San Carlos Beach/Breakwater Cove, Monterey, CA

[HenryG]

I do understand your point of how much is necessary, but watching the effort that was needed to get the diver to shore, as well as the lost time made survivability questionable. Seems to me that with the USCG station right there they surely could cut some guys loose to maintain a watch on the area on heavy traffic days. I believe that if one life is saved it was money well spent.

 

[Drin]

Seems to me that with the USCG station right there they surely could cut some guys loose to maintain a watch on the area on heavy traffic days.

They're the Coast Guard, not lifeguards. And "cutting some guys" loose to treat them as lifeguards would probably require an act of Congress since standing on the waterfront watching for divers in distress isn't in their mission.

The USCG has also seen a 10% reduction in funding each year for the past three years while their mission requirements have grown considerably. They're now serving in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf as well.

In short your suggestion is ludicrous. And since you went there ("cutting guys loose") the Coast Guard is 15% female.

People are going to dive, suffer accidents and die. Silly suggestions about retasking American armed service members to protect them won't change that.

-Adrian

 

[glock34girl]

As a former Coastie that has recovered more divers than I care to remember... We would love to have the man power to watch an area like this however; the USCG is one of the smaller branches meaning many of the Coasties you see hold multiple qualifications. Work days start bright and early and sometimes depending on the missions don't end until a boat relieves your crew... A day later. There is often no time in the day to get our required tasks done with the man power we have plus do our mandatory trainings, area of responsibility patrols, boarding and public safety work etc. any coastie will tell you that they would work around the clock to make sure that all divers come home safely however .... It's not their job. It is a sad fact. I remember failing at a rescue of a lobster diver off shore that wasn't even 100 yards from our station. It is something I have never forgotten and haunts me to this day. Pevention is not the USCGs responsibility when it comes to diving. It is the diver's. The Coast Guard will always be around but the reality is, I think, that many divers are dead before they break the surface. I am not saying this is always the case and it would be terrific of the USCG to be able to get in there and save a distressed diver but Iam not sure sending a rescue boat, jet ski or other motorized item into a crowded site is something any coastie would do in fear of being masted and having their qualifications pulled not to mention injuring another person or worse. Iam not trying to be rude either. Most people think the USCG is a puddle pirate or what have you most don't realize that the USCG is responsible for more things than people can imagine. Adding life guard duty wouldn't help. However; anyone from shore or boat could have called the station there for help and they would have come immediately. I wonder if DAN would have been notified of this since the class participants are insured????

 

[lv2dive]

Very much appreciate your post and perspective!!!

One small point of clarification - students are only covered by DAN if they sign up for coverage. Not all instructors have their students sign up for DAN coverage, which is a shame.

As a former Coastie that has recovered more divers than I care to remember... We would love to have the man power to watch an area like this however; the USCG is one of the smaller branches meaning many of the Coasties you see hold multiple qualifications. Work days start bright and early and sometimes depending on the missions don't end until a boat relieves your crew... A day later. There is often no time in the day to get our required tasks done with the man power we have plus do our mandatory trainings, area of responsibility patrols, boarding and public safety work etc. any coastie will tell you that they would work around the clock to make sure that all divers come home safely however .... It's not their job. It is a sad fact. I remember failing at a rescue of a lobster diver off shore that wasn't even 100 yards from our station. It is something I have never forgotten and haunts me to this day. Pevention is not the USCGs responsibility when it comes to diving. It is the diver's. The Coast Guard will always be around but the reality is, I think, that many divers are dead before they break the surface. I am not saying this is always the case and it would be terrific of the USCG to be able to get in there and save a distressed diver but Iam not sure sending a rescue boat, jet ski or other motorized item into a crowded site is something any coastie would do in fear of being masted and having their qualifications pulled not to mention injuring another person or worse. Iam not trying to be rude either. Most people think the USCG is a puddle pirate or what have you most don't realize that the USCG is responsible for more things than people can imagine. Adding life guard duty wouldn't help. However; anyone from shore or boat could have called the station there for help and they would have come immediately. I wonder if DAN would have been notified of this since the class participants are insured????

 

[DandyDon]

I wonder if DAN would have been notified of this since the class participants are insured????

One small point of clarification - students are only covered by DAN if they sign up for coverage. Not all instructors have their students sign up for DAN coverage, which is a shame.

I don't think many do, and besides - the student coverage is pretty minimal. DAN wants to be notified of all diving accidents, but there is really no system in place, I don't think.

 

[Lopez116]

Does anyone even know what happened?

 

[BARdiver]

I was on site when this accident happened. I was out with an Open Water class. When we surfaced from dive 2 myself and the instructor noted the activity on the beach, fire and paramedics on the beach. The kayaks where still in the water, but it was obvious the victim was being attended to. Don't think a Lifeguard could have done it much faster. We did what we needed to do, we stayed out in the water out of the way finishing up a couple more surface skills. Once the scene was clear we exited the water, once we were back at our staging area we had a conversation with our students. I have already heard many versions of what occurred. I have not confirmed any of it so I won't pass it on except that it was a very serious accident.

As for DAN I do hope they were notified, in fact I sent an e-mail to confirm. The shop I work with always has the students sign up for DAN during training. We also highly recommend all our divers to continue the DAN membership as they do a great job for little cost.

 

[R6Chick]

I would love to know how the woman is doing.

 

[glock34girl]

I was on site when this accident happened. I was out with an Open Water class. When we surfaced from dive 2 myself and the instructor noted the activity on the beach, fire and paramedics on the beach. The kayaks where still in the water, but it was obvious the victim was being attended to. Don't think a Lifeguard could have done it much faster. We did what we needed to do, we stayed out in the water out of the way finishing up a couple more surface skills. Once the scene was clear we exited the water, once we were back at our staging area we had a conversation with our students. I have already heard many versions of what occurred. I have not confirmed any of it so I won't pass it on except that it was a very serious accident.

As for DAN I do hope they were notified, in fact I sent an e-mail to confirm. The shop I work with always has the students sign up for DAN during training. We also highly recommend all our divers to continue the DAN membership as they do a great job for little cost.

i was in contact with DAN briefly and this is also what they mentioned. My local shop makes us sign up for the insurance. Period. I assumed all did. I was surprised to hear from DAN that it's not the case and not all do it despite it being free. I do hope someone contacted them. I think I also thought they would be automatically notified by the instructor but again not the case. I think those that frequent the site such as myself really want to learn what happened to learn from it. I have heard multiple different scenarios from friends that were there and won't pass them along either until the facts are more clear. What was abundantly clear from all the people I've spoken to was that it was a tragic accident and those that responded did so with full effort and determination to bring her to shore. Even in the tragic event she is confirmed to have passed it is a blessing that she was brought to the surface. I've met many a family that would do anything simply to get their loved ones remains back. My thanks to all those involved in helping her. I do encourage everyone to report accidents to DAN, get insurance too!

 

[DandyDon]

DAN research does monitor this forum I am told, but gains little from the news media reports I find. They really want eye witness reports, so if anyone would offer what they can to them at this link, it'd help a lot. You can do so anonymously, if you prefer. "All information obtained during the study, including the respondent's identity, will be kept confidential to the full extent allowed by law." See https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/r...ncidentReport/