Almost got lost in the Current - long read

[Windwalker]

I would have dealt with the situation differently. If I didn't think I could swim back to the boat, and I was getting water in my face the very first thing to do is to drop the weights. This will help you float higher and prevent the surface chop from getting into your airway. I certainly would not have removed my mask and hood. The mask protects your face and if you are swept away and have to await rescue, hypothermia is a real concern. You really want to conserve heat by keeping your hood in place.

As tonka97 suggested, the next step is to use your whistle to get the attention of the boat. Next is to deploy your safety sausage so that if you do start drifting, the boat will be able to keep an eye on you. I keep my safety sausage tucked in my BC pocket for just such occasions. It is cheap insurance.

Many of my nondive friends ask if I am afraid of sharks. I tell them, "Hell no, I am afraid of currents." Remember, with a 1 knot current, you can kick into it. With a 2 knot current, you can hold your own. With a 3 knot current, you are moving backwards.

BTW, what boat is is that can only give 1700psi fills? I certainly want to avoid them, especially if they are diving 72s.

I agree, What you say makes sense. Hind site is 20/20. I won't give the name of the Dive op because it is possible in the short time they have fixed there problems, we gave them an earful. When I go back in April, I will post if things have been fixed. If no I will find a suitable place on the forum to defame them publicly.

I dive a Deep Outdoors Backplate, It has 50+ pounds of lift, If I am on my back, I can darn near use the thing as a boat. Not only that, But I only carry 10 pounds in drop capable weight.

You're right, dropping the weight would have made it easier to tread water. That is something to commit to memory, if your swimming in a current before all else can fail, dump the damn weight. The LDS I buy from even has a policy that if you dump your weight in an emergency they will give you the weight back at no charge.

My Safety sausage is located on my right hand shoulder so I can deploy and inflate it without having to unhook it. Most my weight comes from my tank, back plate, and the fact that I my body is naturally pretty negatively buoyant.

I did not remove my mask until I was on the Buoy at the end of the line. Also, The water was a balmy 65 degrees, No chance of Hypothermia for at least several hours. I was tired, not panicked. If I had panicked, then I probably would be in the obituaries. I started to remove my hood to reduce the construction around my throat. I did not remove it all the way, but I did see my dive buddies eyes bug a little when I started clawing at the seam of my hood to get my hand under it.

I am still not sure what they would have done if I blew my whistle. Send someone else? (They would have been hosed too). The only thing they could do is throw a life preserver (several hundred yards) or deploy the current line. I am glad someone heard me when I yelled at them to send the current line.

 

[james croft]

Been in the same situation a couple of times. It is nice to have the tag line already deployed.
I am also more afraid of currents than shorks. I carry good military grade signalling devices, night/day flares, mirrors and sea markers, etc. Yeah, current that is unexpected is a big problem. A lot of good advice was given by the other posters. But if you had not grabbed the line you would need to be visible when they come looking.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

I am still not sure what they would have done if I blew my whistle.

Depends on whether there was a flag on the play or not.

 

[Jim Kerr]

Yes, I would also like to know what boat you were on. I've only been on 1 liveaboard out there (based in SD) and they "ALWAYS" deploy a current line at every dive site no matter what. I usally have my own tank, a steel 95, but they have aluminun 80s on board if you need one and can fill HP tanks to 3500 psi.

Having 72s and only being able to fill them to 1700 psi is crazy. The fact that there chase boat broke down and their compressor was insuficient should tell you something about how they maintain their equip. I would definitely choose another boat on your next visit.

I learned a long time ago when diving out there to surface with about 1000 psi if conditions were rough and I needed to get a bearing on the boat. That would give you plenty of air to go back down and make your way to the boat underwater thus avoiding the strong surface current. But only having 1700 to start out with you were screwed from the begining.

Another handy thing to have along with a "good" SMB is a dive alert whistle. When you're fighting current along with chop the last thing you want to do is remove your reg (or anything else hint hint). Plus those are a heck of alot louder than you'll ever be able to blow even on a good day. Now tell me, just how does removing your mask get your head up higher?

 

[spt29970]

I agree, What you say makes sense. Hind site is 20/20. I won't give the name of the Dive op because it is possible in the short time they have fixed there problems, we gave them an earful. When I go back in April, I will post if things have been fixed. If no I will find a suitable place on the forum to defame them publicly.

[...]

I did not remove my mask until I was on the Buoy at the end of the line. Also, The water was a balmy 65 degrees, No chance of Hypothermia for at least several hours. I was tired, not panicked. If I had panicked, then I probably would be in the obituaries. I started to remove my hood to reduce the construction around my throat. I did not remove it all the way, but I did see my dive buddies eyes bug a little when I started clawing at the seam of my hood to get my hand under it.

Not maintaining their compressor and not having a chase boat are serious safety issues. I don't think it is defaming them give their name, it is simply stating facts.

In my rescue class, they taught us that clawing at the gear is one of the first signs of panic. It might not have been full blown, but you were definitely heading down that path. If your hood wasn't too tight when you were diving, it wasn't too tight on the surface.

I'm glad that everything worked out and that you are willing to share your experience. It will help others in similar situations.

 

[Windwalker]

Another handy thing to have along with a "good" SMB is a dive alert whistle. When you're fighting current along with chop the last thing you want to do is remove your reg (or anything else hint hint). Plus those are a heck of alot louder than you'll ever be able to blow even on a good day. Now tell me, just how does removing your mask get your head up higher?

Yes.. I have a nice two tone whistle that is attached to my BCD. Not sure I want to add a BCD based air horn to things. Another thing to break I guess.

I have never accidentally sucked vacuum on a reg, It was beat into my skull in OW class that you save what you can at the surface in case you really, need it. Up here in the Pacific Northwest, I dive Steel 110's They are HUGE Behemoths with hours of bottom time. I usually surface with 2000 PSI to 1700 PSI of nitrox. If I had my tanks.. Well.. If I had my tanks, I would have found the darn Anchor Chain and come up that! None of this 500psi stuff

Removing my mask allowed me to get my hand through my chin and down my neck to lift my hood from my neck which allowed me to breath better. My inflated backplate and wing was keeping my head far enough out of the water, and I was facing away from the wind and the direction of the chop.

The only time I sucked water was when I faced the boat. The backplate and wing put me more face down in the water then a vest type BCD would have. At the point I removed my mask, I had the buoy with one hand and was just kicking back trying to catch my breath. I usually put the mask around my neck, but that would not work too well. I was also panting responses to my dive buddies who were also hanging onto the end of the buoy (less winded) catching their breaths. By the time I got to the boat, I had put my mask back on, and stuck my regulator back in my mouth to get aboard. It would have sucked to not have had any air, and fallen back into the water because I was too tired.

I am also grateful I was in a wetsuit, IF I was in a drysuit. Then by pulling the neck seal, I would have gotten pretty darn cold pretty darn fast

 

[dumpsterDiver]

wow cool story. It sounds like you did not have a snorkel. A snorkel would have been a huge help and it sounds like you rolled over on your back and then came close to the boat and missed it by just 25 yards and then swam off in the wrong direction because you were not watching carefully. If you had a snorkel, then you could have been face down and watching where you were swimming or I suspect it would have facilitated you rolling over more frequently to check on the boats' bearing

The charter operation was negligent in my opinion. They put divers in the water and the current picked up to the point where the boat drug anchor? They should have been aware of this and should have immediately deployed the 200 yard stern line with surface float. In reality, they should have done this on EVERY anchored dive as SOP in my opinion. If the float was out ?BEFORE your problem, you would have had an easy swim to intersect it, However as you described it, you had to "swim in place" behind the boat as the float ball passively made its' way back to your position.

A professional charter, when realizing that the boat had swung or drug anchor should have placed all their crew on some type of safety watch. Even the cook should have been on the roof watching for problems.

When you came close to the boat, and the captain saw you missing to the stern, he really probably SHOULD have had a crew member suited up and attempt to SWIM (with mask fins and snorkel) the float (and line) to you. They should have been expecting a customer to screw up and without the ability to move the boat and without a chase boat, they really should have forseen this contingency and done the simple stuff (like throwing out a stern line).

As for you, not too much more you could have done, but there is no reason to remove the mask to aid in breathing. This is a strong indicator of impending panic and you should probably fight that urge in the future because it is very easy to get a snoot full of seawater when winded and then you could really have a problem.

Also, as long as the boat operator sees you drift past his boat and you have surface floatation and a marker bouy, there is probably little reason to absolutely kill yourself swimming for the float. They SHOULD have been able to get things wrapped up quickly, dump the anchor on a float ball and come chase you down, even if you drifted off a mile or two.

I have seen a few similar rescues and one lady whcih we pulled in on a 200 yard rope was blue, half drowned and had to be lifted onto the boat. She was hospitalized for near drowniing after that. Sounds like you were completely exhausted and in this condition, you could pretty easily drown.

And what the heck kinda boat uses 35 yr old 72 tanks filled to 1700 psi? At the very least, I would want a big LP tank at that psi. Of course if you had a larger tank you could have simply descended after getting a compass heading and swam to the boat underwater

 

[Windwalker]

Not maintaining their compressor and not having a chase boat are serious safety issues. I don't think it is defaming them give their name, it is simply stating facts.

In my rescue class, they taught us that clawing at the gear is one of the first signs of panic. It might not have been full blown, but you were definitely heading down that path. If your hood wasn't too tight when you were diving, it wasn't too tight on the surface.

I'm glad that everything worked out and that you are willing to share your experience. It will help others in similar situations.

True, Like I said, The owner of the boat was brand new, he had just bought the operation and was working out the kinks, as it were. When I go back if things have not improved I will post it. The person he got the boat from was fabulous.
This was just a black trip of doom. EVERYTHING was breaking. You could hear the poor owner whimper every time something broke. For example, The boat's water system failed. IT had a primary and a secondary. The Primary lost the motor, and the secondary had a pump failure. I attempted to try and fix the problem. The primary had suffered a winding failure, so I figured I could swap the motor heads. Then I found out. One motor was 110v and the other motor was 220v. I attempted to separate the whole motors shaft and all, and realized the darn pumps used the motorshafts as part of the seal.. Meaning, the motor could not be separated from the pump without compromising the seals, and dumping the freshwater onto the 110/220v motor system. At 2 am the owner figured a way to get a bilge pump to provide some flowing water. but we could not take showers for several days.

The captain / owner were working themselves to the bone, We were unfortunate enough to be the proving crowd. After returning to oregon, I talked to the captain and he said that he had to go out and get two pumps at $500 a pop. I really don't want to ruin this guy's business unless I am SURE this wasn't just a one time occurrence.


Yes.. All three of us had taken rescue classes, I recognized the clawing at gear as panic motivated as well. That was one reason why I was sure to secure the mask and not pull the hood off completely. It was like running a very long, very fast race. When your done and trying to cool down, No amount of panting feels sufficient. Then to top things off, the constriction of dive gear lends a unique sensation to not being able to breath.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Man... It just gets worse and worse. I hope this is the closest you ever come to a real emergency. Again, I'm glad you and the other divers made it. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Windwalker]

wow cool story. It sounds like you did not have a snorkel. A snorkel would have been a huge help and it sounds like you rolled over on your back and then came close to the boat and missed it by just 25 yards and then swam off in the wrong direction because you were not watching carefully. If you had a snorkel, then you could have been face down and watching where you were swimming or I suspect it would have facilitated you rolling over more frequently to check on the boats' bearing

True, I hate Snorkels. I have had the darn things get snagged on kelp; Get detached when I rolled off the bow of a ship; I had one slice through my mask strap; even had one shatter and cut the side of my head. I find that they provide way too much drag and unless the seas are as calm as butter, don't keep the water out of my airway.

Nope didn't overshoot either. Just a very strong current. My Dive buddies who started up from the bottom under the bow of the boat, Surfaced 200-300 (don't remember how long the current line was) yards behind the boat coming up from 60-70 feet. If they ascended at 60 feet per minute. Then in one minute they traveled lets say 300 feet. That would mean the current was about 2.9623 Knots I remember one of them mentioning that they ascended too fast, so that would mean the current by the boat could have been traveling much faster.

The charter operation was negligent in my opinion. They put divers in the water and the current picked up to the point where the boat drug anchor? They should have been aware of this and should have immediately deployed the 200 yard stern line with surface float. In reality, they should have done this on EVERY anchored dive as SOP in my opinion. If the float was out ?BEFORE your problem, you would have had an easy swim to intersect it, However as you described it, you had to "swim in place" behind the boat as the float ball passively made its' way back to your position.

Your right. They should have deployed the darn line. They should have deployed it for every dive, and should have been watching like a hawk that when the current started picking up they should have alerted us underwater to get back asap, as the current was not planned.

A professional charter, when realizing that the boat had swung or drug anchor should have placed all their crew on some type of safety watch. Even the cook should have been on the roof watching for problems.

When you came close to the boat, and the captain saw you missing to the stern, he really probably SHOULD have had a crew member suited up and attempt to SWIM (with mask fins and snorkel) the float (and line) to you. They should have been expecting a customer to screw up and without the ability to move the boat and without a chase boat, they really should have forseen this contingency and done the simple stuff (like throwing out a stern line).

As for you, not too much more you could have done, but there is no reason to remove the mask to aid in breathing. This is a strong indicator of impending panic and you should probably fight that urge in the future because it is very easy to get a snoot full of seawater when winded and then you could really have a problem.

Yea.. That seems to be the consensus. I should have left my mask in place and just worked it out.

Also, as long as the boat operator sees you drift past his boat and you have surface floatation and a marker bouy, there is probably little reason to absolutely kill yourself swimming for the float. They SHOULD have been able to get things wrapped up quickly, dump the anchor on a float ball and come chase you down, even if you drifted off a mile or two.

Actually.. If I run into this situation and I know they don't have a chase boat. I will swim to shore, Walk up current about a mile then hop back in and try and catch the boat.

The boat was a big live aboard with a fore and an aft birth. I believe it could handle over 20 divers. There anchor was big, and connected by a chain. I don't think they would leave it attached to a buoy.

I have seen a few similar rescues and one lady whcih we pulled in on a 200 yard rope was blue, half drowned and had to be lifted onto the boat. She was hospitalized for near drowniing after that. Sounds like you were completely exhausted and in this condition, you could pretty easily drown.

No, I was very exhausted, but not nearly drown. They pulled me to the boat, but I climbed onto the ship myself, and even had enough wherewithal to take my fins off, Put on my mask, put the reg back in and climb the ladder. I just needed time to catch my breath. I couple more gulps of sea water might have been different story.

And what the heck kinda boat uses 35 yr old 72 tanks filled to 1700 psi? At the very least, I would want a big LP tank at that psi. Of course if you had a larger tank you could have simply descended after getting a compass heading and swam to the boat underwater

Yup.. Biggest "Key Learning" Big guy like me needs Bigger Air Bottle.. If I run into this again I will smile and say. "I'll take two of those little guys" Strap them up to the BPW, Add an isolator and go to town. :11doh: