Error Diver drowned after accidentally falling in lake with gear on

[tursiops]

I find it remarkable that no one has questioned the validity of that report on Reddit. No one there, no one here. No skepticism at all. An unverified report of a strange death....not even a news article. Odd.

 

[also_anon_dc]

I find it remarkable that no one has questioned the validity of that report on Reddit. No one there, no one here. No skepticism at all. An unverified report of a strange death....not even a news article. Odd.

I think there's still value in the community discussing the event and highlighting lessons learned even if the article isn't in a verified news source (which always have factual errors about diving anyway). I could see this happening at any shore dive or lake/quarry.

 

[tridacna]

I'm curious how an experienced diver - even without a mask - could not be able to inflate a BC or ditch weight, even under stress.

Panic is a terrible thing. Turns your brain into mush. I did something similar many years ago. Luckily my buddy was nearby and inflated my BC. It was scary. All you want to do is to get to the surface - everything else be damned.

 

[boulderjohn]

Fall down in 20" of water and a sweep may not work.

Did you see anywhere that I said that the diver should have used a sweep method? Of course it will not work under those conditions. Who said it would?

 

[JohnN]

Did you see anywhere that I said that the diver should have used a sweep method? Of course it will not work under those conditions. Who said it would?

I would add getting tumbled in the surf on an entry/exit.

My point was that the sweep method has limited value in those situations. Yes, the secondary on a necklace means you need to embrace a primary donate. But in a real emergency, my bet is the OOA diver is going for that reg in your mouth and not bothering to signal they are OOA first

 

[34109411]

I saw this post on r/scuba and wanted to share it here. I think it may prompt an interesting discussion. The OP doesn't mention where this happened, just that it was not in the US.

The below post is quoted from u/powerfulbiteshark, source link here
--

he was in dry or a wet ?

 

[lowwall]

A closed tank should be a minor inconvenience, not a death sentence.

Everyone can panic, no matter the experience, perhaps he inhaled a bit of water while going down and got a lagringospasm, flooded sinuses or something similar.

Should be.

I do want to point out that opening your valve while wearing your tank is not part of the WRSTC standard for OW training (nor AOW). Verifying that your air is on is part of the training which, along with the other things I mentioned, removes the need to do tank drills for single tank recreational diving. At least according to the bodies that make up the WRSTC.

 

[boulderjohn]

Yes, the secondary on a necklace means you need to embrace a primary donate. But in a real emergency, my bet is the OOA diver is going for that reg in your mouth and not bothering to signal they are OOA first

I am just baffled as to where all of this argument is coming from. Do you know what kind of regulator arrangement he was using? Who has argued that he should have used a sweep method to gain his regulator? What does PADI have to do with it?

 

[JohnN]

I am just baffled as to where all of this argument is coming from. Do you know what kind of regulator arrangement he was using? Who has argued that he should have used a sweep method to gain his regulator? What does PADI have to do with it?

I too am baffled about what position you are taking here.

From the original post: "He thrashes around panicked and somehow doesn't get his reg in" It is not unreasonable to interpret this as a sweep for a lost regulator. Not conclusive, but it (thrashing around) most likely would not have happened with a secondary on a necklace.

As to why PADI? They are the big dog of the agencies. If they were to revise their standards to primary donate, secondary on a necklace, I do believe the other agencies would follow

 

[davehicks]

I find it remarkable that no one has questioned the validity of that report on Reddit. No one there, no one here. No skepticism at all. An unverified report of a strange death....not even a news article. Odd.

I don't see the relevance. The report is a conversation starter. Conversation is started. What's the problem?