Fatality on Rosalie Moller wreck

[rjack321]

What are the thoughts as to what happened when she was looking for the weight? Out of air? Oxygen toxicity? This was an experienced diver -- what do people think drove the logic to go after the weight (which would have been at least 10-15m further down or possibly more) rather than take a chance on a potentially rapid ascent starting somewhere between 20m and the surface?

Terrible tragedy. Always hard to read these.

heavy as a rock on the bottom with crazy wetsuit compression plus overweighting
then she grabs even more lead off the sand,
kicks up a bit crazy narced from depth and now add CO2
she was already stressed - but whatever gas remained (25bar?) is sucked down in seconds
runs OOA sinks back down and drowns

 

[Mod63]

This was an experienced diver -- what do people think drove the logic to go after the weight (which would have been at least 10-15m further down or possibly more) rather than take a chance on a potentially rapid ascent starting somewhere between 20m and the surface?

Me thinks the same logic that e.g. get's people drag to the surface when the reel of their SMB jams. You don't want to loos your gear, even if it is not a good decission. And by the time you realise that more than often it is to late to correct your error. Think about dropping an knife - sometimes you need all your will to not try to catch it.

 

[Vicko]

What are the thoughts as to what happened when she was looking for the weight? Out of air? Oxygen toxicity? This was an experienced diver -- what do people think drove the logic to go after the weight (which would have been at least 10-15m further down or possibly more) rather than take a chance on a potentially rapid ascent starting somewhere between 20m and the surface?

Terrible tragedy. Always hard to read these.[/QUOTE
.

Going down overweighed with less then 50 bars, probably swimming hard to reach the weights as soon as possible, breathing rate shoots up, at the bottom grabbing the weights making her completely negative (her bcd at this point is probably empty due to the rapid descent). At this point she is also panicking due to her regulator becoming hard to breath. She was probably also trying to place the weights back in her bcd. Out of gass in seconds, drowning, death.

Not the first or the last time someone died this way

 

[Miyaru]

heavy as a rock on the bottom with crazy wetsuit compression plus overweighting
then she grabs even more lead off the sand,
kicks up a bit crazy narced from depth and now add CO2
she was already stressed - but whatever gas remained (25bar?) is sucked down in seconds
runs OOA sinks back down and drowns

This!
Most (recreational) divers are not aware how effectively you can breathe out at depth, and thus get rid of CO2. At the surface our body reacts to elevated CO2 levels accurately, but not anymore under increased pressure.

At 50-55m, exercise will result in a rapid CO2 elevation, adding to an already increased narcosis level.

 

[Raphus]

This!
Most (recreational) divers are not aware how effectively you can breathe out at depth, and thus get rid of CO2. At the surface our body reacts to elevated CO2 levels accurately, but not anymore under increased pressure.
View attachment 615019
At 50-55m, exercise will result in a rapid CO2 elevation, adding to an already increased narcosis level.

I dont really get what the graph shows?
Whats the x achse?

 

[ginti]

Hi guys, just two cents from a guy who has 195 dives on the logbook and had problems with weights.

1) if the diver doesn't change often environment and type of dives, 200 dives may not enough to experience different kinds of problems and, therefore, they are not sufficient to built experience.

2) if the diver has always dived overweighted, has never tried any other equipment and has always been with the same group of buddies... well, there is a lack of experience and (probably) a lot of bad habits to remove.

3) in my case, the problem with weights started when I switched from wetsuit to drysuit. When I started diving, I was instructed to dive overweighted, and when my fundies instructor wanted me to go with a balanced rig and a trilaminate drysuit, with plenty of undergarment, I just didn't manage it and did a couple of uncontrolled ascent. After, uncontrolled ascents become my demon, and it took quite a bit to remove weights and to finally dive a properly balanced rig (although I never used a crazy amount of weight). With such a low level of experience, psychology can play bad tricks.

Frankly speaking, I think that 200 dives do not make a diver experienced, at all. Maybe, if a diver changes often environment, try to dive with people from different schools, and do a lot of training, 200 dives can make a solid base, but nothing more.

(or maybe I have a serious lack of self-confidence, because I do not feel experienced )

Just my two cents.

Condolence to the family, this is a horrible tragedy.

 

[Miyaru]

I dont really get what the graph shows?
Whats the x achse?

It's how effectively you can breathe out -> exhale carbondioxide

 

[ginti]

It's how effectively you can breathe out -> exhale carbondioxide

do you have a link to the source? I'd like to read it, thanks!

 

[Miyaru]

CO2 retention in hyperbaric conditions is the realm of @Dr Simon Mitchell
Read the articles here: Advanced Knowledge Series – Dive Magazine

It's a subject that is part of the knowledge required for technical diving.
And this accident unfortunately illustrates one of the reasons why recreational diving has a limit of 40m/130ft.

 

[John the Pom]

Not trying to criticise anyone, but I'm old enough that we learned decompression diving using Navy tables. A decompression dive to 40+ metres was something we undertook quite seriously, with twin tanks and preplanning of time, depth, and air consumption, all carefully worked out by hand and checked, then transferred onto our dive slates. It is a great exercise that sticks with you and helps you to really understand what is going on when you dive to greater depths.

Dive computers are wonderful things, but I do worry that they can give a false sense of security that encourages divers to dive beyond sensible limits for their experience / competence. Apprehension; rapid air consumption; not knowing how to adjust your weights; difficulty controlling buoyancy (often related to anxiety and not being aware of your breathing) - all these strongly suggest a lack of experience to undertake a dive beyond 18 metres, never mind 30 to 40 metres. Not understanding that you can't catch a falling weight and that you will be chasing it all the way to the bottom, and perhaps not realising the implications of that in 50+ metres of water, again point to a lack of experience and understanding of what diving to these depths involves.

Very sad story.