Dive accident in Maui

[slingshot]

I was diving at Black Rock yesterday and met two newly certified divers from the midwest who said that two days before a diver doing an introductory dive drowned off of Kaanapali beach. They were the next scheduled group to enter the water when the diver died, and their classes were cancelled. As the area is very frequently dived, I thought I'd post this news, in hopes that some good may come to others from this tragedy. While I do not know the specifics of the accident, I was told that the diver was separated from his introductory dive group (I don't know if this was a class, or another introductory type dive) and his absence was not noticed at first. Some portions of Kaanapali, with relatively shallow waters, are frequently used for diver training, although occasionally strong currents can be seen off of Black Rock. I think all of us in the diving community are saddened when such accidents occur, and if any readers have additional insights that could prevent a recurrence, I think we could all benefit.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

http://www.cdnn.info/news/safety/s050121.html

 

[JasonH20]

I'm sorry to hear this.

My very first dive was an introductory dive off Kaanapali beach several years ago. I was the only student, so had the instructor all to myself. It was a great experience for me.

But I question the safety of letting an instructor take down more than 1 or 2 totally new divers. The students are totally relying on the instructor for their safety. With maybe 1 hour of training, the students are pretty helpless if anything goes even slightly awry. If the instructor gets side tracked with one student the other students are left on their own. If two students have issues at the same time, one is going to be SOL.

As Yoga Bear might say, scuba is easy until it gets hard, then it's not so easy anymore!

I'm curious how instructor's feel about these intro dives? How do you handle several brand new divers at once?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[boomx5]

This really pisses me off! These instructors should not be let in the water with students! I was just diving BlackRock about a month and a half ago and the things I saw would make just about anybody cringe.

My son and I were almost done with our dive when we saw a one of the resort instructors swimming out underwater with a student, but the student was about 6' behind the instuctor! They were heading out to about 30' of water where the park them on they're knees in the sand to look at fish. About 10 minutes later we looked up and saw the instructor towing this lady on the surface with the DM towing her gear. They dragged her back to the beach where they put her on O2 and an ambulance came and picked her up. I guess she was ok but from what I under stand, that wasn't the first time that happend while we were there.

A couple of hours later I was driving down the highway, looked over and saw this same instructor smoking! IMHO, these clowns should be shut down and have they're cards revoked!

P.S. - I know the victims name...I don't know how yet, but I do know it.

 

[darkpup]

P.S. - I know the victims name...I don't know how yet, but I do know it.

I'm heading into Dolphin soon to drop off tanks, and I'll see if they knew him.

This definitely hit close to home. My condolences to his family.

~ Jason

 

[Charlie99]

The Honolulu Advertiser article reports that a swimmer died near Black Rock a few minutes earlier, but Troy Bangs was further down the beach, in front of the Westin, at Kahekili Park/Old Airport. No mention of instructors, classes, or discover scuba.

 

[RonFrank]

Sorry to hear about the death. It's kinda hard to judge who is at fault, or what exactly when wrong based on the limited information in the ONE article that I've seen.

With our OW group, we have 9 students, 1 instructor, and 2 DM's. We dove down to a platform, and all hung out around the platform while not doing skills, with the DM's circling like sharks :11: watching us for problems. The instructor was busy doing skills, and I would say VERY focues on the one diver he was working with.

I'm not really sure what a good ratio of students to DM's/instructors is. 1:1 of course would be ideal, however with what students pay for instruction, not sure how that is possible.

Based on where we did our OW, and the conditions the 3:1 ratio was fine. In fact with our class 3:1 turned out to be overkill as not one students had issues at depth. In the open ocean I think the ratio would need to be lower.

I'm sure some instructors will respond with their thoughts.

Ron

I'm sorry to hear this.

My very first dive was an introductory dive off Kaanapali beach several years ago. I was the only student, so had the instructor all to myself. It was a great experience for me.

But I question the safety of letting an instructor take down more than 1 or 2 totally new divers. The students are totally relying on the instructor for their safety. With maybe 1 hour of training, the students are pretty helpless if anything goes even slightly awry. If the instructor gets side tracked with one student the other students are left on their own. If two students have issues at the same time, one is going to be SOL.

As Yoga Bear might say, scuba is easy until it gets hard, then it's not so easy anymore!

I'm curious how instructor's feel about these intro dives? How do you handle several brand new divers at once?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[jbd]

I'm sorry to hear this.

My very first dive was an introductory dive off Kaanapali beach several years ago. I was the only student, so had the instructor all to myself. It was a great experience for me.

But I question the safety of letting an instructor take down more than 1 or 2 totally new divers. The students are totally relying on the instructor for their safety. With maybe 1 hour of training, the students are pretty helpless if anything goes even slightly awry. If the instructor gets side tracked with one student the other students are left on their own. If two students have issues at the same time, one is going to be SOL.

As Yoga Bear might say, scuba is easy until it gets hard, then it's not so easy anymore!

I'm curious how instructor's feel about these intro dives? How do you handle several brand new divers at once?

Thanks,
Jason

I don't mind doing them in the pool but it is(was) only one student at a time. I have done similar dives in one of the quarries here but again only one student at a time for the very reasons you mentioned.

I've had a discussion in the past regarding the ratio for this kind of class versus students in a full OW class. I don't mind the higher student to instructor ratio for the full course since there is more classroom education time so the students are getting in the water(pool) with much more understanding. With these intro dive they don't know much more than don't hold your breath and remember to clear your ears. Taking more than one person in the water with that little knowledge is bordering on crimminal IMO.

 

[Night Diver]

I don't know why the diver died. I am very sad for his family and for him.

Related or unrelated to that, as the case may ultimately turn out to be, IMO open-ocean intro dives at many resorts are a recipe for death. With no opportunity to consider the medical condition of the diver, little chance to observe the diver and his/her personality quirks or reactions, and precious little pre-dive instruction, how could we be mortified when we hear of a diver drowning on such a dive? I'm actually surprised that more divers don't die under such circumstances.

I agree with the previous post, these types of dives deserve a 1:1 ratio, that's it.

 

[Alfredo]

Troy was a pastor at our church, Capital Christian Center, in Sacramento.
He was very active and very much loved by the church family.
He will be missed. Our prayers go to his family.