Accident at Lake Rawlings Sunday 05/27/2012

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I took a quick look at your posts. It appears you've gone from OW to a CCR and instructor in less than 3 years. You repeatedly recommend Splash Dive Center. From the sound of this post (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/fins-masks-snorkels/416567-atomic-venom-mask-leak.html#post6296766: discussing the return of 30 masks), it seems like you might work there.

What is your angle here?

Edited - my post was somewhat off topic and we have had enough of that already. Just trying to learn something here.
 
My angle is that I live in VA though I haven't made it to Rawlings yet. I'm curious about it because its close to home.
 
My angle is that I live in VA though I haven't made it to Rawlings yet. I'm curious about it because its close to home.

Lemme know if you need a dive buddy.
 
My angle is that I live in VA though I haven't made it to Rawlings yet. I'm curious about it because its close to home.

If your real concern is about the site and that the site may have contributed to the accident then I say this...

I don't believe that Lake Rawlings is a dangerous dive site. However, it is important to always dive within your skill level AND your buddies skill level or you can turn a relatively safe location into a dangerous one.
 
If your real concern is about the site and that the site may have contributed to the accident then I say this...

I don't believe that Lake Rawlings is a dangerous dive site. However, it is important to always dive within your skill level AND your buddies skill level or you can turn a relatively safe location into a dangerous one.

Perhaps I didn't write well. I'm not concerned about the site. More that its a terrible accident involving a LDS that isn't very far away and that makes me curious to know whats going on.
 
After reading the latest summary, which I appreciate you posting, a couple things come to mind. I first noted in a prior post the website of the shop advertising one weekend or 3 weeknight training before the OW dives and asked how this could possibly be enough time to get someone comfy enough to dive in those conditions. In this case it obviously was not. I also made note of an instructor leading three buddy teams in 20 ft vis and still be in control of everyone. Well you can't. Not without a CA. If the reports are true about the group being led single file then that is just asking for someone to get hurt. Not only that but it is one of the things I cite in my presentation on the failure of the buddy system and is repeated in my book about how instructors that have this practice for checkout dives are telling new divers that they don't need to be good buddies. That the buddy system is just something to give lip service to. And that the instructor does not take the time, chooses to ignore, or just doesn't care about it enough to teach it properly. If they even know how to teach it.

From what I see in many areas locally and from reading on this board there is also an element of laziness. It is easier to say to Joe and Mary to try to stay together but if you can't, try and at least keep up and keep each other in sight. And try to keep me in sight while I swim at my normal pace (also saying that the commandment that the slowest diver sets the pace is another BS thing we say) blissfully unaware of what is going on behind me since you've already had what 20 minutes of me watching you like a hawk so now I can relax. I never relax on checkouts. And I know my students are ready and could rescue me if need be, but they are still students until I give them their card. I am hyper vigilant and know where everyone is at all times even if that means I take one diver at a time if conditions dictate that. I have three students tomorrow. Not new divers but one is newer. A good diver but not in the water yet this year so he will be with me. The other two will buddy up. One a DMC and the other an SEI Master Diver student. Yet still I will be watching them and be concerned about them. No one will swim single file. Single file tells divers it's ok to dive alone. The last person in the line has no buddy.

What is so tragic and angering about this is that her buddy was not well enough trained to worry about himself and keep an eye on her. They should never have been taken into open water with that little understanding, knowledge, and training. They worst part is that crap like this will happen again. Divers will continue to be taken into the water with the same amount of understanding that put this person in a position to be left alone. To die alone. To have no one to even notice she was gone until it was too late. That is what this is about.

That this could even take place and yet it does. Perhaps hundreds of times a week and only dumb luck keeps more from suffering the same fate. Yet will standards be changed to address this? Not likely. What will it take, how many will need to die before someone says you cannot take a diver into open water until you are sure they can stay with their buddy and if necessary help them. Some agencies do this already.

The loved one philosophy as it is sometimes known. "Would you allow the diver you just handed a card to dive with your wife, husband, or kids? If not then they don't get a card until you address this and correct it." It is a NAUI philosophy and is an SEI and SDI one as well.

We live in an instant gratification society. "I want it now and don't want to really work for it" is how the last generation seems to have been raised. Couple that with a society that also seems to follow the "greed is good" philosophy and it is a recipe for disaster. One that is cooking up dead divers.
 
I don't believe that Lake Rawlings is a dangerous dive site. However, it is important to always dive within your skill level AND your buddies skill level or you can turn a relatively safe location into a dangerous one.

Since this diver was doing her OW dive with a certified instructor, she was diving within her skill level, wasn't she?
 
The loved one philosophy as it is sometimes known. "Would you allow the diver you just handed a card to dive with your wife, husband, or kids? If not then they don't get a card until you address this and correct it." It is a NAUI philosophy and is an SEI and SDI one as well.

Nice philosophy, unfortunately it only works if followed, The instructor in this incident is a NAUI instructor trainer, as well as a former PADI Master Trainer. In this case the "greed is good" mindset out weighed the loved one philosophy. and sadly, as Jim stated, a student died as a result.
 
As I mentioned before, we received our certification from Splash (did our OW in Roatan, however) when it was still owned by the founder. My son, however, got his DM from the shop's present incarnation. I was asking him about the lack of DM assisting the instructor and he speculated that perhaps one didn't show up and they didn't want to scrub the whole thing and so went ahead.

We both agreed it was strange that the instructor was expelled from PADI so quickly and without any sort of hearing. Follow the money; in this case, lawsuits. I'm guessing that everybody has gone into full CYA mode.
 
Since this diver was doing her OW dive with a certified instructor, she was diving within her skill level, wasn't she?

My statement wasn't about the student diving within her skill level. I thought hypertech was concerned about the dive site and I was simply trying to reinforce a basic diving principle especially relating to a new dive site or unfamiliar conditions.
 

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