DearDiveBuddy.com

It is widely recognized that performing a pre-dive check can prevent most of the dive accidents that happen. As you remember from your Open Water Course a pre-dive check should be conducted on your buddy before entering the water previous to each dive. We try to remember it with sentences like “Burger With Relish And Fries”, not to mention the dirty ones, standing for BCD, weights, releases, air and a final OK. But, but, but ….. harsh reality shows us that forgetting is so much easier than remembering.

For this I want to add another check that:
• can be conducted by the diver itself. The first person to be responsible for his or her own safety, more even than his or her buddy.
• is fast to conduct (2 seconds).
• I guess cuts out 90% or more of the accidents that can occur due to the lack of a pre-dive check.
Take care this check does not replace the traditional one you learned in the course. It’s just an addition.

So, tell me honestly, have many times you stood there just some seconds before jumping in the water, and you were not 101% sure your tank valve was open. OFTEN I bet! Breathing from the regulator is still not a guarantee the tank is open. The previous pressurized hoses can still contain enough air to allow you several breathe. A dangerous fact that allows you to go down with a closed tank unable to gain buoyancy.

So what you should do:
• Push the inflator button of your BCD. Hear the air flushing in.
• While you do this look on your pressure gage. The needle should stay steady on 200 or more bar. If you see the needle moving down the tank is closed or opened not sufficiently.

You see. Just 2 seconds to check 3 things:
• The tank pressure
• If the tank valve is open.
• If your inflator hose is connected right.
The air you used to perform this check is not wasted, but put into your jacket. Giving you positive buoyancy when you enter the water. Make this check become a habit, and you won’t forget again. Promise?

How to spot air leaks prior to the dive? Maybe you noticed it can be hard to hear them on a noisy dive boat. So, pressurize your set and close the valve again, without depressurizing. Look on your pressure gauge (SPG) and notice the pressure. Listen to the dive briefing, prepare your other stuff and wait until it’s time to suit up. Before you reopen the tank valve, take a look on your SPG again. It’s still on 200 bar? No leaks! It went down under a hundred? Check for leaks. If you can’t hear them, at least ask your buddy to make a check for bubbles on one or two metres of depth to see where it comes from and, if serious, abort the dive. If the pressure is still between 100 and 200 bar after at least 15 minutes, then you have a minor leak which is acceptable in recreational diving. You lose a miserable 1 or 2 bar on the whole dive. Nothing to worry about. Ask your buddy to make a bubble check anyway. At least you know where it is coming from, and you can do something about it before it gets worse.

Take note that pressurizing and closing the tank valve is responsible for quit an amount of dive accidents, because the pressurized hoses contain enough air to allow you to descend with a closed tank while breathing this little bit of air. So use it only in combination with the pre-dive check as described above.

Another common problem that can be avoided by a pre-dive check is a tank slipping down out of the tank band during the dive. Many reasons:
• The tank band put wrongly or not complete through the buckle. Many people still struggle with passing the band through the most common four hole plastic buckle. It is not part of the Open Water course. Ask how to do it if you buy your own BCD or watch the demonstration video at the bottom. Some manufacturers attached a picture of the right way on the band itself.
• The tank band is stiff and not wetted before.
• Not enough force is used to tight the band. This can happen to kids or ladies, so help them. A good technique can help, so even they can do it. See the demonstration video at the bottom.

Notice that many recreational BCDs have a nylon loop attached above the hard plate. It can be put over the tank valve before mounting the first stage. This way you have an extra security, assuring that a down slipping tank is still held by this nylon loop. This avoids the regulator being strapped out of your mouth and makes it easier for somebody else to put the tank back in place.

Let's try to make diving as save as bowling. Pre-dive checks can certainly contribute to that.