my buoyancy and by the end of the day, felt a lot more comfortable with the unit. The next day we did two dives from Fran Marcou's Daybreaker, these dives went great! At the end of the day Tom said "I might even have to certify you!"
We were still about 36 minutes short of our required dive time, so we finished up the class with a twilight dive the next day on the stern of the Chester A. Polling. It was pouring rain as we loaded the boat, but it cleared when we pulled out and we were able to complete the course with another great dive!
Overall the course was a great experience and I was really impressed with Tom's ability as an instructor. Hopefully I will be diving my unit both Friday and Saturday this weekend

dantheman

I am glad you're ok, and more pleased you came back and finished.

You don't say whether you're on a Sport or Classic, but I count 3 hours on your scrubber at the time you oriented at the surface. Gordon himself (in the video you hopefully used to assemble the unit) talks about how 8-12 won't add any real time to your scrubber and will increase the WoB.

Aside from the max time recommended by the manufacturer, they also recommend not beginning a dive with less than an hour remaining of scrubber time.

This stuff should be covered in your course. For whatever reason, you weren't following it. Learn from that mistake.

Remember the maxim: when in doubt, bailout. Especially at the beginner level, there's just no point re-trying the loop if it's giving you a bad feeling.

You are to be commended for being honest about your failure of composure, but don't leave it at that. Practice bailing out on your own dives. All the way out (managing the unit's buoyancy when off the loop is part of the skill).

Good luck and good diving,
--dan

Peter Piemonte

Don: Congratulations. I am sure that you will be happy with your KISS. Rebreather diving is different that what you are used to. It can sometimes take a while to be comfortable with the unit.

See you diving! Regards, Peter

zoo_diver

Glad to hear you completed your course. Not being a KISS diver, but I am not sure about coming off the loop and then going BACK on it is ever a good idea.

Like Dan said: When in doubt...bail out!!

Safe diving!

Ukon

I am on a Classic. Yes, it was three hours, and I did watch the video, however in the TDI course book it stated 5 hours on 8-12, it did however also warn about increased WOB. I don't believe I broke through the scrubber, I think that a combination of increased WOB and exertion caused me to breathe inefficiently, but I am new to this and could be completely off base! I assure you, next time I have an issue, I will be ending the dive on the bailout bottle, this incident certainly got my attention!

Thanks for the good thoughts!

Don Ferrara

edasque

Hey Ukon,

congrats on your training. Scary story though. Have some green.

I am sure Tom was on his Inspiration when training you too. I personally wouldn't learn from someone who doesn't fly my rig exclusively, my O2ptima instructor, Mark D, gave me so many tips on how to do things, customize the rig and what sequence to use that only experience and inside knowledge brings.

In any case, if you want to dive with fellow Rebreather divers in our beautiful north east, let me know !

Erik

dantheman

Don,

The TDI course states no such thing. I think you might be remembering
the 5 hour figure from the average duration of a 13ft3 O2 bottle . . . (pg 9).
In fact, twice it is recommended not to use 8-12 (bottom pg 6 and pg 9).

That said, you are likely right about inefficient breathing.
That's pretty easy to fix, so I think you're on the right track.

Welcome aboard!
--dan

Dave Crampton

Congratulations. I hope you enjoy your new toy.

Dave C

Marky Mark

Yes, congrats and thanks for your tale. I've only ever used the 8-12 stuff and it seems to work ok and normally change it after 3hours. I find position in the water can have quite a dramatic effect on wob.
I've heard of a few folk who struggle on the courses (some who even want to sell the unit straight away) and not just on Kiss, but are really happy when they get the hang of it. It really is worth persevering with.
All the best
MM

__________________
It'd be rude not to.

"You are a terrestrial mammal for crying out loud - you have no business going underwater in the first place." - Richard Pyle (and my mum)

Scubascooby

One thing that I tried to keep in mind when I started diving the KISS Classic
about 18 months ago is that my breathing patterns would be different to OC.

The key differences being, there is no slightly forced injection from the Rebreather and
my lungs no longer form part of the buoyancy control.

Personally I reckoned these changes might lead to me shallower breathing.
Consequently I remind myself to breathe more deeply and to take a full breath
every few minutes.

I had one uncomfortable experience on my course. After a moderately hard
swim of about 20-30 yards I didn't feel right, hot and uncomfortable. Two nice
cool OC breaths and I felt better again.

__________________
"dove" is NOT the past tense of "dive"

Better off OUT of the EU !

www.hugsac.org.uk