a morbid question...

[Doc Intrepid]

For a look at one historical treatment of this subject, including the manner in which a number of divers were lost, read "Deep Diving" by Brett Gilliam, et. al.

 

[rawls]

Read the chapter "The Expedient Gear Technician" in Dan Ange's book, "Diver Down". This person was diving a reef with the bottom around 1000 fsw. He was found at about 160 fsw with his arm lodged in a rock crevice. He had tried to grab ahold of the reef and inch his way back up to the surface. Ends up he was missing a little seal in his jet dump, so his BCD wasn't holding air. Earlier in the day one of the diver's dive buddies noticed the diver picking a few small pieces of his hose off the floor. What had happened was he had put those pieces back together but somehow missed or misinserted the seal. This led to his death. These are the things that get you most of the time...diver error. There have been cases of divers diving walls and never being seen again.

 

[SteveAD]

Here is a likely (as in it has happened) cause of an uncontrolled descent. An inexperienced tech diver in heavy steel doubles jumps off the boat without first inflating his wing. If he also neglected turn on his air or hook up his inflator he's in a world of hurt. Even if his air is on and inflator hooked up there's a high likelyhood that the inflator will not be able to provide sufficient flow to fill a completely empty wing when compression due to uncontrolled descent is taken into account.

 

[String]

Diver error bordering on the criminally stupid.

Failing to inflate the wing OR drysuit (you do have redundant buoyancy dont you...) and failing to turn either of his 2 valves on. And having that missed by a buddy.

Darwin in action for that scenario.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I can't remember the guys name, but in Deep Descent, Kevin McMurray recounts the story of the guy who was diving a deep wreck off the coast of NC. The guy was with a group of divers who would race to keep from being last on the boat. (Side comment: VERY STUPID IDEA!) Well, this pour guy jumped over the side without connecting his BC nor drysuit and I think he might have even forgot to turn on his air. I believe he was also diving heavy steel doubles if my memory serves me. That is a very bad deal. The divemaster found him on the bottom by the anchor line. Uncontrolled descents can happen, but very unlikely if you're prepared and cautious.

 

[DandyDon]

Based on his Username and his other thread, I think he wants to do the deep dive and get the at 200 ft no one can hear you scream bragging rights.:shakehead

Down currents are rare even on Cozumel walls, but they do happen. If one gets caught in one, swim away from the wall - don't think about whats happening, just do that reaction. Many recreational regs are going to start getting hard to breath before 200 ft, you have to have enough air left to do a slow ascent back from the turning depth, you're gonna be getting narced - maybe alone, etc.

True, they are rare, but they do happen. My mistake. Swim away from the wall.

That's my suggestion to others for Coz diving - I may have learned it from you. I was told by a local instructor on the Coz forum to swim into the wall but I'm sticking with away-from.

 

[Walter]

Swimming away from the wall gets you out of the current. Swimming to the wall gives you something on which to climb.

 

[String]

Tight-to a wall is handy for getting out of fast horizontal currents.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Based on his Username and his other thread, I think he wants to do the deep dive and get the at 200 ft no one can hear you scream bragging rights.:shakehead

Or perhaps he's just curious ... new divers are like that sometimes.

For anyone who's considering a deep dive for "bragging rights", I'd encourage you to read this thread ... http://scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=166222 ... in its entirety.

This was a recent tragedy ... one that happened to a reasonably experienced diver in good physical condition ... and due solely to the pursuit of bragging rights.

Don't take shortcuts ... take your diving experiences in measured steps, get comfortable with the skills and knowledge to dive safely at shallow, recreational depths before attempting deep dives. Get training in how to prepare for and execute a deep dive safely. Progress in such a way that you develop an understanding of the risks before trying it. Just jumping in and riding your gauges may end up costing you or a friend more than it can possibly be worth.

FWIW - they've never found his body ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[dlndavid]

A few of my friends and I who have our open-water were discussing this, and weren't sure how to answer it. So, my question is out of pure curiosity, for curiosity's sake:

Say you're diving along a wall or something, or even in the open ocean. For some reason, you begin to sink, and are unable to swim up... Why isn't important. Anyway, you've still got a reasonable amount of air left, but are continuing to sink into an abyss of water... What happens to you, and how long do you remain conscious?

A bunch of us were diving the "washing machine" off Verde Island in the Philippines.
There was about a 5 knot current ripping us over the reef at about 40 ft. Then the reef ended, dropping off into deep ocean.
Well I reached the end of the reef and was immediately taken down to 100 ft in a swirl of bubbles not knowing which way was up.
I did come to my senses knowing I was in a bad situation, I started adding air to my BC, watched my gauges for depth and was able to make a proper ascent.
I was able to do a 3 minute safety stop at 15 ft, then deployed my SMB, the boat spotted us and soon we were picked up. The other dozen divers were still popping up here and there and everywhere., except Diver Dennis, he was the last to pop up and was out in the shipping channel on his way to Japan. Back on the boat, and later in the bar, everybody was still in amazement over the experiences they had, it was a great dive!