Unknown Coasties searching for missing diver - Pompano Beach, Florida

[tridacna]

Tens of thousands. She named ScubaBoard and 1 to 100 Does. In the end, she lost twice what we did. What she wanted from me was to divulge the names of the people who cited her, especially after she renamed her company. You guys are too smart to fall for that. The only times I have divulged names was twice in regard to 2 separate murder investigations by LEOs. Thankfully, no SB user had any culpability.

I temember the “donor avatar”. Dem was da days!

 

[Biotech Diver]

True- I was referring to the DM on the boat that checks everyone's valve before they go in. Seems unnecessary until it's not.

It's nice when boat staff check things like that before you step off the boat but you should never rely on them to catch errors like not having your air on. Ultimately, every diver is responsible for themselves and their gear unless they rent it. Biggest reason I bought ALL of my own gear, including tanks and weights, is because I can trust it is always maintained and serviced and because I am very familiar with it. I could access anything I need to get to with my eyes closed because I know exactly where everything is and how to get to it, including how to get out of my gear should I need to. If you have to rent your gear you should spend as much time as you can familiarizing yourself with it and everything you attach to it.

 

[tridacna]

It's nice when boat staff check things like that before you step off the boat but you should never rely on them to catch errors like not having your air on. Ultimately, every diver is responsible for themselves and their gear unless they rent it. Biggest reason I bought ALL of my own gear, including tanks and weights, is because I can trust it is always maintained and serviced and because I am very familiar with it. I could access anything I need to get to with my eyes closed because I know exactly where everything is and how to get to it, including how to get out of my gear should I need to. If you have to rent your gear you should spend as much time as you can familiarizing yourself with it and everything you attach to it.

I wonder what percentage of rec divers do what you recommend? You are 100% correct with your procedure but my guesstimate is that less than 1% of rec divers follow anything even close to your advice…yet they all seem to survive.

 

[lowwall]

I wonder what percentage of rec divers do what you recommend? You are 100% correct with your procedure but I my guesstimate is that less than 1% of rec divers follow anything even close to your advice…yet they all seem to survive.

Not all. Almost all. That's the problem.

 

[lowwall]

I would revise that statement to "easily" without any air in your BCD or Drysuit.

Interesting. I think of "easily" as "well within my physical abilities". I could easily walk 10 miles in freezing rain, but it wouldn't be comfortable. More to the point, as a former water polo player I can easily swim up a lot more weight than I'd be comfortable with.

Or is that the point you are making?

 

[Pavao]

I lifted my inflator hose and added air.

so whenever I lifted the hose away from my chest it opened the jet dump and no air went into the bladder.

I don’t understand the technique of lifting inflator to add air, you can’t just press the inflator button where it sits?

I’d have suggested you just cut the cable as to get rid of that feature, tugging on inflator hose to dump air is a dumb feature manufacturers insist on using.

 

[Marty_C]

The current doesn't matter so much, but the wind can definitely separate a diver and the boat quickly.

In any regard, I would expect the capt to try to press a button, when "something" of value is lost overboard. Perhaps that was done. It is possible, that there was very little (or no) drama or panic on the surface and it took a while for the buddy to ascend, and in those situations, the capt. would be delayed for a minute or two, before he could be alerted that there is a problem and even with diligent action, the GPS number would not be accurate, without adjusting for the wind. It IS surprising to me that with decent visibility, that a recovery was not attainable.

I have forgotten to turn my air on several times and have watched other people do it many times as well. I even witnessed a near fatality due to that situation. It is a big F'n deal, especially if people have no droppable lead.

I like to check the valve position of other divers before they splash. I've had very few complaints about it (often because I am discrete), and have found valves off several times.

I've seen others wave off a DM saying their air doesn't need to be checked. I always say "Thank you".

 

[Pavao]

- flipped off boat

This meaning gave the finger to the boat?
Sorry, English not being first language and never heard the term before to mean jumping off of boat.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I've seen others wave off a DM saying their air doesn't need to be checked. I always say "Thank you".

I say thank you ... and then always re-test it myself to make sure they didn't inadvertently turn my air OFF.

 

[Marty_C]

I wonder what percentage of rec divers do what you recommend? You are 100% correct with your procedure but I my guesstimate is that less than 1% of rec divers follow anything even close to your advice…yet they all seem to survive.

Unfortunately, not all of them. Case in point here.