Yukon Mishap 9/11/2010

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

I have cherry-picked some of the relevant posts from the original massive mess that used to be the thread on this mishap and left them here. If you have additional information directly relevant to this mishap, please feel free to post it here. Otherwise, post in the Yukon Tangent thread. Further redundant, off topic or other posts that are either outside the A&I rules or add nothing to this thread will no longer be moved, just deleted.
 
Roll Call: the best methods I've seen are numbered tags (or numbered SMB's) that are clipped to your BC on exit and clipped to a numbered board upon your return.

Seems like a cheap and easy way to avoid a bad situation.
I have seen divers manage to make it into the water with their tags still on board the boat... I recommend a by-name roll call no matter what else you do.
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Thanks for cleaning this thread up!

I was on the Aqua Cat (Live aboard) last year and on Nekton before that. They used the names on the board method. This method requires the diver to move his or her name from in the pool to on board. The reasoning was that you are responsible for yourself.

I can tell you from direct experience that this does not work. The Nekton boat crew left a dive team in the water for over 2 hours before noticing that they were gone. (We found them a half mile off the boat drifting further away safe but upset!) The divers on the "Cat" routinely moved the tags for their friends on other buddy teams.

I was on the The CEX II in May and they required you to call your name as you went in then marked it on the log. They recorded when you came back on board. This worked well but they missed a diver only once and that triggered an immediate in-person role call.

The only way to truly know is to call the person's name and for that person to answer.

Don
 
I spent some time with fellow San Diego divers this weekend. Mr. Clampitt's death was the subject of a long discussion. Most of it revolved around air management and how each person manages it. We don't know why the diver passed away but we have all taken a lesson from the outcome and looked at ourselves in the mirror. Hopefully we will be better divers because of it.
 
I was on the Aqua Cat (Live aboard) last year and on Nekton before that. They used the names on the board method. This method requires the diver to move his or her name from in the pool to on board. The reasoning was that you are responsible for yourself. I can tell you from direct experience that this does not work..

The only way to truly know is to call the person's name and for that person to answer.

Same experience here, Don. I was on Blackbeards a few years ago and they have the same set up, names on the board and you move your name from one board to the other when you're off and on the boat. All week it never worked. By day 4 the captain said this system works if everyone does their part. That's a big IF. IF it works on paper but doesn't work in practice, it doesn't work. Luckily we were all from the same dive shop and looked out for each other, so had no problems. But a verbal roll call would have been more effective.
 
I don't think the boat's movement had anything to do with this mishap as far as the diver's death goes - and if there's a lesson other than sound gas management we'll have to wait for more information.
However... it does appear that whatever method the boat used - whether tank count or head count - failed to detect the diver missing until he'd been left behind, and that the lesson here is that of all the methods folks have tried, the best we know of so far is the name roll call with only the named diver answering.
Rick
 
I spent some time with fellow San Diego divers this weekend. Mr. Clampitt's death was the subject of a long discussion. Most of it revolved around air management and how each person manages it. We don't know why the diver passed away but we have all taken a lesson from the outcome and looked at ourselves in the mirror. Hopefully we will be better divers because of it.

Don,

very good post. good to hear that the death had some kind of positive impact. to be honest it has made me look at my solo diving. I always use backup pony/reg on deeper than 80fsw but am probably gonna use for anything over 40fsw. getting older and the thought of a long emerg ascent all of a sudden isnt looking attractive. start thinking about your wife and kids. Its really not a big hassle to carry the pony/reg. I think it should be standard operating procedure. fairly inexpensive these days.

what lessons did you guys take away?

Thanks again for the post
 
With regards to roll call I would urge the person taking roll call to pay particular attention to groups with more
than one diver with the same first name, sometimes even same first name and same initial for last name. It's to
easy to call out the name a second time and have the same diver think that you did not hear them respond.
I usually remember who I followed in the roll call but not everyone is paying close attention to this. Do your best
to pronounce the last name of the divers sharing the same first name.
 
I was on the Humboldt last week (Oct. 7/8/9, 2010) and did a total of three dives on the Yukon. I felt the boat was exceptionally well run and equipped. We had great conditions (sunshine, almost flat water), and visibility at the wreck, once you made it through 40 or so feet of greenish water down the line, was very good for this location. I estimated 50+ feet the first couple of dives and maybe 40 feet the third dive the next day.

Water temperature at the wreck was between 55 and 57 degrees. Water was calm on top of the wreck (which is now the sheltered side since the Yukon lies on its side) but there was quite a bit of surge once you made your way over the side (which is now the top).

I used one of the Aluminum 80 tanks offered by the Humboldt. My max depths were 89, 82 and 81 feet, and my total dive times 34, 36 and 34 minutes. Remaining PSI was 1,100, 1,100, and 1,000 psi. On each dive, the limiting factor was remaining no-stop dive time and getting cold (I wore a 7-mil wetsuit with 5-mil shorty on top of it).

So that's the conditions I encountered.
 
July of this year I spent 4 days aboard the Taka of Deep Sea Diver's Den. It was the best way I have seen. Once on board, you are given a number next to your name. Before you enter the water, you give your name, number, and buddies name. When you get back on board, you give your number, you sign the clip board with your name, max depth, final tank pressure and buddy's name. Your buddy had to be with you before you were allowed to get on board. No buddy, search would begin! So you atleast got back to the boat with your buddy. All divers returned with their assigned buddy.

Safe diving.
 

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