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Lost comms 80 feet down off the coast of Galveston last month
Was doing a non-destructive testing job on a platform leg near Galveston, about 80 feet down. My comms unit just went dead mid-sentence, total silence from topside. I had a backup buddy line but no one could hear me. I went through my emergency hand signal checklist with the tender, but he was new and froze up. I had to surface slow on my own with no go-ahead, which felt sketchy as hell. Took 15 minutes but I made it up and got chewed out for not waiting longer. Has anyone else had a comms failure and had to just bail on the dive?
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carr.abby7d ago
Had a similar thing happen off Louisiana. Comm went dead at 60 feet. I stayed put for maybe two minutes then started my slow ascent. Felt the tank vibration pattern was the only thing telling me topside knew I was moving. Hand signals get ignored too often by green tenders. Next time I'll rig a secondary line with tugs as backup comms. Still got yelled at but I'm alive.
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emmamason7d ago
Kinda feel like this is making a bigger deal out of it than it needs to be. Comm goes dead all the time on dives, it's not the end of the world. You waited two minutes then went up slow, that's pretty standard protocol for most places I've worked. Been in that exact spot a few times and just kept my cool, signaled up with the line and nobody freaked out. Green tenders might miss a hand signal but they usually see a tug on the line or a light flash. Seems like a lot of effort to rig a whole secondary line setup when you could just train the new guys better on basic comms.
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