Coasties rescue five when boat starts sinking - Lake Huron

[DandyDon]

The dive boat was saved, but the divers had drifted. After 90 minutes I would have been worried...

Canadian divers rescued after boat takes on water

The divers became separated from their boat after it began taking on water Saturday afternoon.

www.thetimesherald.com

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued five Canadian divers Saturday who were separated from their vessel in Lake Huron.

Petty Officer Second Class Daniel Pritchard said the divers' boat began taking on water around 4:30 p.m. while the scuba divers were in the water.

Though the breakdown happened in Canadian waters, the U.S. Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard both responded to the incident.

Pritchard said the rescue team checked with the boat to confirm they were able to stay afloat. They then searched for the divers who had drifted away and located all five.

The divers were reportedly in the water for about 90 minutes. There were no injuries from the incident, and no hospitalizations.

The captain of the diving boat was able to stop the vessel from taking on more water and start the engine. Both the boat and divers were taken to Sarina Bay Marina in Point Edward.

 

[Johnoly]

around 4:30 p.m. After 90 minutes I would have been worried...

Being lost AT NIGHT on the Great Lakes is not a good situation.

 

[edwants2dive]

Being lost AT NIGHT on the Great Lakes is not a good situation.

Fortunately this time of year it doesn't get dark until about 9 pm, but floating around in any large body of water at night would not be good for sure.

 

[DandyDon]

PLBs generally have strobes and homing signals. How long would you wait before activating yours?

 

[rjack321]

PLBs generally have strobes and homing signals. How long would you wait before activating yours?

As a dive boat you don't really "need" a PLB in the Great Lakes, there's VHF coverage everywhere.

My suspicion is that the Canadian divers didnt have PLBs

 

[DandyDon]

My suspicion is that the Canadian divers didnt have PLBs

I know, most divers don't bother with them, but I think I would have fired mine after an hour of floating. These divers had been off the boat for 90 minutes, but I guess that included dive time.

 

[rjack321]

I know, most divers don't bother with them, but I think I would have fired mine after an hour of floating. These divers had been off the boat for 90 minutes, but I guess that included dive time.

I've never brought my PLB to the Great Lakes, maybe I should have?
If I had mine, and surfaced to "no boat" I'd trigger it immediately.

 

[DandyDon]

I've never brought my PLB to the Great Lakes, maybe I should have?
If I had mine, and surfaced to "no boat" I'd trigger it immediately.

Mine rides in my car console and goes where I go, taking it out for hikes, farming, diving, etc. Once you get one, it'd be foolish to leave it behind. Getting left on a Great Lake sounds about as futile as anywhere so it'd seem silly to have to drift overnight with your PLB at home.

 

[Jared0425]

I've never brought my PLB to the Great Lakes, maybe I should have?
If I had mine, and surfaced to "no boat" I'd trigger it immediately.

We have a PLB on both of my boats and I carry the orange radio thingy on my rig too just in case. We learned the hard way in Whitefish Bay.

 

[Huron Corsair]

I was among the 5 divers in the article. Each of the 2 dive teams had a surface marker buoy and flash lights. The dive was called as soon as it was realised that the mooring line had pulled free of the wreck. SMB's were deployed on reaching the surface and the 2 teams gathered and waited together on the surface to wait for recovery. I flash light was lit to signal the boat as the weather was heavily overcast. We are a group of well trained and experienced divers which contributed to some complacency (not everyone had their own SMB and/or light).
Lessons learned: every diver needs an SMB and light whether you think you do or not. Redundancy is never wasted. I will be purchasing a GPS Personal Locator Beacon before Ocean Diving.