Free diver drowns attempting anchor retrieval - Key Largo Florida

[PeterNBiddle]

that's true for a trained freediver. However 50 feet is way way outside the range of your typical snorkeler. Judging by the results, I would venture he was the latter.

Hmmm. I've never done any formal training and I can do 50 feet pretty reliably. But I admit to having no idea what a typical snorkeler can do.



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[CuzzA]

Wow. The speculation (drunk, no experience, actually lifting the anchor) and lack of understanding of free diving before posting is rampant in this thread. The fact the guy had a weight belt (and mask/snorkel), which is a very common piece of equipment for free divers, suggests he didn't just dive in for his first time to actually lift an anchor from the surface.

So just to clarify, the number one rule in free diving is "Always have a buddy diver in the water on the surface watching your entire dive." Why? Because a shallow water blackout is very real and common and you need someone in the water to quickly retrieve you and bring you back to the surface. The fact he still had his weight belt on is irrelevant as you're not going to ditch your weights when in an instant you blackout.

I suggest doing some research or watch some video testimonials of what is feels like to black out. Most survivors will tell you they don't even recall it happening and when they come to they have no idea where they even are let alone what just happened. In fact they wake up shocked to be in the water.

The lesson learned here is NEVER free dive without a buddy IN the water watching you with his GEAR on so he can retrieve you. Obviously the same goes with scuba, although IMO, with scuba you should be completely self reliant because it's all too common for your buddy to be doing his/her own thing or if your spearfishing for example they are likely more consumed with their hunt rather than watching you.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Why would the diver try to swim the anchor up when it was stated the anchor line was attached to it? More likely and much easier he would swim the line up then retrieve the anchor from the surface. There is also an assumption he even found the line or anchor on their first or second attempt. I suspect neither those or his weights would be the issue

 

[fbrissette]

The fact the guy had a weight belt (and mask/snorkel), which is a very common piece of equipment for free divers, suggests he didn't just dive in for his first time to actually lift an anchor from the surface.

So just to clarify, the number one rule in free diving is "Always have a buddy diver in the water on the surface watching your entire dive." Why? Because a shallow water blackout is very real and common and you need someone in the water to quickly retrieve you and bring you back to the surface. The fact he still had his weight belt on is irrelevant as you're not going to ditch your weights when in an instant you blackout.

I suggest doing some research or watch some video testimonials of what is feels like to black out. Most survivors will tell you they don't even recall it happening and when they come to they have no idea where they even are let alone what just happened. In fact they wake up shocked to be in the water.

The lesson learned here is NEVER free dive without a buddy IN the water watching you with his GEAR on so he can retrieve you. Obviously the same goes with scuba, although IMO, with scuba you should be completely self reliant because it's all too common for your buddy to be doing his/her own thing or if your spearfishing for example they are likely more consumed with their hunt rather than watching you.

A lot of boaters carry a mask and snorkel, if only to untangle fishing line stuck in the propeller. The weights are not a common item however. I'll admit to speculating but you are doing the same with your blackout hypothesis (which would not technically be a shallow-water blackout since he went deep). If the guy was indeed a trained freediver, going up and down to 50 feet would have been a relatively short endeavor very unlikely to lead to a blackout. But who knows how much time he spent down there.

In my opinion, freediving (as a sport) is as dangerous as scubadiving and, as you said, one should never dive (free or scuba) without a buddy.

 

[CuzzA]

My apologies. Given the report of him surfacing and then going back down I should have said it was likely from either a deep water blackout or a surface blackout as defined here.

I agree a mask and snorkel are very common, however a weight belt is not unless you're a free diver or on scuba. My point was merely it's unlikely he had never done breath hold diving before this incident. I realize I'm speculating (not to the extreme of drunk or otherwise), but logic tells me that was the case and I feel comfortable stating such given what we know about free diving and the classic surfacing and then immediately dropping below the surface.

Now, again while unlikely, if retrieving an anchor line at 50 fsw on your first breath hold ever was actually what happened then you get a Darwin Award. I don't believe this was the case. You gotta have a buddy watch you. Period.

 

[arrowskier]

In freediving, the most dangerous time is from 15 ft to the surface, to approximately 20 seconds after surfacing. This is when blackout is most likely, and why a buddy must be present to keep the diver's airway out of the water. Also, weighting for freediving is done so that one would be positively buoyant from approx 30 ft to the surface, neutral at 30', and negative below 30'. This is to protect a freediver from sinking if they pass out in the danger zone between 15' and the surface.


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---------- Post added November 21st, 2015 at 08:44 PM ----------

In my opinion, freediving (as a sport) is as dangerous as scubadiving and, as you said, one should never dive (free or scuba) without a buddy.[/QUOTE]

I will amplify what fbrissette said above: as both a scuba diver and a freediver, I believe freediving is inherently more dangerous due to the chance of blackout. Having a trained buddy present certainly mitigates the risk of dying from blackout, however [emoji846]


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[afenner5]

He was an experienced and skilled diver. He did it for a living for 6 years. Thanks.

---------- Post added December 3rd, 2015 at 01:04 AM ----------

Hi, you are right. They think it was shallow divers black out, he was an experienced diver. Did it for a living for six years. He had gone on three tank dives earlier that day. His friends were irresponsible and not paying attention. Not making excuses for him. No one really knows what happened...but he always spoke of safety and diving with a buddy. Guess he just got too comfortable. 50 feet is usually nothing for him. Thanks for not just assuming like everyone else did!

 

[arrowskier]

Just shows that all of us, no matter what our experience level is, are susceptible to accidents. Be careful out there.


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[afenner5]

Hi cuzza, you are right. They think it was shallow divers black out, he was an experienced diver. Did it for a living for six years. He had gone on three tank dives earlier that day. His friends were irresponsible and not paying attention. Not making excuses for him. No one really knows what happened...but he always spoke of safety and diving with a buddy. Guess he just got too comfortable. 50 feet is usually nothing for him. Thanks for not just assuming like everyone else did!

 

[arrowskier]

Three tank dives that day...I wonder if having any remaining N2 burden would have made him more susceptible to SWB? As both a scuba and a newbie to freediving, I definitely would like to understand the impact of one activity on the other. I have always heard it is ok to scuba after freediving but not the other way around.


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