Diver washed ashore north Malibu

[snowshoedavesdad]

I was at the beach today with my kids at PCH and Coral Canyon, when around 12:30pm a solo diver washed ashore at the north end of the beach. Due to not wanting to expose my little kids to the accident I did not get close to the victim so I can't tell age or any further details. Only thing confirmed by a life guard was male victim, solo diving, washed ashore deceased. The life guards stayed for almost three hours looking for another diver however none was found.

 

[triggerman365]

Very sad, post details when you get them. He may not have started out solo.

 

[snowshoedavesdad]

All I can add is I saw the sheriffs looking in a pick up almost directly in front his body by the homes at the north end of the beach. There appeared to be a dive bag on the road they had gone through. I talked with the life guard when we left at 3:30pm and that was the information I was told. I wanted to talk with the deputies at the scene however I had to stay far away as I was alone with my kids and did not want them to see a body on the beach. As I was leaving a diver was planning to dive solo at the south end of the beach where we were. I know he knew what happened as I saw him talking with the life guards before we left. I've done a few solo dives (my buddy and I shore dive every few days between this spot and county line) but this would probably make me re-think what I was doing.

 

[sharksdelight]

There's nothing wrong with solo diving. I've been diving the same day, same ocean as my buddies for 30 years and while there were probably a couple of times I could have used a buddy, proper frame of mind and training is still what anyone needs to depend upon, buddy or not. More instructors have died because of panicking beginners than I care to count.
Steve

 

[Ken Kurtis]

More instructors have died because of panicking beginners than I care to count.

That's at best a bit of stretched hyperbole.

Instructors are NOT dying left and right (aka "more than you care to count") nor are panicking begginers a signficant cause of the very few instructor fatalities that happen annually.

I only know of one case (not saying that aren't others - only that I know of only one - feel free to enlighten me of the countless others you seem to know of) where a student panicked and the instructor was killed when the panicking student grabbed the instructor's knife and stabbed him. (Wasn't CA and I can't recall where it was offhand.)

I personally have no problems with solo diving. It has inherent risks should something go wrong but if a diver is willing to accept those risks, I think that's their decision.
If you want to defend the decision to dive solo, then just do that.

But I personally DO have a problem with making stuff up as if it was fact just to prove a point. I think it's important to be accurate in what we say, and even more so when you realize that people read these threads, especially the early posts in a given thread, and accept a lot of what's said as gospel.

Just my two cents.

- Ken

 

[Jax]

:focus:

Dead Man Found at Corral Beach Identified as Simi Valley Resident
By Jonathan Friedman

The man whose body was found in the surf at Corral Beach Saturday afternoon has been identified as 58-year-old Thomas Swanson of Simi Valley, said Lt. Cheryl MacWillie of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

MacWillie said Swanson was last seen alive walking into the surf with scuba equipment at 9 a.m. He dove alone. Beachgoers spotted Swanson’s body at approximately 12 p.m. Paramedics pronounced him dead at 12:39 p.m.

“He was a scuba diver who had gone into the water and suffered some kind of an illness in the water, and passed away,” Sgt. Tony Arnold of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station said.

MacWillie said an autopsy will be performed on Monday.

 

[Charlie99]

“He was a scuba diver who had gone into the water and suffered some kind of an illness in the water, and passed away,” Sgt. Tony Arnold of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station said.

The comment about an illness is probably nothing more than speculation at this point. After the coroner has done his examination, perhaps we will really know.

The cruel fact is that if you are solo diving and have a medical emergency that causes loss of consciousness, it will probably end up being fatal.

If diving with a buddy, you have a slight chance of surviving, but it can take a long time for a diver to tow his buddy back to shore.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I'd venture the "speculation" (now this is speculation) is based on a tank with plenty of air left in it and a normally operating regulator. So I'd speculate that the "speculation" is probably a good one.
Rick

 

[sharksdelight]

That's at best a bit of stretched hyperbole.

Instructors are NOT dying left and right (aka "more than you care to count") nor are panicking begginers a signficant cause of the very few instructor fatalities that happen annually.

I only know of one case (not saying that aren't others - only that I know of only one - feel free to enlighten me of the countless others you seem to know of) where a student panicked and the instructor was killed when the panicking student grabbed the instructor's knife and stabbed him. (Wasn't CA and I can't recall where it was offhand.)

Hey Ken,
Never said they were dying left and right but there have been many, many cases of a panicked student grabbing the instructors or buddies 2nd stage. Is this hyperbole? Not really and it has not happened by the 1,000s either which I did not mean to imply. Can I recall the statistics where I originally read this? No, I can't. I recall in a famous interview with Marty Snyderman that he said he would be loath to go to the rescue of a panicked diver not wanting to risk his own life. He caught a lot of flak for those words but he was simply making a point that one needs to be responsible to take care of themselves. When I started diving we were all hunters bringing fish home for dinner. We certainly didn't want any divers near where we were to frighten the fish away. In the late 80's I gave up spear fishing and transferred those skills to filming and I still don't want other divers around. I think, unless you're in the Caribbean or some place like that, half the time divers loose track of their buddies anyway. If I am filming, I am focused on the work I am doing, not on a buddy.
Steve

 

[TSandM]

I think, unless you're in the Caribbean or some place like that, half the time divers loose track of their buddies anyway

This totally depends on the degree of commitment that the divers make to staying together. I dive Puget Sound, where the viz can get down into single digits, and I have well over 500 dives here. I can count the number of buddy separations I've had in the last 400+ on the fingers of one hand, and with one exception, they were all temporary and quickly corrected, and none required aborting the dive. It takes good equipment (good lights) and it takes awareness, and making staying together a priority, but it's actually not difficult to do.