(05 JUN 05) Missing diver at Whytecliff

[Daryl Morse]

No reason an 18 year old can't be a well trained tech diver.

From what I've heard, agencies typically don't offer technical diving training to people who are not 18 years of age.

 

[hardhat]

It's always sad to hear about things like this. Sympathies to the family and friends for their loss.
There is a search going on that will be continuing tomorrow according to NEWS1130 as of 11:30 or so.
Maybe this is a bit of a wake-up call that we are all involved in a very serious activity. That the proper training and equipment need to be used before going into an area or situation that we are not capable of dealing with. I have in the past seen to many divers, doing dives that are way beyond their levels of training and, or comfort zone, because of some-one saying that it's an easy dive. There is no such thing as an easy dive in these waters here in the Pacific Northwest, a dive may seem easy because of your expierence, but we all need to remember every one doesn't have the same level of expierence, and that we should be diving at the level of the least expierenced in our group. Remember we all started at some time or another, and had somebody to watch over us all, to make sure we all came back.
That's enough said about that, and I'll get off my soap box now. Hopefully we all learn something from this whole thing.

 

[kazinvan]

From what I've heard, agencies typically don't offer technical diving training to people who are not 18 years of age.

Thanks Daryl, I thought it was 16 so that is good to know. Without training beyond typical recreational diving, they should not have planned a dive to 150.

 

[kazinvan]

Latest:

Search for teen diver to resume tomorrow
June 06, 2005 - 1:28 pm
By: John Ackermann

The search for a missing Langley teen off the waters of West Vancouver has been called off until tomorrow. The diver went missing yesterday afternoon and now searchers say they need special equipment to carry on. Yesterday afternoon, Coast Guard vessels spent several hours combing the waters off Whytecliff Park where the diver and a friend were trying to reach depths of 150 feet. West Van Police say those great depths are making search efforts more difficult. But the only tanks up to the task are being used in a separate operation. They expect to get their hands on the equipment tomorrow. Police area also saying, despite his youth, the missing teen had plenty of experience, having completed an advanced diving course.
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If they mean AOW, then that does not qualify him to go to 150'.

 

[kazinvan]

The CBC is reporting this instead:

Diver missing off West Vancouver's Whytecliff Park

VANCOUVER (CBC) - An 18-year-old diver from Langley is missing in the waters off West Vancouver's Whytecliff Park.

The teen was diving with a buddy Sunday afternoon, at a depth of about 40 metres. Visibility was poor and the two became separated.

The 19-year-old friend searched briefly, then resurfaced and called police.

Coast Guard divers searched the area Sunday night, but failed to find the young man.

Both men are experienced divers and familiar with the area.

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No idea which is correct.

 

[wedivebc]

The CBC is reporting this instead:

Diver missing off West Vancouver's Whytecliff Park

VANCOUVER (CBC) - An 18-year-old diver from Langley is missing in the waters off West Vancouver's Whytecliff Park.

The teen was diving with a buddy Sunday afternoon, at a depth of about 40 metres. Visibility was poor and the two became separated.

The 19-year-old friend searched briefly, then resurfaced and called police.

Coast Guard divers searched the area Sunday night, but failed to find the young man.

Both men are experienced divers and familiar with the area.

----------------------------------------

No idea which is correct.

Thanks for the reports kazinvan. You can see why we should refrain from making too many assumptions based on news media coverage. They don't even agree on the facts.
As far as training is concerned I believe most agencies require a minimum age of 18 to do 'tech' diving so I wonder if the advanced training CBC mentioned is not deco procedures or something that would permit those types of dives.
Please let us know if you hear any more.

 

[Daryl Morse]

Here is the written version of the report I heard on CKNW this morning:

WEST VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - An 18 year old diver from Langley has gone missing in the waters off Whytecliffe Park in West Vancouver.

The search was launched about 4:30 Sunday afternoon when he became separated from his 19 year old dive buddy in an area known as "The Cut," some 130 feet deep.
Because of decompression times it took the partner 20 minutes to surface, look for his buddy on shore and then contact authorities.

An extensive search by Coast Guard hovercraft, helicopter and a pair of divers have failed to find the missing man.

The Coroner's Service has been notified and what is now a missing person investigation will be re-assessed at first light this morning.​

According to more recent radio reports, a search for the missing diver by the RCMP is currently underway.

 

[deepdiverbc]

Good advice.

Doesn't vis usually clear up the deeper you go. I have been to whytecliff where the vis in the first 30 feet is like diving in milk, you almost couldn't see your hand in front of your face. But drop down to 60+ and it was nice and clear. I'm sure there are exceptions, just wanted to see if anyone was there on the weekend and can comment.

Good point about clearer vis at depth. It's not always the case though. I was in 5-10ft vis off of Bowen Island once and we gave up trying to get under it at 100 ft. The unique thing about this situation though was that it was during the herring spawn. Since then I avoid the herring spawn period.

 

[Daryl Morse]

I spoke with someone who has direct knowledge of the incident. At this stage, it appears to be a case of uncontrolled descent to significant depth likely caused by a combination of insufficient training, unfamilar equipment and difficult conditions (strong current and poor vis). A police investigation is underway.

Sorry for the vague information. I appreciate that many of you would like to have more details, but it's not for for me say anything further. Suffice it to say that this is a very terrible incident and it's fortunate that there was only one victim.

I'm sure there will be discussion about how this incident could have been avoided. Hopefully the discussion will be constructive. Let's all try to remember that this incident involves real people who are facing a very tragic loss.

I've exchanged PMs with Uncle Pug and we agreed that he would move this thread to the A&I forum after I posted this update.

 

[kazinvan]

Good point about clearer vis at depth. It's not always the case though. I was in 5-10ft vis off of Bowen Island once and we gave up trying to get under it at 100 ft. The unique thing about this situation though was that it was during the herring spawn. Since then I avoid the herring spawn period.

When is the herring spawn?