California diver dies in heavy surf

[Hank49]

RIP diver. Bummer.
If the surf got heavy, I would shed my gear down to my wetsuit and fins. Much more mobile and could probably catch a wave and body surf in.
It's only gear. Buy new stuff if you don't recover it. But it will probably float in if you inflate the bc.

 

[matto]

I complete agree. Your gear is your life line. taking off your gear; particullarly in rough surf adds having a 50 to 65 lb object hit you .. and, frankly .. you want the wieght to have better footing or crawling out on your hands and knees.

I have over 65 Laguna beach dives. I have two incidents where I had to crawl out; one was a night dive and I didn't want to deal with taking a chance; and the other was a day dive with 4 to 5 foot waves.

Crawling out with reg in mask is the safest way in.

My condolences to the family.

It's a great place to dive; with a ton of friendly divers that are always there to help.

I would not do it. In heavy surf I keep my mask on reg in mouth, deflate BC and crawl out on fours.

Adam

 

[Scot M]

Your gear is your life line? How do surfers, swimmers, and bodyboarders survive without it?

By all means, use the many excellent suggestions above to exit safely with all of your gear. But, if you can't get through the big surf and you fear for your life, ditch your gear! Sure, a 7mm wetsuit makes it hard to walk in chest deep water, but why would you want to? You can swim faster than you can walk to the shallow water. Once you're in knee deep water, just stand up and run! You can do that when you're not encumbered by scuba gear.

 

[freewillie]

I wonder what "cardiac disease" he died of? I would have thought the autopsy would be more specific than that.

Adam

That's generally doctor code for heart attack.

 

[freewillie]

I've been diving Laguna for the past several months since my OW cert last Sept 2010 I've never even heard of this beach.

I've had divers give me several differing opinions to the best way to enter/exit the surf. The very first thing to do is to assess the surf before we gear up. If the waves get too high then the viz drops. At 3-4 feet or shoulder height or higher viz is going to be well under 10 ft. Not worth the effort.

One diver told me to keep my mask around my neck and my snorkel in my mouth. I know, snorkel ?????? Yep. Snorkel. (BTW local regulation require a snorkel while diving locallly or get fined by the lifeguards) And he was a PADI instructor. Kinda makes it hard to breath underwater without my reg in place.

I did have one diver tell me to clip my reg hose to right upper shoulder D ring. If the reg popped out you could then reach up right shoulder, find the hose and then reg even when getting tumbled by surf. Another diver advocated putting reg on necklace around neck in higher surf like in cave diving that way can find reg around neck if it gets lost in heavy surf, would also make locating reg easier.

I did all my OW dives as shore dives. My PADI instructor is textbook. Mask on face and reg in mouth, BC partially inflated. We kept one hand on mask/reg to keep in place and fins in other. We could go either over the wave, or with partially inflated BC and reg in mouth try dive under wave.

Sorry to hear about the diver, but since autopsy results indicate natural causes not really related to the scuba gear or technique itself. Still, it's been interesting to see everyone's opinions on the matter.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Sorry to hear about the diver, but since autopsy results indicate natural causes not really related to the scuba gear or technique itself.

In my opinion, honest assessment of one's level of physical fitness should be considered a critical component of pre-dive planning.
At the very least, before every dive, a diver should be asking himself whether his fitness level is adequate for the current dive conditions.
It's one thing if the victim was a highly fit individual who completes triathlons as another hobby.
It's quite another if he led a fairly sedentary life with scuba diving being the most strenuous physical activity he ever encountered.
It's also possible that his cardiovascular disease was a pre-existing "known quantity."
We don't know whether any of this may have been relevant in this particular incident.

Perhaps a worthwhile take-away message is that we should all be doing what we can to ensure that:
1. We are medically cleared for participating in the sport, and
2. We maintain a high level of physical fitness.

 

[matto]

I'll crawl out (if ness) every time, with my reg in my mouth. Which is also how i was taught in 2002 by my PADI instructors.

And, I can tell you it works. I've done it.

Your gear is your life line? How do surfers, swimmers, and bodyboarders survive without it?

By all means, use the many excellent suggestions above to exit safely with all of your gear. But, if you can't get through the big surf and you fear for your life, ditch your gear! Sure, a 7mm wetsuit makes it hard to walk in chest deep water, but why would you want to? You can swim faster than you can walk to the shallow water. Once you're in knee deep water, just stand up and run! You can do that when you're not encumbered by scuba gear.

 

[freewillie]

In my opinion, honest assessment of one's level of physical fitness should be considered a critical component of pre-dive planning.
At the very least, before every dive, a diver should be asking himself whether his fitness level is adequate for the current dive conditions.

.....

Perhaps a worthwhile take-away message is that we should all be doing what we can to ensure that:
1. We are medically cleared for participating in the sport, and
2. We maintain a high level of physical fitness.

Bubble, I agree totally. I did start a thread "Are you fit to scuba?" Same message, make sure you are physically fit to scuba.

 

[freewillie]

BTW, another poster mentioned this as well. As for assessing conditions, the Laguna Beach lifeguards have closed the beaches to scuba for the last 3 consecutive weekends.

Take a long hard look at the conditions, don't be afraid to thumb a dive if conditions aren't great.

 

[Scot M]

I'll crawl out (if ness) every time, with my reg in my mouth. Which is also how i was taught in 2002 by my PADI instructors.

And, I can tell you it works. I've done it.

I've done it too, along with a lot of other techniques. My suggestion was to ditch your gear if you can't get through the big surf and you fear for your life. Sometimes people get beyond the ability to walk, crawl, or withstand hits from waves, even on hands and knees. Those people are better off without their gear, in my opinion.