This was one of the few times I worried about running out of air. In the end it was not my main concern. Today was the day to try out the Torpedo underwater scooter (DPV). After a short rundown on the operation of the vehicle we headed down to the water with a goal of exploring South of the Rockaway deep reef at 100 feet. The scooters would be perfect for just this sort of operation. On the surface I used the scooter to get out to the buoy before dropping down onto the line. So far so good and it seemed fairly intuitive to use. The plan was for me to take Ryan, Lucas and I down to the deep reef then we'd separate by 5 feet between us with myself in the middle and explore the depths to the South. Another group of divers headed out in front of us and we periodically went through their sediment trail they stirred up from the bottom. I led us along the main reef at 50 feet with little difficulty and able to maintain relatively good buoyancy.
At the end of the main reef we followed the rope leading to the deep reef and that's when I began having trouble with my buoyancy. I didn't remove weight to compensate for the scooter so I continually needed to add air to the drysuit while equalizing my ears and not steering into the bottom or up towards the surface. At the deep reef we checked our depth and no deco time, 15 minutes so we could go out 6 minutes then turn around. We spread out as planned with Lucas taking the lower contour and Ryan on the upper. It was difficult maintaining the proper buoyancy and I continually settled towards the bottom so I would add more air. Then I would float too much and dump air with the cycle being repeated again. This caused me to increase my breathing rate as I was a bit nervous about the situation. I kept an eye on the bottom and on Ryan to make sure we didn't separate. The bottom was barren with a lot of sand and silt, but no new reefs to be found.
After 5 or 6 minutes I checked my air and I was down to 1500 PSI from an initial level of 3200 on a 100 cubic foot tank. I needed to head back and immediately began thinking of what to do if my air ran low. I used my fins to gain speed and get up front to gain Ryan's attention and let him know my air pressure and that I needed to immediately turn around. As we headed back to the deep reef I felt my breathing increase as I knew I was using air much faster than I should. This only served to increase my anxiety so that when we were back at the deep reef my tank was down to 1000 PSI. We were only 20 minutes into the dive. I felt for the regulator of my pony tank for security and headed up the line using my fins for added speed. 500 PSI at the main reef and I couldn't go fast enough to get myself along it and back to the rope heading towards the buoy.
I held my pressure gauge to watch my air and ascent rate as I went up the line trying to dump air and get to 15 feet for a safety stop. By this time I figured if I could make it that far I could use my pony tank for the 3 minute safety stop and all would be fine. My pressure dropped steadily and I hit 194 PSI at 20 feet. I made it, but unfortunately had neglected to dump enough air and my feet had floated up a bit as I was moving along. Before I knew it I was in a classic feet first uncontrolled ascent with no way to correct as I had the DPV attached to my BCD. I broke the surface with Lucas and Ryan following shortly behind. I later found out from both of them that I had flared myself out beautifully and slowed my ascent as I was trained to do. I had no recollection of doing that but could only thank my scuba instructors for drilling this into my head. This still raises my heart rate thinking about it but as pointed out after the dive "All is well that ends well". It's just slow fins for me right now, at least until my heart rate slows to its normal level.
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