Diver hit by boat in Algonac

[DandyDon]

I don't know boats well at all, but have driven a few small ones - and no, I had no idea what a dive flag was then. I probly would have gone over to look at it.

A small boat, small engine, idling at no-wake speed - could be a little quiet for an ascending diver as he might think it's further away. As usual, I think the best we can do is learn from the speculations how to avoid potentially dangerous situations. No mention of a buddy so I kinda think a solo diver, maybe with an empty boat - two dangerous points.

 

[ONESPEED]

I don't know boats well at all, but have driven a few small ones - and no, I had no idea what a dive flag was then. I probly would have gone over to look at it.

A small boat, small engine, idling at no-wake speed - could be a little quiet for an ascending diver as he might think it's further away. As usual, I think the best we can do is learn from the speculations how to avoid potentially dangerous situations. No mention of a buddy so I kinda think a solo diver, maybe with an empty boat - two dangerous points.

Speculation is rubbish and does more harm than good, you have no clue as to whether or not the diver had a buddy or an operator in the boat.

 

[james croft]

It doesn't seem clear if the diver in question was far from his flag or not. Divers need to stay close to your dive flag to cover yourself. You may still get hit by an inattentive boater but you help yourself civily and criminally by having one. The flag is not optional if you are diving in navigable waters. I have been struck by a boat before and have had a couple of near misses. I have been guilty of diving w/o a flag before back in the day, but not any more.

I do a considerable amount of work as marine patrol cop and have seen and investigated a bunch of prop accidents and fatalities. A couple have occurred as a person got "wound up" into the prop when a rope or a cast net got fouled by the propeller and the victim got pulled into it.
Because of this a diver should never tie a dive flag line to himself as they could get pulled into a prop or otherwise get pulled to the surface rapidly causing an embolism.

There are ignorant boaters but there are also conscientious boat operators who just don't see a dive flag due to chop or glare on the water, despite keeping a proper lookout. Some boaters are just not aware that divers are something they need to be aware of. Safety sausages and flags need to be bigger where there are waves just to be more visible.

 

[riverdiver]

Yes their was an operator on the boat. As my post states, they where diving a wreck that was maybe less that 6 foot of vis. As any one that has dove black water before knows that it is hard to find the up line, and he more or less got disorientated and surfaced. Onespeed I see from your posts that you are a warm water diver and just dive on vacations, you do not list where you live and how many dives you have under your belt. Point is cold water diving here in Michigan we were hoods and with hoods on you can not hear very well, that is may be why he did not hear the boat. I have been under a ship before and did not know one went over until I surfaced and seen it motoring away from me.

 

[CheddarChick]

Well I for one hope the injured diver is OK...regardless of the speculation...

 

[Rick Murchison]

Yes their was an operator on the boat. As my post states, they where diving a wreck that was maybe less that 6 foot of vis. As any one that has dove black water before knows that it is hard to find the up line, and he more or less got disorientated and surfaced...

A very painful lesson, but very impressive, and clear. When separated from the upline and doing a drifting ascent, shoot a liftbag or SMB well in advance of your body's arrival at the surface. It may not guarantee no props overhead, but it should improve your odds of a clear spot to ascend immensely.
Rick

 

[ONESPEED]

Sorry to a fend you but you still did not list your state that you live so I can see where you are diving. I drift dive off boats all the time and you do not here the boat only when it goes in gear. Yes you do here some boats as they pas by but not all of them.

Well wouldn't a boat have to be in gear to hit someone? Where I live is irrelevant, I said nothing controversial in this thread and you seem to feel the need to question my diving knowledge.

 

[krjohnson]

Does anybody have any info on the diver?

I question why the diver was so far from the dive flag and why he came up in the channel. I've dived in the channel and even when we came up down from the flag we popped up in shallow water.

 

[ScubaSteve]

.......and one is that far from their flag, then shooting an SMB would be a wise move.....maybe even just having an SS would have made the difference.......

.......we were told to use a SMB/SS on a line to deploy on our safety stop...........

.......shoot a liftbag or SMB well in advance of your body's arrival at the surface........

Just so that this can hopefully become clear as to what really should be done if surfacing away from your flag.

 

[ONESPEED]

Does anybody have any info on the diver?

I question why the diver was so far from the dive flag and why he came up in the channel. I've dived in the channel and even when we came up down from the flag we popped up in shallow water.

I did a search and could not find any reports on this incident, I'd be interested to hear the actual facts surrounding the accident. All the speculation going on is completely useless.