Is it possible he accidentally lost the belt and went positively buoyant into the scalloped area? At which point, it would be a struggle to go down and out, especially if he had residual air in the BC. I'm not a cave diver, but know it's difficult to kick down to something being so under weighted.
Blue Spring SP cavern fatality - Florida
- Thread starter DandyDon
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Basking Ridge Diver
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"The 56-year-old Ocoee resident was found in a cave around 70 feet below the surface by VCSO divers when they went to search for him around 5pm Monday."
Not at 70 feet - it would be almost neutral - the closer to the surface the more buoyant you will become - somewhere around 20 feet or so I would agree with your assessment but not at 70 feet. Unless he really inflated his BC to the max to get himself to the surface and did not realize he was in the scallop section.... Total speculation on my part with the BC inflation...
Johnoly
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It's the strong flow that's different.
In cave diving, just like on a river, the strongest flow will try to make a straight line to exit. In the diagram I posted above if you draw a somewhat straight line from the 120 flow to the very top right hand side where the spring exits to the river and then look at 70 ft, you can see where that pins you.
But like others have said, everything is speculation until the medical examiner's report is done (which will include the computer download). Since I'm close to Ocoee and I've pulled many M.E.'s reports, I'll offer to the family to translate them into layman's terms. (cause the family reads these threads, trust me). They just need to follow the instructions on this link and then send me a PM.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-and-incidents/280557-lbts-diver-death-3.html#post4361251
Hintermann
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In the original article, it says that when the father and son surfaced after the previous dive, the son said that he had "enough of diving" and got out the water. If that had upset the father for some reason, might he have lost his concentration and made an error when he went down for the fatal dive? Like switching to the wrong tank (one not full enough) or something similar and realised it too late? If he was really short of air, he could have tried to ascend to the surface rapidly by shedding his weightbelt and inflating the BCD (thereby using up more air). If he then ended-up in the scalloped section without weights, the only way back down would be to deflate the BCD again. He could have tired it but run completely out of air before he completed the task.
That would explain the dropped weightbelt, empty tank and partially inflated BCD.
That would explain the dropped weightbelt, empty tank and partially inflated BCD.
Aotus
Contributor
A lot of theories about how it went, and even with an ME report these will not be answered, just how it ended.
As for something that should be learnable - has there been any word on whether either of them had any cavern/cave training at all?
I'm asking because if they had none, something that could come out of this is a high-profile reminder to the public to not exceed your training.
As for something that should be learnable - has there been any word on whether either of them had any cavern/cave training at all?
I'm asking because if they had none, something that could come out of this is a high-profile reminder to the public to not exceed your training.
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