“We knew there was some bad weather coming, so our last words to each other were let’s not push the envelope,” Engle recalled. “It was just after 2 p.m. when we went down. We said, ‘Let’s just go down quickly.’ ”
I'm thinking the needle is pointing toward stupid noob. Trying to beat the weather rarely works. Here in Southern California, we don't have to contend with current like Florida, so diving from an unoccupied boat is not a big deal. We do get winds in the summer afternoon, so we get out early, make two dives and get back in the marina by 11 or 12:00. We have over 400 feet of chain, so the anchor is never really holding the boat. We also don't go far from the anchor.
The only time I have ever dragged an anchor was when I allowed a buddy to talk me into an afternoon dive. We saw that the anchor was digging into the sand and the rode was taut so we aborted the dive. After that day I have never gone out in bad conditions.
I'm thinking the needle is pointing toward stupid noob. Trying to beat the weather rarely works. Here in Southern California, we don't have to contend with current like Florida, so diving from an unoccupied boat is not a big deal. We do get winds in the summer afternoon, so we get out early, make two dives and get back in the marina by 11 or 12:00. We have over 400 feet of chain, so the anchor is never really holding the boat. We also don't go far from the anchor.
The only time I have ever dragged an anchor was when I allowed a buddy to talk me into an afternoon dive. We saw that the anchor was digging into the sand and the rode was taut so we aborted the dive. After that day I have never gone out in bad conditions.