Diver Death at Casino Point (Catalina Island) November 6, 2010

[cali.grrl]

Does anyone have additional details about this?

We surfaced from our night dive last night around 7pm and there were ambulances there. Other divers had mentioned that a gentleman was solo diving and failed to turn on his air, realized this at 25 feet, did an emergency accent, and suffered from an embolism that might have been the cause of death. (Speculation)

When I surfaced I heard one of the walkie talkies from the rescue team mention the "chamber" so I was under the impression that he made it. I didn't find out until today that we lost him.

Since there is some speculation as to what exactly happened, I was hoping someone would have some additional details. I couldn't find anything about it online yet.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Blackwood]

We surfaced from our night dive last night around 7pm and there were ambulances there. Other divers had mentioned that a gentleman was solo diving and failed to turn on his air, realized this at 25 feet, did an emergency accent, and suffered from an embolism that might have been the cause of death. (Speculation)

Doesn't make sense to me. If he wasn't breathing compressed gas, there should be no embolism.

Looking forward to the details.

RIP.

 

[Peter Guy]

If he wasn't breathing compressed gas

I can envision a scenario where the reg is pressurized but the valved turned off OR just barely turned on. As he descends he could take a few breaths but eventually, not get enough, or any, air -- then panic and bolt. He would have breathed ambient air for those few breaths.

 

[Blackwood]

I can envision a scenario where the reg is pressurized but the valved turned off OR just barely turned on. As he descends he could take a few breaths but eventually, not get enough, or any, air -- then panic and bolt. He would have breathed ambient air for those few breaths.

Seems odd that he made 25 feet without realizing he couldn't breathe, so maybe your scenario is more accurate (plus a little over weighting in the mix for good measure potentially accelerating the descent).

Anyway, enough speculating on my part.

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Other divers had mentioned that a gentleman was solo diving and failed to turn on his air, realized this at 25 feet, did an emergency accent, and suffered from an embolism that might have been the cause of death. (Speculation)

While I appreciate that you clearly posted what you wrote as speculation (and I'll refrain from my normal rant), most of what's there is incorrect. Here's the information I can share:

Diver was solo but was apparently over on the Valiant, a few hundred yards outside (NW) of the Park. Whatever happened occured some 30-40 minutes into the dive so not turning on air could not have been it. He apparently made it back to the surface - unclear if it was an OOA emergency ascent or he simply knew something was wrong and surfaced quickly - and was able to call for help before sinking back down.

That's pretty much what we know (and don't know) right now. There are some other aspects of this that are going to take a while to figure out. Hopefully the diving community will have some patience to let Sheriff's & Coroner investigators finish that work (and it takes a while - usually weeks or even months - before definitive answers would be available).

- Ken

 

[Leejnd]

Wow. We are having a rough time in SoCal right now. Thanks, Ken, for bringing us the real info (as always).

 

[milkmood]

While I appreciate that you clearly posted what you wrote as speculation (and I'll refrain from my normal rant), most of what's there is incorrect. Here's the information I can share:

Diver was solo but was apparently over on the Valiant, a few hundred yards outside (NW) of the Park. Whatever happened occured some 30-40 minutes into the dive so not turning on air could not have been it. He apparently made it back to the surface - unclear if it was an OOA emergency ascent or he simply knew something was wrong and surfaced quickly - and was able to call for help before sinking back down.

That's pretty much what we know (and don't know) right now. There are some other aspects of this that are going to take a while to figure out. Hopefully the diving community will have some patience to let Sheriff's & Coroner investigators finish that work (and it takes a while - usually weeks or even months - before definitive answers would be available).

- Ken

I thought it was fishy that a solo diver would:

1. exit a boat without (a) checking his own air, and (b) having his air checked by boat ops (dm or sd)
2. get to 25' before realizing his air was off
3. suffer a DC injury if no compressed air was used

 

[muddiver]

1. Where did you come up with anyone exiting a boat?

2. See Peter Guys post.

3. What does "DC injury" mean? The speculation was air embolism which is referred to a AGE, not DC.

 

[Blackwood]

3. What does "DC injury" mean? The speculation was air embolism which is referred to a AGE, not DC.

I suspect it means DeCompression (which would be the cause of AGE as it pertains to this discussion).

 

[Ken Kurtis]

I thought it was fishy that a solo diver would:

. . . 2. get to 25' before realizing his air was off . . .

We had a case a few years ago that I helped investigate for the LA County Coroner (and we've presented this one at our annual "Why Divers Die" panel at The Scuba Show) where a diver had turned his air off and got down to about 50' before he sucked it dry.

On the tests we did on that one, there's enough air in the lines to get as many as seven breaths before you suck all the air out of all of the lines.

I think took the actual reg out in the ocean to do a test and, breathing at what I thought was a "normal" rate and kicking down at a "normal" speed, I think I got to about 45 feet when I sucked it dry. (FYI, the reg was hooked to a pony bottle so I then switched to my primary. And I had another diver with an octo right next to me.)

Point is that there's more air in the lines than you think and you can get deeper than you think before sucking it dry.

Try it at home: Pressurize your reg, shut off the air, and then see how many "normal" breaths you can get off it. I'm willing to bet it's more than you think.

- Ken