Another diver left adrift

[pasley]

Correct me if I am wrong but as I remember you should never fight the current as this will only lead to exhaustion and drowning

With a full BC, and 7mm wetsuit you should not be in danger of drowning. In fact, sinking is going to be real difficult even if you wanted to. Unless you still have your weights on and let the air out of your BC you are not IMHO much danger of drowning. In my view surfacing with the Boat in sight attempting to fight the current in a reasonably fit diver in full gear would increase your chances for survival. True it may eventually lead to fatigue. If that happens, you just relax, and lay back on the big water bed we call ocean and float. But also note that swimming toward the boat will also either get you to the boat, or at least help you not drift away as fast. Both of which will improve your odds of being rescued.

Not the same thing, but when diving Point Dume, we routinly fight the current for 548 yards, and that is normally on the way back.

 

[ba_hiker]

... it prompted me to run out and purchase a safety sausage and a whistle. I've got a DiveAlert on my wish list...
Jerry

Given that it is my (or in this case your) life, I don't think that trusting the dive master with you being back on the boat, is smart. Not that i would dive with one i thought would accidently leave me behind but...

so, for dives away from a boat i suggest that this is the minimum equiptment -- a loud whistle and a sausage.

For more demanding dives, further from shore, longer or deeper, drift dives, liveabords I will start to carry more... at least a mirror, strobe, and dye marker. Maybe a SMB, divealert, flares (they have transportation issues) or a radio beacon. not quite ready for the halcyon life raft yet

i carry flares, a horn, strobe, mirror, vhf and epirb kayaking, but i dont travel by air with the kayak...

 

[geraldp]

For more demanding dives, further from shore, longer or deeper, drift dives, liveabords I will start to carry more... at least a mirror, strobe, and dye marker. Maybe a SMB, divealert, flares (they have transportation issues) or a radio beacon. not quite ready for the halcyon life raft yet

I found this website from a post that somebody put over on the accessories forum (sorry I don't remember who posted it). Surface Survival Primer. I thought this article treated the subject nicely, and includes a list of recommended survival gear for diving.

Jerry

 

[Hockeynut]

I can see it now, OPEN WATER II.

Left to die on the ocean with no hope of survival, SAVED by the boy scouts , yaaaaaayyyyy

I spose we could have some great whites circle him as the boy scouts pull him out in the knick of time.

 

[BigJetDriver]

Folks,

The Captain of the vessel involved will have some explaining to do to the Coast Guard at the hearing. By law, he is responsible for anything that happens on his boat. The so-called Dive Master should be doing the same. The so-called "dive buddies" need to be beaten with a stick, have their c-cards pulled, and be sent back for re-training. What a mess!!!

Thank God for the scout who saw him, and the way the Scouts reacted with proper skill and training to recover him!!

BJD :11:

 

[wacdiver]

This is just crazy! How do you leave a person just drifting?? I mean come on now I know it is easy to miscount, or to think someone is in the head... but this is just unacceptable!! We are talking about someones life here.
On the dive boats I have been on (and not too many to be honest) they always check and recheck the people on board, 2 different people do head counts, and BC count too at times, most dives you do are 2 tanks so when you come up your BC should be put on your next tank, an odd tank sitting there by itself should be a red flag to someone.
Plus the crew never forgets to grab your boarding pass/ticket when you come on board, so why is it so hard to hand out and grab tags/tickets when you go in and out of the water? It doesn't take much time effort or cost much at all. The DAN tag idea is probably the best 1 I've seen kinda simple when you think about it. Diver goes in he/she gets a tag ( you can hang it from the tank valve under the 1st stage so it won't fall off, put it around the divers wrist, or put it in your BC pocket, whatever just give em a tag) When the diver comes out tag goes back on the board ONLY when ALL the tags are in should the boat be moved.
I think if more divers start requesting these protocols every time they get onto a dive boat then maybe just maybe a few operators will start using this and less of us will be left bobbing around. If the dive boats wont take our saftey seriously we should start demending it OR we should just move on to the next boat.
MY $.02

 

[ScubaNorth]

I was actually thinking what a great idea to have a tag. Well then I started to think again, these simpletons couldn't count a whole person so how could they get counting a little tag right. How about doing it this way, have each diver pay after the charter. From the boats I've been on they sure would be sure all the divers returned safe and sound then. Not to disrespect the boats I have been on as they were all way more professional than this boat seems to be and they triple counted and then did it one more time for good measure.

 

[DEEPLOU]

Plus the crew never forgets to grab your boarding pass/ticket when you come on board

You have never been on a boat back in NY.

How about doing it this way, have each diver pay after the charter

.

Almost all the NY boats I have been on do it this way.


If you are really worried about this, stick to small boats, a 6 pack. 1 out of 6 missing is real easy to notice (even w/o head count), But 1 out of 36 is another story.

If you are on a boat by yourself, talk to people on trip out to site, get them to know who you are, the more people on the boat that know you are on board the better.