I hope this doesn't come accross as insensitive but my understanding is that the purpose of this forum is analysis and I am anything but insensitive when it comes to diving accidents.
I've never been in kelp or even to the west coast for that matter but...I know it's common for divers to dive in a loose group often seperating. I know that low on air, tired or otherwise ready to end the dive divers often surface alone leaving the others to continue. I also know how often we hear of them not making it back to the boat.
Off the top of my head, this is the second diver that I've heard of in the last year or two who has been found just below the surface tangled in kelp. This one OOA and the other, as I recall, had plenty of air but lost his reg. In this case the diver headed up alone. In the other, as I recall, they were to descend and meet at the bottom but the diver never showed.
In any case, in general ascents and descents are dynamic portions of the dive where problems often happen. This is when you need to be most ready to respond. you can watch some one ascend all you want but if you're on the bottom and they're near the surface, you are NOT ready to respond and even if you can see them you may not be able to see a problem. People can dive how they want but I don't think it makes sense to let a low on air diver return to the boat alone. Too often it just doesn't work out. ok, it's common practice but maybe it shouldn't be so common. Solo diving is a different matter but even then I have come accross solo divers having trouble and taged along until they were back at the boat or shore. Actually, that's happened quit a few times. One we actually had to lift out of the water and the others were mostly just embarassed.
Some one earlier in the thread (I think the thread starter) brushed off the idea of redundant equipment pointing to the fact that cave diving has lots of empty seats at the top. I'm not sure what cave diving has to do with this but most of the empty seats have been those who were untrained or involved with pretty extreme stuff (usually exploration.). Cave diving has had it's share of heart attacks and stuff and with it's increase in popularity, I think we're seeing more "dumb accidents". Still, accidents are just that and their beginnings can be found in mistakes. Overhead environments do call for redundant equipment and so does being alone, IMO. It seems almost like both were involved here (planned or not) because it seems to me that if you're likely to go under kelp rather than over, it then becomes an overhead environment and should be treated as such. Going under anything with a nearly empty tank just doesn't seem wise. Bill mentioned that he might with 500 psi because 500 psi would get him a long way. Maybe that's true if you are swimming relaxed and unhindered but what if you have a problem...like getting all tangled in kelp? I guess we don't know if he got tangled and ran out or ran out then got tangled but either way underwater is no place to be without air so there wasn't enough for what he was doing.
Gas management...several times in this thread some one has mentioned the magic number of 500 psi, either in reference to being back on the boat or surfacing. There's nothing majic about that number and you don't need ANY gas on the boat. You need the gas to get back to the boat. Stating that you want 500 psi on the boat says NOTHING about when you need to end the dive in order to meet that goal. You need enough gas to get to the boat and that includes the ascent (possibly providing a buddy with gas) and it includes anything on or near the surface that may require you to use it. Things like...who knows?...rough seas, having to duck under some kelp, a sudden loss of buoyancy or whatever. In either case, long surface swims especially with complicating factors is good cause to reserve more gas.
Would-a-should-a-could-a...I know but I, personally would not be comfortable with a low on air diver going back alone especially knowing that there are complicating factors like kelp, rough seas, cold water or any one of a million other things. It seems to me that in this case "common practice" whether causative or not is just being accepted because it's "common practice" and not because it works. Lots of things that aren't so good are plenty common. Not only are deaths like this needless and sad but the way people respond to them and fail to learn from them is sad because there are going to be more just like them. Do what you always did and you'll get what you always got.
