Error Diver drowned after accidentally falling in lake with gear on

[34109411]

So i am always solo diving by the shore. I put my bcd on the ground and i make sure that air is on and breathe from regulator. same for poney).

My reg is attached to a small bolt snap on a chest D-ring.

When i get in the water my bcd is a little b inflate but not that much being on a 7 MM gear it take a while to sink anyway. I Put my fins and finally my mask at the end. Before i go down i check pressure on both tanks and make sure everything work good.

I don't understand how could happen to this guy put RIP.

be safe

 

[Richard Dayan]

Why couldn't he just hit the inflate button?

 

[inquis]

If the head is fully submerged, that implies the diver is negatively buoyant (in that moment anyway). They shouldn't be able to hold that depth without kicking.

No, *sinking* implies being negatively buoyant. Maintaining depth without kicking implies being neutrally buoyant. One can be neutral with the head fully submerged and not kicking by using the BC or lungs (or combination thereof). 70 cf of air weighs 4.6 lb, which can be offset by 2.5 L of air in the lungs and/or BC. (The average inspiratory capacity for adult males is significantly higher at 3.8 L.)

 

[Rilelen]

I can easily see how this could happen if he were in tech gear; you can ditch a BP/W, or a sidemount BC, but they usually have continuous webbing and are not nearly as easy to ditch as a regular jacket BC (or anything with clips).

If he was in BM doubles and his air wasn't on....sure, in theory he could have reached back and turned it on OR ditched his whole rig. But both those options require realizing what the problem is, and take **some time** (not a ton of time, but some time) to actually accomplish,. And I can see how the panic of plunging quickly and unexpectedly backwards underwater could create enough of a delayed response to inhale water and drown. I try never to go near the water in doubles with my air off, but it happens (rarely) sometimes.

And, if in SM, we nearly always stage the tanks in the water with regs stowed and valves off, while off fetching other gear, stages, etc. Again, can easily see how a misstep and sudden plunge could keep you from realizing you could either just ditch the tanks (or your whole rig) and swim up, or take the time to deploy the reg and turn on the air.

 

[Litefoot]

Wow, this report scared the bejeebers out of me. The last dive I was donning my BP/W with my feet hanging over the edge of a dock in 12’ of water. I could have easily tipped over into the water before I was ready. Never again. Thanks for jolting me into a safer way of thinking.

 

[johndiver999]

Why couldn't he just hit the inflate button?

Perhaps he was sweeping for a regulator- like a lot of people suggested?

 

[boulderjohn]

Perhaps he was sweeping for a regulator- like a lot of people suggested?

A lot of people suggested that? I only saw one person who read this.

One of the other divers (older guy, apparently very experienced diver, top notch tech diving gear) was standing in shallow water chatting to the other divers and preparing his gear. Doesn't know that the lake generally slopes in gently, but right next to where he's standing, there's a steep 5 metre drop. He stumbles and falls into the drop - BCD is not inflated and mask etc not in place. He's carrying a ton of gear and he goes straight down. He thrashes around panicked and somehow doesn't get his reg in.

...and assumed that a "very experienced diver, top notch tech diving gear" was thrashing around because he was trying to use the sweep method to recover the regulator, and his "top notch tech diving gear" did not include an alternate on a regulator because of PADI.

Seems a stretch to me, personally.

 

[tarponchik]

I always inflate my BCD after I put it on, the only exception are the boat dives with a negative entrance. Assuming I forgot and fell, like this man, and I can't find the reg and inflator button, I'd drop my weights and got rid of my BCD.

 

[Vicko]

"top notch tech diving gear"

Since we are assuming from a very scarce set of information, let's at least use the little info we have in our thought experiment. Top notch tec gear is not ditchable, at least not quickly while panicking.
The diver may have been on a rebreather, may have been on a twinset.

 

[lowwall]

The guy who made the Reddit post is a new diver. "Top notch tech diving gear" could just mean having 15 D-rings.