A Free Ascent - the Last Resort? Part 1

Last year, we asked our readers if they preferred to dive with a buddy or to dive solo, and many responded that if they dived solo, they could always go to the surface if they had a problem. Many believed that buddies would be unable to help if any serious problem arose. (See Undercurrent November 2024 and January 2025.)

The most likely problem would be out of air, either from an unlikely equipment malfunction, failure to plan for adequate air for the dive, or simply ignoring the air pressure readout, before or during the dive.

Without a buddy, being out of air would require a free ascent of what PADI calls "a controlled emergency swimming ascent" -- CESA.

Back in the day, at least through the '80s, and possibly later, many divers being certified were taught how to ascend to the surface on their last breath, while avoiding a lung expansion injury by keeping their airways open so the air in their lungs could escape. Instructors taught their students to whistle, to blow bubbles, or even scream while rising, thereby allowing the expanding air to escape. Some training agencies allowed instructors to let trainees practice this from as deep as 30 feet, using a fixed line and a close physical hand to grab them in case the ascent got out of control.

Ever mindful of negligence claims, these days PADI has its instructors teach CESA by having trainees swim horizontally with their regulator in their mouth and exhale while swimming. It's not realistic, but it's better than nothing, and it's free of the lung expansion risk. Most newly certified divers are released into the world, fully certified but with no real experience of a sudden air-supply loss and the urgent need to get to the surface.

My Experience

I was in Indonesia in the early 1980s, on a work project, and dived during my time off. I rented the kit and went off with a small group of local divers I didn't know. One day, at 50 feet, my rented upstream regulator locked and gave me no air whatsoever. I signaled out-of-air to my buddy, who panicked and swam off. My only option was a free ascent, which I did, exhaling all the way.

That rigorous (and old-fashioned) training I'd had with the German diver training agency (Verband Deutche Tauchen Lehren) in Antigua in the '70s left me in good stead. I wrote an article afterward for the UK's Diver Magazine about choosing your buddy wisely, which eventually kicked off a busy career as a diving journalist.

Some Divers Have been Taught Free Ascents

Free ascents were regularly taught into the '80s. A couple of issues ago, we asked our readers if they had ever been taught, practiced, or even forced to make a free ascent.

Tom Baker (Pacific Beach, CA) recalls his free ascent training in his certification course in 1963. "I have never needed to do one in a real emergency, but my friends and I did practice a few at Catalina, from maybe 25 or 30 feet deep."

Richard Shaw (Toronto, Ontario) was taught free ascents in his scuba course in 1980. "On our open-water-dive weekend, our air was turned off on bottom at 40 feet and we all surfaced safely."

Mary K. Wicksten (Bryan, TX), who got her C-card in 1966, remembered, "An Advanced NAUI certification meant making a free ascent from 60 feet. I was taught to blow bubbles like a goldfish on my way up. I've never had to make a free ascent since, although I ended up sharing air on the way up once due to a short fill."

Eighty-one-year-old Dennis Jaffe (Tiburon, CA) says, "Free ascent was the single most valuable lesson in my course. It taught me that from 50 feet, and greater, it was easily and safely done, so one needn't panic when things go awry. I don't understand to this day why it isn't part of the training."

During the mid-'90s, Steve Geiger (Arlington, VA) and his wife, while completing the open-water section of their training in Grand Cayman, were taught to perform a free ascent from 70 feet. "This was a great lesson, in that it showed us if, for some reason, we had no air supply, there was no need to panic, as we could safely ascend to the surface with the air in our lungs. One of those life lessons that will be with us forever."

I am reminded of a saying of a diving instructor -- "Get it wrong and you're dead!"

In a real-life out-of-air emergency, divers may have exhaled before realizing they are in an emergency. As they rise, they may be able to get a bit more air from their tanks, but they must continue to blow bubbles.

Diving writer and former publisher Fred Garth thinks, "Free-ascents should absolutely be taught in training, that is, if people are interested in not dying."

But some question it. After thousands of dives, instructor Rich Gallagher (San Rafael, CA) wonders, "I have never run out of air, so I have never done an emergency ascent for real. It is hard to know if practicing this skill in initial training will enable a diver to do an emergency ascent successfully years later."

And then, Free Ascent Training Disappeared

Somewhere along the way, training agencies saw a risk in free ascents -- maybe there was a lawsuit -- and the horizontal "free ascent" became the mainstay.

While Henry Ziller (Elizabeth, CO) was required to free-ascend from a depth of 30 feet when he was certified by the YMCA in 1966, in 2000, he was re-certified by PADI. "For the free ascent this time, I was required to do a 30-foot-long horizontal swim."

Constance Stirling-Engman (Ithaca, NY) practices breath-hold swimming in her local YMCA. "I start at one end of the 75-foot-long pool. I take a full breath and swim as far as I can in one breath. Usually, I make it to about 65 feet, but sometimes I swim as far as the entire 75-foot length."

Long-distance breath-hold training can be a confidence builder, as it demonstrates that divers can hold their breath for an extended period; however, it isn't realistic training. It's conceivable that if you have to make a free ascent, you will have just exhaled and you're starting with no air. It also doesn't account for the expanding air during ascent; to replicate this, a swimmer would need to keep an airway open, perhaps by blowing bubbles.

Instructor trainer Dan C. Morelli of Scientific Diving International (NY) had this to say about facsimile lateral swimming. "I am not sure that lateral ascent (as per PADI) represents anything like a real controlled emergency swimming ascent (CESA) or if open water students completely grasp the seriousness of an out-of-air emergency . . . The depth of CESA training is debatable; if it is performed in a pool, there is a likelihood that the pool will be limited in depth. The rate of pressure change in water is greatest near the surface, so a diver in training can suffer a pulmonary barotrauma in relatively shallow water; therefore, depth may not be an issue, considering that a potential breath-hold while breathing compressed gas is dangerous even in shallow water."

Many Have Never Practiced a Free Ascent

A great number of our respondents reported that they were never taught free ascents and have never tried one. Nigel Llewellyn-Smith (Salisbury, UK) trained with the British Sub-Aqua Club) He said that he has practiced air-sharing, but he has never attempted a free ascent. Regardless, he says, "If I were out of air at more than six feet from my buddy, I would do a free ascent rather than waste time trying to find them to share their regulator."

Buddy-breathing can be fraught with hazards for both parties. However, the method of free-ascent might be discussed in basic training, but even with a demonstration by the instructor, it's easily forgotten and never given a second thought.

Samuel B. Johnson (Greensboro, NC) encapsulated the training deficiency when he wrote, "I was originally trained by PADI in the 1980s. Emergency ascent was briefly discussed in class. I've never practiced an emergency ascent. I never had to do an emergency ascent. For that matter, I've never had to buddy-breathe, and I've never run out of air at depth. I confess that occasionally I get back on the boat with very little air in my tank."

It was PGA golfer Gary Player who said, "The more I practice, the luckier I get." Practice is part of training; otherwise, you forget what you might have learned many years ago.

Few readers reported that they continue to practice free ascent. PADI Master Instructor Charles McLean from East Texas emphasizes the importance of practice. "I have performed a CESA, not under a real out-of-air scenario, but with air from a depth of 50 feet. Since I had air, I took a breath before starting, but followed all other procedures. I continuously blew small bubbles to the surface. There was no problem in completing a safe ascent. This practice gave me more confidence in the efficacy of the skill."

Next Issue: Part Two

Some readers have had to make emergency ascents, and we'll tell you how they turned out (well, they're still subscribing to Undercurrent.) While equipment failures are a cause, we're surprised how many people searching for lobsters ran out of air.

John Bantin