Diver's death in Sandwich MA 11/05

[SadiesMom]

My take was that he lost his BC after he became entangled before or after he died.

More information may come out with the investigation. Speculation may lead to inaccurate conclusions at this point. Hopefully the police will release a more detailed statement once the investigation is completed....

 

[LobstaMan]

And you're right, even much further East of Horizons one can get into trouble with the current.

And I hate to say it, but I've actually talked with divers in the Horizons parking lot that weren't even aware a major canal was on the other side of the jetty.

I'd like not to believe this, but I know better. What ever happened to familiarizing yourself with a site before diving?

LobstaMan

 

[MASS-Diver]

More information may come out with the investigation. Speculation may lead to inaccurate conclusions at this point. Hopefully the police will release a more detailed statement once the investigation is completed....

Well, he was missing part of his suit as well, so it's reasonable to assume he lost some gear. As a newley certified diver (and not an old timer), there's a very good chance he was diving a BCD and it was torn off. Botoom, whether he had a BCD or not would not have mattered, he had 2000+psi left in his tank. In all likelyhood he lost his reg and could not find his backup.

BTW, these "investigations"NEVER bring out any revlevant info.

The take home message is that if you are new diver and don't what you are doing,it's best not to dive alone at a dangerous dive site.

 

[Tengai]

MASS-Diver or others who use multiple cutting tools,

Could you tell me about your cutting tools placements? I carry only a bc mounted knife and was thinking about adding at least one more.

Thanks
Greg

 

[SadiesMom]

The take home message is that if you are new diver and don't what you are doing, it's best not to dive alone at a dangerous dive site.

I couldn't possibly agree more with your take-home message. In fact, I personally would take it a step further and say that if you're a newly certified diver, you shouldn't be diving solo, PERIOD, no matter how easy or dangerous the dive site.

 

[MASS-Diver]

MASS-Diver or others who use multiple cutting tools,

Could you tell me about your cutting tools placements? I carry only a bc mounted knife and was thinking about adding at least one more.

Thanks
Greg

Right now, I have a small knife on my waist harness along with a pair of trauma shears. I carry a second pair of shares in one of my DS pockets.


When I used to dive solo, I had also had another knife on my on forearm and a Z-knife in my pocket. Nowdays, with a good buddy, I'm manily concerned with cutting him out, not myself. In fact, with my buddies - unless they can see exactly what they are wrapped up in, I prefer for them NOT to try to cut themselves out - as it's so easy to make them worse. Instead I will immediately give them the hold signal and go to work - I expect the entangled diver to remain still.

In Ma, we are diving in murkey water with lots of fishing/lobster gear, plus we often have flags - it's only a matter time before one becomes wrapped up. Twice I have had lobster line (from 15 pots trawls) form a double wrap/cleat type knot around my valve - one time my buddy cleared it, the other time I cut the line. That's probably the scariest type of entanglement because the line is so strong and is held on so tight.

While I don't think solo diving is good idea for people who are new to diving, when I used to solo dive (shallow) I felt that with my approach I was safer than a lot of people diving with poor buddies (who never practice sharing gas, etc.). I gave up solo diving when I became interested in tech diving, DIR style (a dream cut short by injury), however, it was certainly an enjoyable experiece.

Bottom line: put your knife on your waist, and practice touching it and taking it out every dive. Know where your buddies knife is as well. IME, fins are common place to get fouled, everyone seems to love those split fins with the big buckels, but spring straps are, IMO, the way to go.

Big knives on the leg look cool, but if you are caught up they are tough to get - again if you feel stuck the last thing you want to do is break trim and start moving around - which always makes matters worse. This poor guy, apparently, was never able to even deploy his knife. If you have experince free diving in MA, as I do, you understand that this is an issue to take lightly. When I used to free dive alot, it seemed all we talked about was mono - since it was such a big concern.

 

[SadiesMom]

FWIW, this diver was certified just under 6 weeks before his death. When they said "newly certified" in this case, they meant it.

 

[Tengai]

Thanks very much! My LDS steered me away from the large lower leg mounted knives in favor of the bc mounted ones. I may add one to my waist area.

In your experience have your ever needed to use a cutting tool with your weak hand (if your strong hand had become incapacitated) and if so did using the trauma shears vs. a knife become an issue? (left vs right-handed shears) Sorry for the detail, being new I am just trying to think of different situations.

Greg

 

[divergalinla]

Just a question (for anyone): Were you warned about solo diving during your OW?

As far as I can remember, I was not. It wasn't discussed, and I didn't even think about it much until reading about it here because I've never been in a position to solo dive. The more experience I gain and the more I read, the more aware I become of the inherent dangers. I don't think they are really covered during most OW courses, so a newly certified diver going solo may not even realize s/he's doing anything risky.

YES! Many times as a matter of fact. My instructors emphasized how many things that go wrong during diving with a buddy can be rapidly taken care of, but if you are alone, it's a different story. We were told never to dive alone, and I never plan to!

 

[MASS-Diver]

Thanks very much! My LDS steered me away from the large lower leg mounted knives in favor of the bc mounted ones. I may add one to my waist area.

In your experience have your ever needed to use a cutting tool with your weak hand (if your strong hand had become incapacitated) and if so did using the trauma shears vs. a knife become an issue? (left vs right-handed shears) Sorry for the detail, being new I am just trying to think of different situations.

Greg

Again, now I dive with a buddy - so using my weak hand isn't really an issue. However, for solo diving a Z-knife (both OMS and Dive Rite make them) works very well in either hand (it's esentailly a candy cane shaped tool with a razor blade on the inside of the hook - great for sweeping and cutting.

If you solo dive, it's also a good idea to be able to remove your under water. If you buddy dive, you need a buddy you can count on to cut you out like it is not a big deal.