Ferry Crew Pulls Two Divers from water at Brackett's Landing

[cdolphin]

There's been a lot of discussion of this one on our local board. Most of us can't figure out how a BC could invert her, but we can all see how an autoinflating BC could cause an unexpected ascent, and air in the feet of the drysuit could expand and put her in an inverted posture.

As an example of what could happen, and hopefully someone can learn from my ignorance......

My first dive in my new gear was also my first dive in an AOW class which for some unknown reason was also the Deep Dive in that class....apparently it isn't supposed to be the first dive in AOW.

That said, it was my first COLD water dive in Puget Sound with a back-inflate BC (with a 5mm shortie over a 7mm semi-dry wetsuit; lots of neoprene, which just adds to the buoyancy issues.) In my case a semi head-down attitude at some point during the dive caused air to get trapped in the lower part of the BC bladder and unbeknownst to me, I didn't have all of the air vented out. As I returned from depth with a lower-on-air tank, that air trapped in the lower portion of the bladder caused me to "stand on my head" and was threatening to cause an ascent. I tried to use the inflator hose to dump air, but it wouldn't vent, since I was feet-up. I didn't know enough to orient myself vertically - and I remember thinking I was going to bounce to the surface feet first. Not a good plan after a deep dive. I had no idea what was going on. Not until after the dive was I told that the Instructor had come behind and vented some (or all) of the air using the bottom dump valve. I was so new (and, admittedly dumb - I should have become more familiar with the gear first) I didn't even know there was a bottom dump valve. But that air-dump still wasn't enough to keep my feet down. To stay down, I had to kick down for the rest of the ascent, which thankfully was a shore dive/gradual ascent.

An empty BC and more weight in general didn't cure the problem for subsequent dives. I started adding ankle weights and they keep my feet down, but I still haven't figured out how to solve the problem in any other way. I don't have this problem in warm water with this gear - so I keep coming back to the wetsuit, but I don't know any other possible causes or solutions.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I have been told that she was wearing one of these ... caveat being that I wasn't there and didn't see for myself whether or not she was.

That said, I am unaware of any BCD that will cause you to "turn upside down" on a runaway ascent ...

... Bob (Grateful DIver)

 

[Web Monkey]

Very glad everyone was okay. I am just completing my rescue class and this reinforces for me the importance of even basic rescue training.

Sounds more like a dry suit problem, a back inflate BC can put you face down if over inflated, but a dry suit can get you inverted. There is the line in the one article:

He says that his wife is still shaken up by what happened on Saturday, but she will be back diving as soon as she gets a new dry suit.​

It's too bad she's wasting money on a new suit. There's almost certainly nothing wrong with her old suit that a little service or a new valve or two couldn't fix, and she should have been trained to handle inflator/exhaust failures.

Terry

 

[Web Monkey]

I have been told that she was wearing one of these ... caveat being that I wasn't there and didn't see for myself whether or not she was.

I've never seen one like that. What's the red lever-thingie?

Terry

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've never seen one like that. What's the red lever-thingie?

Terry

... the elevator button ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

It's too bad she's wasting money on a new suit. There's almost certainly nothing wrong with her old suit that a little service or a new valve or two couldn't fix, and she should have been trained to handle inflator/exhaust failures.

Terry

Quite likely the EMTs cut her out of her old suit ... in which case it probably ain't repairable ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[reo]

I called up a friend to see if he and his wife wanted to dive. He asked if had heard what happened recently at Edmonds Underwater Park. His wife was the one who was pulled from the water.

She was wearing an Aqualung Pearl I3 BC and a drysuit. From what I understand, they were looking at a sunken boat and they lost sight of each other. She had a little too much air in her drysuit and started to float up, feet first. She got tangled in kelp on the way up, and ended up on the surface with her feet in the air. There was some current that carried her toward the Ferry. She tried to dump her weights from an inverted position, but was unable to release the weights. She then decided to ditch the BC, and tried to remove it. She was able to get the BC off, but forgot to disconnect the drysuit hose. The BC went down around her head and arms, and stopped there, when it reached the point where the drysuit hose wouldn't let it go any further. Eventually she passed out from exhaustion from trying to free herself. I don't know if her reg was pulled out of her mouth when she tried to ditch the BC.

The crew on the ferry saw a diver in distress and launched a small boat to assist. When they pulled her from the water, she was not breathing and had no pulse. They performed CPR and she was revived. She was taken to the hospital and observed (I don't know for how long, but it was at least overnight).

The husband noticed she was gone, looked for her, couldn't find her, and surfaced to see if she had surfaced. The current was fairly strong, and he had to hold on to a buoy to avoid being carried into the ferry lane. The ferry crew picked him up as well.

They EMTs cut her drysuit off while they were trying to revive her.

This incident has a happy ending. Wife is fine now, and wants to continue diving. They've ordered her another drysuit. They are having a crotch strap installed on her BC. DAN is paying for the drysuit.

After listening to all that happened, I'll probably be using a weight belt or harness to take some of the weight out of my BC. I never liked the fact that me and my drysuit were very positively buoyant while my BC and tank were very negatively buoyant.

I'm curious to see how she'll be on their next dive. I'm amazed that she is still wanting to dive. I'm not sure how I would react if it happened to me.

Ron

 

[Tricia]

"She had a little too much air in her drysuit and started to float up, feet first. She got tangled in kelp on the way up, and ended up on the surface with her feet in the air. There was some current that carried her toward the Ferry."

Dear God! And this woman wants to go diving again? I applaud her!!! :cheerleader:

Trish

 

[knowone]

A belt also slows air transfer within the suit which makes it more manageable. I think.

 

[RJP]

When do the reporters ever get the story straight?

Surprised they didn't say "She inflated her drysuit with her oxygen tank..."