Diver survives three days in ocean

[DiverBuoy]

First off I'm very happy to hear of this miraculous diver survival. 3 days adrift is beyond astounding. Though, since it is the incidents and accidents forum we always have room for analysis. My #1 thought is if only this diver had a signal marker, reflector, horn ... anything to draw attention to his location when he surfaced "out of site" ... additionally as rescue vehicles came within his vacinity he would have had a greater chance of drawing attention to himself.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

First off I'm very happy to hear of this miraculous diver survival. 3 days adrift is beyond astounding. Though, since it is the incidents and accidents forum we always have room for analysis. My #1 thought is if only this diver had a signal marker, reflector, horn ... anything to draw attention to his location when he surfaced "out of site" ... additionally as rescue vehicles came within his vacinity he would have had a greater chance of drawing attention to himself.

I agree. I keep a mini-cd in my bcd, great for signaling, weigh nothing and are small. My watch also has a reflective coating for signaling. Air horn on my bc, as well...for signaling boats. Two sausages. You get the idea. give the rescuers as much chance as possible of spotting you.

Glad he made it through, though.

JT

 

[terryd]

Check here:

http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-5363660-300,00.html

And the man himself talks:

http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-5368871-300,00.html

Terry

 

[The Kraken]

All posts regarding this incident have been merged to this one.

the Kraken

 

[GrierHPharmD]

What a wonderful story!!! And the video was quite moving.

We're thankful that he made it back home safely.

-Grier

 

[DiverBuoy]

Check here:

http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-5363660-300,00.html

And the man himself talks:

http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-5368871-300,00.html

Terry

At the end of the interview with Robert Hewitt they have a boat with a local dive crew and the newcaster showing where he was found which is deceptively close to the shore. They ask the obvious question in everyone's mind ... if he was only 1km from the shore why did he not just swim to shore. The currents were so strong they carried him all the way along the coast and nearly back to where he first started, likely the reason he was finally found. He learned in his navy seals training not to ever try to fight a current but to conserve his energy. No doubt surving 3 days is a miracle, but how sad for other souls who were lost in far less time because they saw how deceptively close that shore was and tried to make a swim for it, became exhausted and drown.

 

[Xman]

At the end of the interview with Robert Hewitt they have a boat with a local dive crew and the newcaster showing where he was found which is deceptively close to the shore. They ask the obvious question in everyone's mind ... if he was only 1km from the shore why did he not just swim to shore. The currents were so strong they carried him all the way along the coast and nearly back to where he first started, likely the reason he was finally found. He learned in his navy seals training not to ever try to fight a current but to conserve his energy. No doubt surving 3 days is a miracle, but how sad for other souls who were lost in far less time because they saw how deceptively close that shore was and tried to make a swim for it, became exhausted and drown.

He was not a "Navy Seal". From what I understand he was a "ship's diver" rather than Navy Diver in the New Zealand Navy.
I do agree that swimming against the current would probably have lead to him being worse off rather than better.
There are a number of questions in my mind about what happened, as on the face of it the story just seems not quite right.
Regardless of what happened we are all glad he is safely home with his family.

Never mind the signalling device, if he had aborted the dive when his buddy had a problem rather than diving alone he would have been much less likely to get into trouble.

 

[tkring]

Here is a tragic story of what can happen when a diver tries to fight the current. A couple of weeks ago, a man in Roatan died of a heart attack while trying to fight a current to get back to shore. He and his dive buddy were doing a night dive off of the shore and got caught in a current. They signaled to the shore with their lights. Unfortunately, by the time the boat arrived, the man had died. But what do you do... let the current take you out?

FYI ... He was in his early 70's, appeared to be in good health and had over 1,500 dives logged at this resort.

 

[Xman]

Here is a tragic story of what can happen when a diver tries to fight the current. A couple of weeks ago, a man in Roatan died of a heart attack while trying to fight a current to get back to shore. He and his dive buddy were doing a night dive off of the shore and got caught in a current. They signaled to the shore with their lights. Unfortunately, by the time the boat arrived, the man had died. But what do you do... let the current take you out?

FYI ... He was in his early 70's, appeared to be in good health and had over 1,500 dives logged at this resort.

Sad to hear that happened, but I firmly believe that if swimming against a current prompted a heart attack for that diver, then he was at a point where he was prone to heart attack in normal life.
Doesn't make it any easier for his family or any less sad though.
I wouldn't hpwever use it as a reason to not swim against a current. I believe it entirely depends on the situation and whether after a realistic assessment, you think the increase in potential for a good outcome form swimming against the current outweighs the extra risks from becoming exhausted from doing so.

 

[DiverBuoy]

Here is a tragic story of what can happen when a diver tries to fight the current. A couple of weeks ago, a man in Roatan died of a heart attack while trying to fight a current to get back to shore. He and his dive buddy were doing a night dive off of the shore and got caught in a current. They signaled to the shore with their lights. Unfortunately, by the time the boat arrived, the man had died. But what do you do... let the current take you out?

FYI ... He was in his early 70's, appeared to be in good health and had over 1,500 dives logged at this resort.

What do you do, good question actually. At night or in conditions which prevent you from seeing any point of reference there is actually little you can do except to preserve energy - needed to keep you from hypothermia. When you are able to establish a point of reference you must swim perpendicular to the current until you are out of the current, at which point you will have a semblance of control restored to you and can dictate (to the extent possible) your own destiny. When you dive an area you must be familiar in advance with it's currents and changing environmental conditions, so you have a contingency plan. To be caught completely unware will make the challenge of finding a life saving solution more difficult.