Diver's death in Sandwich MA 11/05

[Tengai]

I dove this site during one of my ow certs. As Rapidiver said very nice area away from the canal (east). My instructor stressed the danger near that jetty and the importance of knowing the area you dive.

Very unfortunate...I know I have learned from it!!

I try to visualize the diver trying to free himself in that strong current, removing his bc and it is frightening.

Greg

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

Horrible situation-and at a depth of only about 20'

 

[Li'l38]

It really gives me the blues to read threads like this. To me, the tragedy of accidental or unexpected death is most painful. Often times it's difficult for the survivors to cope. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and family. I feel just awful for her. I wasn't even gonna post until I saw this...

.....when a newly certified 43 year old male diver decided to dive solo....

I know there are many folks that dive solo. Personally, I wouldn't. What I don't get here is why he did, if he was newly certified. I know, questioning his skills and judgement tends to place blame. I don't mean to be insensitive. I'm just very curious of the nature of his decision. What did he know/ not know about the dive site? What was he taught in class about safety, diving solo, or diving within his limits? It's a sad situation, no doubt. There is usually something that can be learned from it.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

We were typing at the same time. Same focus, too:

"...when a newly certified 43 year old male diver decided to dive solo ..."

The words "newly certified" and "dive solo" should never appear in the same sentence.

This isn't a rant on solo diving. I've been known to do it from time to time.

But the point is that in order to safely dive solo you need to be aware of many things, and most newly certified divers aren't anywhere near that level of awareness yet.

Note, this guy had 2000 psi in his tank when found. With that much gas, in ~20' of water, the guy may have had at least another hour or so to figure out how to use the knife on his leg. Dropping his weights may have brought him even closer to the surface, prolonging his survivability. Sounds like, as Rapiddiver said, things got scary real fast and the diver was inexperienced and unable to think fast enough to pull it out.

This guy broke a cardinal rule and, tragically, paid the price.

Condolences to his family.

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

Beware of the siren's song.

Trying to put myself in his fins:

It was gorgeous on Cape Cod yesterday with nice vis(very rare for Nov.) I'm sure that jetty was extemely inviting. With a Southeasterly wind the ocean surface was calm. He went in near Horizon's Restaurant and swam across to the jetty. I doubt his depth was more than 8-10' max until he hit the jetty. There he discovered large boulders and caves. With the incoming tide it must have been teeming with sealife. Perfect dive on a perfect day. Here, a few feet from the jetty it is perfectly calm with no current. Probably, he was hunting lobster, following along the jetty looking in the multitude of caves. Caught up in his environment, he inadvertanly drifted toward the end of the jetty. Suddenly, the current was upon him.

This exact scenario has been reenacted a multitude of times at this exact spot(even by experienced divers). Usually divers will grab onto to the jetty, or inflate their BC, drift with the current and await rescue. In his case it seems he got caught up in some monofilament or other obstruction while struggling with the current.

This would be a tough situation for anyone to get out of.

 

[MASS-Diver]

Very sad. There really aren't too many dives (espically in NE) that one should try solo if they are new to diving. Entanglment is an ever present threat in our murkey waters.

BTW, if you find yourself in a similar situations, it's nice to have a decent rig - i.e. a back-up reg where you can find it (like around your neck) and knife where you an get it (like on your waist). If you are alone and get wrapped up, it's a bad situation - struggling makes things worse. After calming down, it's best to deploy one' knife right aways and not mess around trying to get untanlged by hand.

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

It is very sad.

This disasterous scenario may be worth recreating in a safe supervised environment for training purposes.

I would imagine it would take several practice runs before even an experienced diver could get themselves out of this predicament:

Regulator knocked out, disoriented, being pulled downstream while completely tangled in monofilament. You have 30 seconds

 

[MASS-Diver]

It is very sad.
I would imagine it would take several practice runs before even an experienced diver could get themselves out of this predicament:

Regulator knocked out, disoriented, being pulled downstream while completely tangled in monofilament. You have 30 seconds

Are you kidding me? If I thought this was true I would never dive again.

For starters, if my reg comes out - my backup is on a necklace - not a big deal, there's no 30second clock me. I've been wrapped up in mono (or worse) on many occasions - it's a given that this is going to happen sooner or later if you dive around here. Me and my buddies are always talking about mono.

These days I only dive with a buddy who can cut me out. However, I used to dive solo quite bit - I carried atleast 3 cutting tools that I could deploy real fast, and I had sensible rig - not that goof ball stuff that I see people wearing all the time (danglies, split fins, etc).

Here's the bottom line, this is NE, it's Novemeber - if you get in the water you need to be squared away or you might not come back. Everyone seems to know that current is a risk at this site, if you are a new diver maybe it's best to choose some other place. In this case, I would venture to say tht this diver would have been better off meeting up with me at Hathaway pond for a few drills before trying this "easy" ocean dive.

Dying with 2000psi in the tank, well, that's just plain sad and I hate to say it, but he could have been entangled after his death - he might have just as likely lost his reg and not been able to find his dragging octo (or whatever).

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

I understand your point

 

[MASS-Diver]

I understand your point

Thanks, I'm not trying to be a jerk, it's just so frustrating to have deaths like this right in our bad yard. I've been upset about it all day.

After ripping this diver for doing something really stupid that ended up with his death, I need to add that I understand that lots of us have done stupid things in our lives that only by luck have we survived.

It just pains me to see people that just don't get they aren't in vacation diver country. That stuff doesn't cut it here. I think of the guy that died on the Poling a few years ago - solo, little experiece, overweighted, paniced. Everyone said wait for the investigation - but of course nothing ever came of it. And, this recent CC death, of course, brings to mind that poor guy that died off his family's beach in Rockport 2 years ago after he went back in solo, with 1/2 an al80 ,and ended up getting wrapped in some lobster gear.

I believe there are lots of gear configurations that work, however, I strongly belive that EVERYONE should have a back-up reg bungeed under their chin, espically new divers and I strongly belive that EVERYONE should avoid all these crazy danglies that remain so common - including these huge consoles that drag in the sand.

Dead with 2000psi left - that about says it all.