Diver nearly drowns in San Diego

[Michelle's Guy]

Hypothermic chamber?

 

[Michelle's Guy]

Breath Normally While On Scuba Don't ever hold your breath on ascent! Even if your only 11 feet deep and you have an equiptment malfunction...especially an out of air malfunction. We all know it, but could we be surprised and forget for just a moment?

 

[CaptainKidd]

Sad to hear. Sorry for his family. Sounds like there's a lot more to this story than what's being told here. I'm thinking pre-existing medical condition maybe?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I;d guess heart attack given the relative shallow depth, activity, and age of the diver. BUT THAT IS PURE SPECULATION! But I too would also like to know why if he was indeed diving with a "buddy" they did not ascend and accompany him in. Sounds like he really didn't have a buddy.

 

[deltablade]

thats a dam good question,, where was his buddy thru all of this,, of course there may have been a medical reason for the incident to happen but it still begs the question as to y he had to be rescued via a life saver rather than his buddy , sorta defeats the purpose of havin a buddy if they aint around to assist u when in need

 

[luckydays]

...
Diving 11 feet deep, Hallman surfaced and began swimming back with his group when he lost consciousness and was pulled to shore....

I;d guess heart attack given the relative shallow depth, activity, and age of the diver. BUT THAT IS PURE SPECULATION! But I too would also like to know why if he was indeed diving with a "buddy" they did not ascend and accompany him in. Sounds like he really didn't have a buddy.

Sounds like he had buddies who took him to shore according to MG's article.

Sorry for the loss. Hopefully his family and friends got a chance to say good bye to him before he passed on.

 

[Michelle's Guy]

Hey now, easy on the buddy. Innocent until proven guilty. The buddy likely just lost a close friend. Probably feeling the loss more than you. Chances are if you keep diving, you could lose a buddy, how would you want the armchair dive tragedy crew to treat you?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Not condemning the buddy but posing a question. With properly trained buddies there should never be separation.

 

[InTheDrink]

Not condemning the buddy but posing a question. With properly trained buddies there should never be separation.

As a statement of absolute fact you're off the mark there Jim, no matter how much I like how your courses are designed.

Buddy separation can and does happen. If you want to argue with this one perhaps we can end up in waters where I'll show you I'm right.

Don't be too dogmatic, it's rarely helpful.

J

 

[bsee65]

Okay, well maybe separation happens. In this case, the reports are a bit puzzling. We are told that the victim communicated his difficulty with his buddy. It seems that the group headed toward shore together, but there's also a mention of flagging a lifeguard and another person on shore for assistance. It is quite reasonable to flag the shore for extra help even if you're coming in as a group and there is an issue. We neither know whether or not good buddy skills were practiced, nor do we know if a different set of actions could have resulted in a more positive outcome.

While there are situations where buddies might be forced to separate, this doesn't sound like it should have been one. It's a stupid and tangential argument to have with regard to this particular incident. In the spirit of discussions in this particular forum, I believe we can all agree that the chance for a positive outcome is generally improved when buddies stick together, especially during an incident. It won't matter for every single incident and may not have mattered here, but it's going to help some percentage of the time and should be a lesson we take from this discussion.