Girl Scout saves panicked diver

[wnissen]

Local teen’s quick action saves drowning stranger | Claremont COURIER

Most people have at some time wondered: If faced with a life or death situation would I know what to do and could I muster the courage to act? For one local teen the answer is an unequivocal yes.

claremont-courier.com

Thanks for posting, that is a pretty amazing story. Scouts (of all genders) are pretty amazing human beings.

That said, I hope she gets Rescue training.

The first thing I did was I inflated my [vest] so that if I was able to save her, I had a life vest on. And if she started clinging onto me I wouldn’t drown and we would both be safe,” Paige said.

A smaller person like her against a flailing, drowning adult would be a very bad situation. She's lucky she didn't get pulled under in an uncontrolled way. I really appreciate my PADI Rescue for training how to approach in this situation.

And of course, the rescued diver should probably have gone to the doctor in case of dry drowning. Another thing she would learn.

Brava Paige Morales!

 

[Seaweed Doc]

If inverted are the surface, tuck and roll might be tough. In that situation PADIs dry suit course recommends fully inflating the BCD to get horizontal.


Wild guess on cause: The victim's air wasn't turned on.

 

[sabrisi]

Here is the accident that I was referring to in my previous post:

Among some of the findings:
“…Diver One lost his fins, ankle weights, mask and left weight pouch prior to being discovered on the surface….”

https://ehs.ucsc.edu/programs/research-safety/factual-report-diving-fatality-glba.pdf

In Scubaboard:

Research Diver Fatality in Alaska

Few details are available Marine scientist dies during dive in Southeast Alaska

scubaboard.com

There were actually several issues with that event - the ankle weights were not the start of the problem.

1) The drysuit was borrowed from someone else, and was oversized to the diver
2) The diver seems to have not fastened the crotch strap, so the drysuit was even bigger with the telescoping waist not secured
3) The drysuit did not have integrated boots, and needed rockboots, of which a pair to borrow weren't available.
4) The ankle weights were used as a jerry-rigged "solution" for fin retention

The incident review team found that the diver's slate/clip pressed on the inflator valve (in a different location on the borrowed suit vs. the diver's own suit) and with all the extra room in the too big and too long suit + lack of actual boots allowed the expanding air to force the ankle weights and then the fins off, resulting in a rapid upside-down ascent.

Ankle weights *can* be safely used, a lot of new drysuit divers use them kinda like "training wheels" while they tune in drysuit buoyancy and trim, and as they progress or change gear they stop using them. In a properly fitted suit + undergarments and good trim/positioning you probably won't need them, and a tuck and roll works just fine to move air out from the legs if needed. Just another layer of buyouancy management that can result in uncontrolled ascent if you're not aware and adjusting as needed. Tropical diving I'll invert with feet way up to look at certain things - not a maneuver I do at home in a drysuit.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

Question to drysuit divers:
If you are diving solo and got inverted due to the ankle weight fell off or air got malditributed to your ankles, what would you do to fix it?

... a forward roll ( I don't use ankle weights either )