Fatality on Benwood

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tridacna

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A Key Largo man who works as the mate on a dive vessel died Thursday as he tried to help four divers who were drifting away from the vessel.

The dive vessel, out of the Amoray Dive Resort in Key Largo, was offshore of Key Largo at 6:45 p.m. Divers on board had been in the water for 10 – 15 minutes when the current became too strong. The captain called the divers back to the vessel. Four of them were reportedly drifting away from the boat, so boat mate 59 year old Steven Kipp donned a mask, snorkel and fins and got into the water to bring them a line to tow them back to the boat.


He gave the line to the first two divers. He was swimming to the second two, who’d drifted considerably farther from the boat when he became unresponsive. He was brought onto the boat and CPR was performed. The U.S. Coast Guard responded and brought him to shore. He was transported by paramedics to Mariner’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

---------- Post added November 13th, 2015 at 09:17 PM ----------

I was one of the divers supposedly rescued by Steve.

Unfortunately story was not reported correctly. (No surprise there). We were 28 minutes into a night dive when another diver appeared and thumbed the dive. My buddy and I first thought that she had mistaken us for her group but then we heard the banging on the ladder. We surfaced and tried to return to the boat but the current was too strong. We signalled the boat with our lights and they signalled back to us. They were about 100 yards away but the current was strongand we were drifting away from them. We were in the water for about 30 minutes waiting for the boat to pick us up. I dumped my weights and just floated with my buddy-we wre concerned but no panic.. Water was calm - no chop. After they picked us up we went to pick up the missing divers.

Two divers had splashed then had difficulties descending; they started drifting in the current and the boat could not leave to pick them. Steve donned a mask, snorkel and fins took the rope to get to them. Apparently he got to them, tred to say something then went unconcious. They held onto him for about 50 minutes. When we pulled him back on the boat, he was unresponsive. O2 and CPR was immediately applied; Coast Guard arrived in 5 minutes; Body transferred to their boat. Captain acted responsibly and incredibly well. Not much could have been done. Steve was a friendly wonderful guy. RIP.

My takeaway: 1. I would highly recommend that all divers take both O2 and CPR courses. 2. Don't forget to drop your weights when waiting to be rescued. 3. When someone thumbs the dive, don't second guess them.
 
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A Key Largo man who works as the mate on a dive vessel died Thursday as he tried to help four divers who were drifting away from the vessel.

The dive vessel, out of the Amoray Dive Resort in Key Largo, was offshore of Key Largo at 6:45 p.m. Divers on board had been in the water for 10 – 15 minutes when the current became too strong. The captain called the divers back to the vessel. Four of them were reportedly drifting away from the boat, so boat mate 59 year old Steven Kipp donned a mask, snorkel and fins and got into the water to bring them a line to tow them back to the boat.


He gave the line to the first two divers. He was swimming to the second two, who’d drifted considerably farther from the boat when he became unresponsive. He was brought onto the boat and CPR was performed. The U.S. Coast Guard responded and brought him to shore. He was transported by paramedics to Mariner’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

---------- Post added November 13th, 2015 at 09:17 PM ----------

I was one of the divers supposedly rescued by Steve.

Unfortunately story was not reported correctly. (No surprise there). We were 28 minutes into a night dive when another diver appeared and thumbed the dive. My buddy and I first thought that she had mistaken us for her group but then we heard the banging on the ladder. We surfaced and tried to return to the boat but the current was too strong. We signalled the boat with our lights and they signalled back to us. They were about 100 yards away but the current was strongand we were drifting away from them. We were in the water for about 30 minutes waiting for the boat to pick us up. I dumped my weights and just floated with my buddy-we wre concerned but no panic.. Water was calm - no chop. After they picked us up we went to pick up the missing divers.

Two divers had splashed then had difficulties descending; they started drifting in the current and the boat could not leave to pick them. Steve donned a mask, snorkel and fins took the rope to get to them. Apparently he got to them, tred to say something then went unconcious. They held onto him for about 50 minutes. When we pulled him back on the boat, he was unresponsive. O2 and CPR was immediately applied; Coast Guard arrived in 5 minutes; Body transferred to their boat. Captain acted responsibly and incredibly well. Not much could have been done. Steve was a friendly wonderful guy. RIP.

My takeaway: 1. I would highly recommend that all divers take both O2 and CPR courses. 2. Don't forget to drop your weights when waiting to be rescued. 3. When someone thumbs the dive, don't second guess them.

------

Glad to understand better what happened to you. I was the diver who kept hold of Steve until we could get picked up. I was also the one who had a glitch when I started to descend. I got myself organized quickly at the surface, but then noticed that my buddy and I had drifted far from the boat in just a brief time! The current was very unexpected and I knew right then we weren't going to be able to make it back to the boat. We dropped weights and waited, but we were pretty nervous at how far we had been pulled from the boat. In hindsight, I probably would have descended down the buoy line and stayed near that just in case of currents. I am very sad for what happened to Steve. It was a shock to all of us. I wish there had been more we could have done for him.
 
I suspect that the stressful surface swim to you was the prime cause of his demise. He too misunderstood the strength of the current. There was nothing that you could have done that would have changed the outcome.

In NJ, we always descend on a line to a wreck. A crew member splashes first to tie off and reports the current. But...In defense of the crew, the ocean was so placid that no-one suspected the current to be as strong as it was. I first felt it on the wreck. We were being pulled quite strongly at 40ft especially on the starboard side of the wreck. I can only imagine your terror in the water while waiting for the boat while drifting away. It must have felt like an eternity.
 
I suspect that the stressful surface swim to you was the prime cause of his demise. He too misunderstood the strength of the current. There was nothing that you could have done that would have changed the outcome.

In NJ, we always descend on a line to a wreck. A crew member splashes first to tie off and reports the current. But...In defense of the crew, the ocean was so placid that no-one suspected the current to be as strong as it was. I first felt it on the wreck. We were being pulled quite strongly at 40ft especially on the starboard side of the wreck. I can only imagine your terror in the water while waiting for the boat while drifting away. It must have felt like an eternity.

Yep, we were scared beyond belief. We are AOW but you are 1000x more experienced than we are, both in level of training and number and type of dives - and I tip my hat to your experience. NE wreck divers, esp those in NJ - are masters when it comes to the sport. And it was comforting to me to read your resume here, and know that when you reported being concerned - my husband and I being scared $^!#-less was not out of range considering the situation.

We kept it together, though- dropped weights, conserved energy. I switched my light to the SOS flasher to be more visible and shined it upward so it would reflect on the base of the clouds overhead. My husband kept asking me "Why won't they come?" and I kept telling him to just relax, take a deep breath - that they cannot leave the mooring until all the other divers are safely on the boat. I kept my eyes on the position of the boat as long as I could (and eventually even that disappeared). I held onto Steve so he wouldn't float away. I looked at the stars and judged us to be moving roughly NE, and told myself that surely the captain would have taken a bearing on our last known position and let the CG know.

As a private pilot, we are charged with knowing all available information about where we plan to fly and the landing conditions. As a diver (at levels of training below yours), I think we are too willing to just be taken somewhere and trust that it is okay, without really knowing much about where we are. I realized, as we floated there, that I hadn't known prior to the dive where the dive site actually was, what type of conditions are usually there. Also, tide information could have been helpful in predicting current behavior.....but no, we just jumped in the water like everyone else and assumed it was okay. One of my coping mechanisms after this tragedy was to go immediately the next morning to the nearest dive shop and see a map of where we had been - and to read up on the Benwood dive online. One source I consulted said that the Benwood often had "moderate currents", though other sources remarked on how the currents at Benwood were low. I noticed how the Benwood is just west of the Spiegel Grove - a wreck well known for its frequent strong currents (someday, when I increase my experience level to a much higher degree, I would like to dive the SG). I thought also, based on position, that the irony might have been that we had been swept out over the SG. All speculation aside, though - though we couldn't change what happened once we were in the water, maybe in the future - I can maximize my options by what I choose to do before I get in the water. I can say, "Hmm, I don't know this dive - can we set out a granny line as an extra margin of safety?" I tend to equalize slowly at first, my right ear hangs up on occasion - and anywhere with such a strong current at the surface is going to be problematic for me because I cannot just '"splash and dash" to the bottom.

As far as being in the water that night and knowing we were rapidly drifting away, I knew the options had dwindled to merely conserving energy and not panicking - and coping mentally with Steve's demise. I thought that if I could do one thing right, it would be to bring him back with us.

---------- Post added November 14th, 2015 at 04:03 AM ----------

Why would I want to drop my weights while waiting for a pickup?

In our case, there was light chop, seas ~ 1 ft or less. We rode a bit higher in the water without the weights, and this was especially true for my husband, who has a back inflator (I have a jacket type) - he was having trouble staying upright and dropping his weights helped reduce his workload. Increased our visibility and improved positioning at surface, esp to keep water out of snorkel (mine is not a dry snorkel like my husband's)...I had no idea how long we'd be out there - the thought occurred to me that if others were having the same problem as we were, it might be awhile before help came to us, and we wanted to do everything we could to conserve energy. Inflating one's bc full bore only goes so far (and becomes confining at the chest as far as breathing goes)...and a full inflate on my husband's bc made it impossible for him to be easily upright.
 
Why would I want to drop my weights while waiting for a pickup?

To make sure you cannot sink. The weight belt costs almost nothing. If the diver remains on the surface some water inhalation, panic, even loss of conciousness are likely to be manageable. Just toss the weight belt and the whole situation is vastly less threatening.

This is especially obvious if you read the reports of divers lost off the UK's coasts. I subscribe to Brit dive magazines and the diver death accounts amazingly often include that the diver was on the surface, had difficultly, and soon thereafter was never seen again/found weeks later.


Interesting idea: The Finnish Divers' Association will give a free weight belt to any member who has gotten into difficultly, had to ditch their weight belt, and eventually filed a report of the incident with the Federation. It helps collect "near misses"-information (collected to help us all better understand what threats there are and brainstorm on what to do about these threats). It is also brilliant in highlighting the idea that you should always drop your weights if things get dicey: for Finns the belt isn't just cheap, it's free.

But for everyone it's cheap. Just toss it. If you really doubt the need, remove it and keep it in the crook of your arm or draped across your belly, but get the thing off of you.
 
Interesting idea: The Finnish Divers' Association will give a free weight belt to any member who has gotten into difficultly, had to ditch their weight belt, and eventually filed a report of the incident with the Federation. It helps collect "near misses"-information (collected to help us all better understand what threats there are and brainstorm on what to do about these threats). It is also brilliant in highlighting the idea that you should always drop your weights if things get dicey: for Finns the belt isn't just cheap, it's free.

But for everyone it's cheap. Just toss it. If you really doubt the need, remove it and keep it in the crook of your arm or draped across your belly, but get the thing off of you.
The Norwegian Divers' Association has the same deal for their members, and AFAIK there are some US LDSs that do the same.

Far too many divers have gotten into problems on the surface and waited too long to ditch their weights.

Lead is cheap, life is invaluable. I'd rather spend a few € buying a new belt once too often than ending up on the bottom. Kudos to those involved in this incident for realizing just that.
 
It took me about 10 minutes to realise that I'd probably be more comfortable on the surface without weights. I was in a BPW; my buddy in a jacket style. He was pitched a lot better than me at the surface. After I removed the weights and released some air, I was able to get more comfortable. I will be in the pool next week practising getting the exact amount of air required in the wing to keep you upright at the surface. As I discovered, too much air tilts you forward-you need a lot less that you think. And oh yes, I wear a DUI weight harness; one advantage is being able to ditch individual weights and not lose the 'belt'.
 
Very sad. Last time I was on the Benwood there was a fair amount of current. From the boat we dropped to just off the sand and went up low. Could not see our boat from the wreck. Coming back we stayed low and stopped at the first buoy and ascended holding on to it. Wanted to make sure we were at the right boat. Turned out we were.

Surface swims can be exhausting especially if in a hurry. Did one a few months ago in Key Largo. Had to bring my divers up since one low on air. Had to get cross current to avoid getting carried away. Got back to boat and all on board. Buddy and I were wooped. We thumbed dive two.

With integrated weights I can drop as little or as much weight as I want.
 
As a diver (at levels of training below yours), I think we are too willing to just be taken somewhere and trust that it is okay, without really knowing much about where we are. I realized, as we floated there, that I hadn't known prior to the dive where the dive site actually was, what type of conditions are usually there. Also, tide information could have been helpful in predicting current behavior.....but no, we just jumped in the water like everyone else and assumed it was okay.

Some of this may be impractical in real world settings. Often the itinerary for the day is flexible, based on conditions, perhaps where other boats are going, etc... So to be reliably familiar with site conditions, you'd have to memorize typical conditions for maybe 10 (give or take) dive sites, somehow keep them straight from each other, or take some sort of guide book & quickly read up on sites right after destinations were announced. Even then, you'd have some idea of 'typical' conditions.

There are a number of ways divers try to restrict their diving to conditions within their capabilities. Going on trips that don't specifically cater to the advanced diver, that do a high volume of mainstream (i.e.: includes some beginners, very occasional vacation divers, etc...) divers, and with a seasoned captain in destinations often associated with fairly 'easy' diving are some ways people do this. Then they listen to the dive site briefing upon arrival, and can decide whether to dive then.

Not a failsafe method. But no method is.

My point is, there will be tragedies on (hopefully rare) occasion (that we hope to see minimized within reason). And you can react by 'going OCD' on studying site conditions. But don't guilt trip yourself because you didn't meet some impractical standard.

I don't think the typical Key Largo diver will be studying tide information to predict current behavior.

Richard.
 

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