At what point did anyone mention cutting people out of their gear for no reason?
DIR- Generic Backplate and wing in an emergency
- Thread starter Luca Brasi
- Start date
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If I'm unconscious at the surface, PLEASE cut the darn webbing and get me on the boat ASAP!!! At that point, I can guarantee that I don't give a rats a$$ about losing my gear! Even if my gear floats away or sinks to the bottom, I have my name all over it. It will find its way back to me in all likelihood.
Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
What? Nobody is suggesting swimming up behind your buddy and slicing their harness. In an emergency where time is crucial to safety and survival cut the damn thing off. Use the right tool for the job and no risk to the person. 2 swipes and pop the waist buckle, Bob's your uncle. Doing that with a knife would likely be slower than slipping a shoulder through and rolling the harness off... trauma sheers and line cutters win when time is a determining factor. Gear is easy to replace, people take longer to grow and train.
PfcAJ
Contributor
Test it out. Cutting webbing with a DIR knife is very quick.
Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
Not saying it isn't quick, but it also has a higher probably of secondary injury to the diver. A trilobite you hook and pull through and it cuts like butter. A knife is slower. Both cut webbing quick when needed.
What is the DIR knife? I can only think of a few options that wouldn't present a risk while also effortlessly cutting webbing.
PfcAJ
Contributor
Trilobite is a better option, I agree.
Dir knife is a short blunt tip serrated knife. Slide it under the webbing, pull up and back, webbing cuts. Might take a swipe or two but it’s fairly fast and you won’t cut anyone.
OP
Luca Brasi
Contributor
How do you handle a puncture wound during an in water emergency? Should you perform CPR first or deal with the knife wound to the heart?
Boarderguy
Chief Narctopus Wrangler
Cut them more and let the sharks fix it.
KDAD
Contributor
Make sure to cut the weight belt too! Preferably before the piece of equipment keeping the victim at the surface.
GF99/99
Contributor
Lets think about an unconscious diver emergency situation. Assuming your bring them up from depth or your already on surface the first thing you would do is fully inflate them and ensure there head is above the water. If they truly are unconscious sorry there not going to stay vertical especially with a backplate and wing so there going to naturally turn horizontal. This would most likely put them in a laying on there back face to the sky position. For obvious reason laying on there stomach would not work.
Next Have you ever actually tried to remove someone on the surface in open ocean with an inflated wing from a harness???? Trust me undoing the waist buckle just makes the wing and back plate flip up because now the waist belt and crotch strap are not holding the lower part of the backplate to anything so now your putting even more stress on the shoulder straps. So now you have the wing and back plate flipped up on the surface and the victim is hanging in the water from there shoulder straps. Then it is a mission to basically half dislocate the victims shoulder to force one of there arms out of the shoulder straps. Really the only way is to do this is almost completely deflate there wing (so not you risk there head going underwater) to so you can push the wing and backplate underwater and pull one of there arms out easier. Now once you do finally get them out they are completely separated from there gear because the wing pops off and sink because you had to deflate it and the victim airway is most likely half under water and you have to hold them up and drag them to the boat and just pray it is a calm day with no chop/swell.
Or you can pull out your ez-cutter (many have already posted pictures) and make two simple cuts across each shoulder strap webbing, in literally about 30 seconds the victim is out. The victim is still laying horizonal on top of there fully inflated wing like on a small raft and you simply push the little wing raft to the boat edge and get the boat crew to help pull them onto the boat. All while there gear is just floating next to the boat so probably would get pulled into the boat since its right there. Also show me how you can cut yourself or the victim with an ez-cutter??? and also show me how an ez-cutter does not slice through webbing like butter???
Lastly don't forget some of us have up to 4 stages/BO tanks clipped to our harness. Would love to see a real world experience trying to get an unconscious diver out of there kit without cutting the webbing.
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