American woman dead - Bell Island, Newfoundland

[BlueTrin]

re: Weighting

Based on several accident-and-incident threads, I've noticed several fatalities where the drysuit diver is heavily overweighed.

Perhaps I'm asking the obvious, but why/how does a dry-suit diver become so heavily over-weighted? Is it because....

• ....they don't have time to dial in their weights in a new environment? (colder temps, more clothes, salt-water, new dry-suit diver)
• ...a buoyancy-issue short-cut? (I'm too buoyant, slap on 12lbs, deal with proper-weighting later)
• ...for warmth?

I'm not judging the individual divers of course.

Also a common problem is that many people don’t have access easily to a salt water area to weight check, except when they boat dive. I.e. they won’t do a weight check on a shore or something similar.

So they’ll have a tendency to slap a few more kgs just to be on a safe side on the top of what they added to adjust for salt/fresh water difference.

But I think I have seen people doing all the above you said.

Except the for warmth: you would probably put only 1-2kg more for warmth and use the drysuit for buoyancy if that’s how you do it and that is unlikely to case you issues.

Some people are just not dived up and will not stay still or do things like not holding the inflator high enough to dump all air and just slap more weight to sink.

 

[SlugLife]

Also a common problem is that many people don’t have access easily to a salt water area to weight check, except when they boat dive. I.e. they won’t do a weight check on a shore or something similar.

I've somewhat been there. Brand new to salt water, and about 10F colder than I'm used to. I did the 2 shore-dives first, but my weighting was still incorrect but tolerable on my "actual" dive (2 lbs or 1kg light)

 

[Biotech Diver]

For those that were there or those that may have experienced something like this, what actions or precautions could she have taken that may have saved her life in the event of a free flowing regulator at ~65 feet with presumably 1/3 of her air remaining? Let’s assume a dive buddy isn’t there or not noticing what’s going on? Let’s also assume one doesn’t panic.

 

[rjack321]

For those that were there or those that may have experienced something like this, what actions or precautions could she have taken that may have saved her life in the event of a free flowing regulator at ~65 feet with presumably 1/3 of her air remaining? Let’s assume a dive buddy isn’t there or not noticing what’s going on? Let’s also assume one doesn’t panic.

You can breathe off a free-flowing regulator
This dive was nowhere near MDLs (the gas was 28% and the divers had spent <30mins at 65ft)
Just go to the surface at a modestly controlled rate (~2min ascent)

All the effing around with donating, pony bottles, being overweighted, venting her suit etc was (in hindsight) unhelpful.

• Exhale
• Go to the surface,
• ditch your lead if that's what it takes.

 

[grf88]

For those that were there or those that may have experienced something like this, what actions or precautions could she have taken that may have saved her life in the event of a free flowing regulator at ~65 feet with presumably 1/3 of her air remaining? Let’s assume a dive buddy isn’t there or not noticing what’s going on? Let’s also assume one doesn’t panic.

Having a redundant air source that you have practiced with reduces any tendency to panic in such a situation especially if you have practiced it with simulated freeflows.

 

[grf88]

Both switching to a redundant air source or breathing off a free-flowing regulator take a little bit of practice but if you plan to dive in really cold water such as found on the Bell Island wrecks or The Great Lakes it is important to be prepared for a free-flow as they are not uncommon.

 

[Biotech Diver]

You can breathe off a free-flowing regulator
This dive was nowhere near MDLs (the gas was 28% and the divers had spent <30mins at 65ft)
Just go to the surface at a modestly controlled rate (~2min ascent)

This was my thought too. I used to practice various drills on a regular basis. I would do this in Lake Tahoe in about 25’ if water with perfect visibility (I mean it’s Lake Tahoe after all), or at Breakwater in Monterey at same depth but obviously not same visibility and at much colder temperatures. After reading this sad story and many others in this section, i feel I should resurrect my past drill practices.

 

[SlugLife]

You can breathe off a free-flowing regulator
This dive was nowhere near MDLs (the gas was 28% and the divers had spent <30mins at 65ft)
Just go to the surface at a modestly controlled rate (~2min ascent)

All the effing around with donating, pony bottles, being overweighted, venting her suit etc was (in hindsight) unhelpful.

• Exhale
• Go to the surface,
• ditch your lead if that's what it takes.

While your suggestion for how to handle the scenario may be valid, you're seemingly shutting down extremely valid discussion and analysis. I mean, sure, ideally in an incident you want to pursue the simplest and most straightforward plan of action.

In the Accidents and Incidents section, what most of us often try to do is....

• Examining accidents, in order to determine better ways to handle scenarios and be safer ourselves.
• Avoiding getting into the blame-game, criticizing, etc.

I have handled a diving incident by heading straight for the surface. But I was perhaps "lucky" it happened at 30ft, not 90ft, or while entangled, etc. The fact that I handled an incident successfully in that manner, doesn't imply I have nothing else to learn or improve, or redundancies to add.

Most fatal or severe diving incidents tend to involve multiple things going wrong all at the same time. Trying to trivialize an incident to a singular dimension often does a disservice to what actually happened.

 

[TravelGas]

Having a redundant air source that you have practiced with reduces any tendency to panic in such a situation especially if you have practiced it with simulated freeflows.

I am a big believer in a completely separate redundant air source, AKA large pony bottle with 1st and 2nd stage off it. 30 cu ft should be considered the minimum size and 40 cu ft is the better way to go, especially if you don't like paying twice. It is like life insurance for when things go bad. The Pony makes an emergency into an inconvenience and a learning experience, instead of a life threatening emergency. My pony has for sure saved the lives of at least 2 other divers.

 

[Biotech Diver]

Both switching to a redundant air source or breathing off a free-flowing regulator take a little bit of practice but if you plan to dive in really cold water such as found on the Bell Island wrecks or The Great Lakes it is important to be prepared for a free-flow as they are not uncommon.

Are there any preventative measures you can take with your equipment to lower the probability of a free flowing regulator?

I have a 40 ft3 sling bottle, btw, but almost never use it on a dive. Maybe that’s something I should reconsider.