First-hand account of down current, with video footage

[MMM]

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[Valwood1]

This may sound like nit-picking but this current didn't appear to me to be dangerous if divers were to be properly in control. Certain places around the world experience the same on a regular basis. The current was dangerous specifically because the cameraman was out of control and unable to respond in a meaningful way. What the video shows IMO is someone being inadequately prepared/briefed for diving in any current.

If I was suddenly transported to that situation underwater: moderate/strong multi-directional current with an empty BCD and no buddy, I'd be in trouble as well. As the diver descended from the main body of water to the lip of the wall, that was where the current started to slide off the wall and become a 'down current'.

I disagree and say that he should feel bad for panicking or at least for getting to that state. You can learn to appreciate strong currents without getting afraid of them, but it comes with being in control in the first place. Being properly buoyant, you can feel the tug of downcurrents or upcurrents and make the necessary adjustments with breathing, trim or using the BCD.

It's kinda tough to argue dive theory with an instructor who has 10X my number of dives. That said:

1. I have no idea whether simply inflating the BCD would have corrected the boy's problem since I wasn't there and do not know the absolute strength of the downcurrent. My downcurrent adventure featured a current of such strength that inflating a BCD and/or kicking upward could not overcome the current's downward force, and the only way to reach the surface after I lost my grip on the wall (we attempted to climb it) was to swim away from the wall, sink quickly while doing that, and then rise after I got out of the current.

2. An unforgiving part of any strong current is that you are not really in control. We all hope that, through our training and/or experience, we know how to regain some semblance of control. There's no doubt that the boy here was at a loss on what to do, but I cannot say whether that's a panic-induced or training failure. I suspect the later as much as the former. Unfortunately, you cannot train for these conditions in a pool or elsewhere, so the best hope is that your theoretical book knowledge is good enough, and engrained enough, that you can recognize the problem and act correctly.

3. The value of buddy diving is largely determined by the quality of your buddy. in this instance, I'd say that Dad was a good buddy. But I imagine that many of us have been paired with a buddy who was much more hindrance than help -- personally, I'd rather have no buddy than one who would endanger my own safety.

4. As I've gotten older, I've become more tolerant -- or, at least, more understanding -- of errors caused by inexperience (assuming that the errors were not caused or aggravated by arrogance and/or aggressive stupidity). So, I do not apologize for having a fair amount of sympathy for the boy in this instance, when he clearly panicked because he did not have the training, and/or maybe the maturity, to handle a nasty situation. In fact, it would be unusual for a young, inexperienced diver to NOT panic in these circumstances.

 

[boulderjohn]

150ft for me and my son and 165ft for the other two.

Yes away from the wall and up, it took me 30 seconds to make it 10ft. I added air to both bcd's and kicked like hell, there were bubbles everywhere and I couldn't see anything, It felt like we weren't making it anywhere, checked my gauge and it read 80ft "oh **** time to put on brakes" spent the rest of the time trying to bleed both bcd's with one hand on the camera guy (my son) and one hand operating the bcds I couldn't keep up with bleeding the bcds down and was trying to flare but it seemed like all the bubbles were just pushing us up, then it got bright and we were on the surface way sooner than I wanted. All I could think about was we did that to fast and needed to go back and do a safety stop.

I have to confess that I am still a bit confused about what happened. It sounded to me in the other posts that you were trapped in a down current and had to struggle to ascend. As I read this, it took you 30 seconds to go from 150 feet to 10 feet, an ascent rate of 280 feet per minute. Please correct any misunderstanding in that.

EDIT: In response to the next post below, I would say that my reading skills have deteriorated in my dotage. Carry on.

 

[Splitlip]

I have to confess that I am still a bit confused about what happened. It sounded to me in the other posts that you were trapped in a down current and had to struggle to ascend. As I read this, it took you 30 seconds to go from 150 feet to 10 feet, an ascent rate of 280 feet per minute. Please correct any misunderstanding in that.

I believe that would be 20 ft per minute?
They made it "10 ft". Not TO 10 ft.

 

[boulderjohn]

I believe that would be 20 ft per minute?
They made it "10 ft". Not TO 10 ft.

Got it.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

It's kinda tough to argue dive theory with an instructor who has 10X my number of dives. That said:

1. I have no idea whether simply inflating the BCD would have corrected the boy's problem since I wasn't there and do not know the absolute strength of the downcurrent. My downcurrent adventure featured a current of such strength that inflating a BCD and/or kicking upward could not overcome the current's downward force, and the only way to reach the surface after I lost my grip on the wall (we attempted to climb it) was to swim away from the wall, sink quickly while doing that, and then rise after I got out of the current.

2. An unforgiving part of any strong current is that you are not really in control. We all hope that, through our training and/or experience, we know how to regain some semblance of control. There's no doubt that the boy here was at a loss on what to do, but I cannot say whether that's a panic-induced or training failure. I suspect the later as much as the former. Unfortunately, you cannot train for these conditions in a pool or elsewhere, so the best hope is that your theoretical book knowledge is good enough, and engrained enough, that you can recognize the problem and act correctly.

3. The value of buddy diving is largely determined by the quality of your buddy. in this instance, I'd say that Dad was a good buddy. But I imagine that many of us have been paired with a buddy who was much more hindrance than help -- personally, I'd rather have no buddy than one who would endanger my own safety.

4. As I've gotten older, I've become more tolerant -- or, at least, more understanding -- of errors caused by inexperience (assuming that the errors were not caused or aggravated by arrogance and/or aggressive stupidity). So, I do not apologize for having a fair amount of sympathy for the boy in this instance, when he clearly panicked because he did not have the training, and/or maybe the maturity, to handle a nasty situation. In fact, it would be unusual for a young, inexperienced diver to NOT panic in these circumstances.

Dad was a good buddy????? It seemed to me that he was waiting for some other divers and let the kid descend alone to a depth of over 100 feet.... Maybe he is a good diver, but he was not being very attentive to the kid on that dive.

It looked to me like DAD must have panicked a little too, since he did not arrest the ascent as they approached the surface. The kid was obviously in a blind panic on that ascent.

Pretty scarey video. I have been expecting to see things like this as more and more people use the go pro cameras.

Dropping a kid like that in 400 feet of water seems like a really bad idea, maybe they drifted on the surface so long that they got pushed out over the ledge??? Allowing inexperienced tourists to drop down (on nitrox?) out past the wall is not good divemastering I think...

Wouldn't the normal procedure be to abort the dive while the divers were still on the surface if they are out past the break?

I personally was not able to get a good sense of how strong the down current was? The two divers that had their back to the kid, seemed to be swimming into the current along the wall.. Why?

---------- Post added April 23rd, 2012 at 06:14 PM ----------

..... Being properly buoyant, you can feel the tug of downcurrents or upcurrents and make the necessary adjustments with breathing, trim or using the BCD.

I don't really agree with this at all. If you are in a current you can be moving fast and have little indication of it without visual clues from stationary objects, there may be nothing to feel, except maybe pressure changes in your ears which are not going to do much for someone who is in a blind panic other than make them more uncomfortable.

Breathing, trim or using the BCD may not be enough to take care of all currents.

I was caught with a buddy in an extremely strong turbulent cell that came off a ship wreck 1000 feet away and it had us smashing into eachother and our bubbles going down and swirling around etc. It was not so easy to deal with, even in 80 ft visbility.

BTW, the video shows only bubbles on the ascent because the kid was breathing incredibly fast and they were ascending vertically very fast through their bubble stream. When you are making an open water ascent with no visual reference, having all those bubbles in your face is a good clue that you are ascending a lot faster than your smallest bubbles.

 

[DandyDon]

Dad was a good buddy????? It seemed to me that he was waiting for some other divers and let the kid descend alone to a depth of over 100 feet....

For his wife who had equipment issues. We have recently discussed the importance of both buddies or the whole trio gearing together, checking together, entering together. I think dad was expected the son to correct at first. How deep the son got before dad went after him, I'm not sure.

 

[Sorrows]

I disagree and say that he should feel bad for panicking or at least for getting to that state.

Look, I get that you are an instructor and have a zillion dives under your belt, but, seriously, how is this comment helpful? Do you really want his young man to berate himself or do you want him to take some of your otherwise excellent advice, learn from the experience, and get back on the boat?

I'm guessing that the "super" part of your name refers to your arrival on earth, fully-formed and infallible. Have pity on the rest of us, please!

 

[scurbyduck]

If you use your bubbles as a accent refence in a down current you are not going to go up at all and might be going down .Think about it.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Look, I get that you are an instructor and have a zillion dives under your belt, but, seriously, how is this comment helpful? Do you really want his young man to berate himself or do you want him to take some of your otherwise excellent advice, learn from the experience, and get back on the boat?

I'm guessing that the "super" part of your name refers to your arrival on earth, fully-formed and infallible. Have pity on the rest of us, please!

I completely disagree. The kid did screw up, panicked, nearly killed himself, did not maintain buddy contact, endangered his father (and mother if she was left alone) and who knows what else.. Were they using nitrox at 150-175 ft? He SHOULD feel bad about it.

If he is mature enough to risk his life in 100 plus feet of water, he should be big enough to accept criticism. On the other hand, that whole incident must have been more painful than some weenie on the internet observing that he made serious mistakes on that very short dive.