Unknown Coasties searching for missing diver - Pompano Beach, Florida

[Blackwater Hunter]

This is a good example, here, you are only seeing the primary second stage failure and concluding the back up second stage (octopus) is the salvation, this is true only for the scenarios where the primary 2nd was the ONLY part that failed. There are several failures which would hinder the entire system unusable, or deplete your entire gas supply fast, very fast.

Well, if everything failed, which is very unlikely if you take care of your gear, then that's just a really bad day. You could go diving and just die. Death is never 100% factored out with training, it's just mitigated. If all your gear fails...Lady luck did not like you that day. Divers with complete scuba failure are NOT safe either. Experienced divers have sadly died doing this, or died being the helper. A panicked diver can kill another diver trying to save them. A pony bottle is better in this use case because you can just give them the tank.

I maybe completely outnumbered here on this take, but the octopus can kill more people than it saves if the divers are in a complete panic. You need a LONG hose just so they don't rip the entire hose out, AND they will be breathing 5 times more air than normal which is now depleting your tank by a lot. Add to the fact you HAVE to calm them down so they can follow you instead of bolting to the surface, something panicked divers often do.

 

[FF / EMT]

This is in the "Accidents, Incidents and Near Misses" forum. That is what this forum is for.

Agreed, although I was chastised for it yesterday, saying I was being “insensitive” my post count even went backward…

 

[Pavao]

Do I smell Li-er here?

 

[Nick_Radov]

I will agree that it's not a requirement. It might not even be a possibility if you need multiple tanks. However safely diving an unbalanced rig means you need to have and be proficient in the use of ditchable weight and/or a redundant source of bouyancy.

I don't understand. When is it impossible to have a balanced rig? You always have the option of using aluminum back tanks, and if you need more gas then bring stages. If you have wing failure then you can ditch any full stages (or pass them off to a teammate if circumstances allow).

 

[USdiver1]

Do I smell Li-er here?

paranoia will destroy ya.

Let a sleeping Li-er lay.

 

[Pavao]

paranoia will destroy ya.

Let a sleeping Li-er lay.

Not worried about Li-er, man, he didn’t troll me, I saw his bs pretty early on and just ignored him for the most part.

It’s just a comment hinting this guy here is arguing/reasoning exactly like Li-er did, which brings me to the same action I took with Li-er

 

[lowwall]

I don't understand. When is it impossible to have a balanced rig? You always have the option of using aluminum back tanks, and if you need more gas then bring stages. If you have wing failure then you can ditch any full stages (or pass them off to a teammate if circumstances allow).

I was thinking of the weight of the gas in a pair of large tanks.

It doesn't matter what the tanks are made of. If you are weighted to to be neutral at the end of your dive, you don't have a balanced rig if you can't easily swim up the additional weight of the gas in your non-ditchable tanks at the beginning of the dive.

You could also have such a thick wetsuit and maybe a floaty BCD that the amount of ballast you need to sink it is more than you could swim up from depth once it is compressed especially when added to the extra gas weight at the start of a dive.

 

[Mark_Duvall]

Is this still about the missing diver? I am familiar with the circumstances and there's a suggeston that there is a possibility of foul play.