Accident & Incident Discussion - Northernone - aka Cameron Donaldson

[RayfromTX]

As far as solo tech diving goes, it’s not unheard of...and honestly is the norm in most places I’ve been. “Same ocean Buddy” system at best for the most part. There are more team oriented circles, and in my experience they are the exception...

Solo tech diving next to a 1000 ft trench? Not my idea of a good choice, but who am I to judge?

The reality of risk management is that there will always be residual risk...even in the most benign environment.

I keep reading that Cam was supremely confident in his ability to overcome any issue conceivable underwater. I think we all know that mindset can be a critical error. Overconfidence can lead us down some nasty rabbit holes.

Even though he was young and fit, I can think of a dozen medical issues that could almost instantly incapacitate a diver without warning...and they happen to people who least expect it...

As tech divers we all know that the level of inherent risk is high. A lot of us have seen bad stuff happen to divers...and often to very competent ones. There are no free passes...nobody is exempt.

The point is, we will never know what happened to Cam unless we find him. If he made it to the surface, he may still be out there. If he didn’t and was negative enough...we will probably never know...because nobody is finding a diver in 1000’ of open water.

I don't believe that I have read anywhere that "Cameron was supremely confident in his ability to overcome any issue conceivable underwater." I believe that he was humble and unafraid to share his mistakes on Scubaboard. Search his threads and what he has written and you will not find him expressing overconfidence. What I have read about is other people that knew him and dived with him being confident in his ability to overcome any issue conceivable underwater.

 

[JohnnyC]

I don’t think he was overconfident. However, I think he had a habit of either underestimating risks, or not giving them the proper amount of forethought in terms of consequence. “Oh I have bailout,” not necessarily, “do I have enough bailout for a serious CO2 hit,” type of thing. I’m certain he learned from every one of his mistakes, but at times it seemed as though he was willing to allow luck to play a part of his risk mitigation plan.

It pains me to say this, because he really was a fantastic human being, and had an incredibly positive impact on many people. But for quite a while I’ve had a foreboding feeling towards his riskier endeavors. I never felt that he was unqualified for the dives he was doing, simply had a twitch in the back of my head that there was something he was missing that would come back to bite him a little too hard. He almost struck me as having somewhat of an innocent naïveté towards the risk profile of what he was doing. Now it’s entirely possible that it simply seemed that way due to his gentle manner, but at the same time it concerned me how easily he was willing to jump into situations with both feet, seemingly with somewhat of a lackadaisical attitude. I don’t think we should equate that to overconfidence. Some of the incidents he’s posted about, while demonstrating an acceptable level of skill, also demonstrate perhaps not the best judgement when it came to heading off incidents before they happened. While he was always able to claw his way out, he would get awful deep down the accident slope before he made the decision to break that chain.

Either way the world is poorer for his absence, albeit hopefully a brief one. And I’m saddened that we are having this discussion at all. He really was an excellent human being.

 

[kensuf]

Richard,
I’m not sure the right word is “confidence” - it’s just that given his age and physical condition it doesn’t seem likely he had a medical event at depth. Also, divers have been back to the location of his last dive.

None of the above is proof he made it to the surface, of course, but it’s certainly reason enough to keep searching (not that you were suggesting otherwise). I imagine any tone of confidence is more related to positive thinking than anything else.

Hi Kate,

A 26 year old olympic athlete died after a workout in the UF O'Dome pool on Monday. Being young and in-shape isn't a guarantee you won't have a medical. I've been known to dive solo, but even shallow reef bimbles while diving solo adds an element of risk.

Any rate, Barracuda, one of my favorite dives in Cozumel, can have ripping currents. I feel bad for the family.

Ken

 

[lv2dive]

@kensuf / Ken,

I didn’t say he didn’t have a medical event, I said given his age and physical condition it didn’t seem likely he had a medical event. I’m not sure how that can be interpreted as me saying there was a guarantee he wouldn’t have a medical event. Obviously I agree with you about you about the level of risk diving without a buddy, but I don’t think what he did was inconsistent with standard practice for a relatively large percentage of non-recreational divers.

I’m sorry to hear about the athlete at UF. Both situations are terrible, and unfortunately it’s not looking good for Cameron given the amount of time that has passed.

Hi Kate,

A 26 year old olympic athlete died after a workout in the UF O'Dome pool on Monday. Being young and in-shape isn't a guarantee you won't have a medical. I've been known to dive solo, but even shallow reef bimbles while diving solo adds an element of risk.

Any rate, Barracuda, one of my favorite dives in Cozumel, can have ripping currents. I feel bad for the family.

Ken

 

[Steve_C]

As I read the original post Cam separated from his Mom at 70ft. The plan was to rejoin 5-10 minutes later which was their usual practice. His mom never saw him again. My reading is she was waiting around 70 ft. So if he made it up it would be in another place than where his mother was. Also suggests he was no planning much deco.

Also with LF she had a history of strong episodes of dizziness so, at least, in my opinion, had a predisposing condition to make it hard to deal with sudden current. Not saying she should not have dived but she was doing so with an extra risk factor.

 

[johndiver999]

Well the 30 minute deco aspect is of significant importance in the dive plan. If that assumption is not applicable to this situation, ( I.e. no deco) then it should be clarified. I have no opinion, I’m just trying to understand the specific dive plan on the day of the accident.

Being at 70 with no deco is far different than being at 150 with 30 minutes of deco, not to mention the difference in gas consumption it might take to arrive at either of those end points.

 

[Kay Dee]

Can any of the qualified tech divers show a profile that they themselves could safely run with twin 80’s of air to 150 ft accruing 30 plus minutes of deco? Perhaps using their own RMV’s for the working part of the dive and maybe a reduced one for the deco? This might add some objectivity to the discussion of risk etc.

No access to a deco program at moment, and many many years since diving either air or open circuit, but off the top of my head if diving air and accruing 30 mins of deco at max depth 150ft, then I would think two 80's (of air) would not be sufficient gas to complete said dive / deco (although a scooter should - all things being equal - alleviate the workload / RMV).

But let's see what transpires when someone cuts an actual table for the dive you are proposing.

 

[scubadada]

As we don't know Cameron's dive profile, his usual RMV, or his computer settings, it is not possible to begin to estimate his possible gas use.

It is quite simple to calculate the gas requirement for a hypothetical air dive to 150 feet, with a RMV of 0.5, that results in about 30 min of deco when a computer is set at 50/85. Any of the variables can be easily changed. In this example, the 21 minute dive would have a gas requirement that is well below that available in two AL80s.

 

[scubafanatic]

As I read the original post Cam separated from his Mom at 70ft. The plan was to rejoin 5-10 minutes later which was their usual practice. His mom never saw him again. My reading is she was waiting around 70 ft. So if he made it up it would be in another place than where his mother was. Also suggests he was no planning much deco.

Also with LF she had a history of strong episodes of dizziness so, at least, in my opinion, had a predisposing condition to make it hard to deal with sudden current. Not saying she should not have dived but she was doing so with an extra risk factor.

LF suffered a severe fall off of one of her show horses just days prior to her death, the plausible theory then was an undiagnosed head injury that may have caught up with her on that infamous dive.

 

[scubadada]

Most of us do not know, but, it appears that Cameron and his mother had dived this site previously, perhaps many times before. Of course, that does not mean that there might have been something this day, beyond the usual.