how to drown in 2 feet of water

[H2Andy]

hey all, thanks for the feedback and kind words

yeah... just one of those little things that if allowed to snowball can
really ruin your day (or life)

my primary feeling over this is embarrasment: man, i can't believe i just
did THIS...

 

[Charlie99]

my primary feeling over this is embarrasment: man, i can't believe i just
did THIS...

Thanks for the reminder. It's one of those things that is obvious, after the fact.

Several years ago I was standing in knee deep water on a slippery boat ramp turning on my air. Right then is when my buddy mentioned that a friend that had slipped off the adjacent jetty while walking to an entry point with air off, and had nearly drowned. She did end up with pneumonia from inhaled water.

Never since have I approached water without air on and reg in mouth or at least in hand.

 

[piikki]

Hi Andy, as a fellow back-rehab diver I can really sympathize with the methods you describe trying to haul your butt to water. I am often sitting/kneeling/floating or laying on the bottom trying to attach the last few bits of gear to the most remote parts of the body - just to be able to get the weight of a single tank off my back. I have imagined your type of incident in my mind's eye before, and it’s one of the things that has gotten me further convinced that necklace backup is the way to go.

This is a perfect thread to announce once more how dangerous it is to have divers call any depth benign – there just is no such thing. And it might look funny trying to manage scuba gear with compromised body but there is nothing funny when the lighting bolt of pain flashes through, and you are pretty much ready to gun the shears through the belt to get yourself free rather than look for air first. Good for you for remembering the first things first, hope your back made it out Ok too!

 

[Cacia]

hey all, thanks for the feedback and kind words

yeah... just one of those little things that if allowed to snowball can
really ruin your day (or life)

my primary feeling over this is embarrasment: man, i can't believe i just
did THIS...

which brings up another point......Have you ever noticed how really intellectual people have these types of mishaps...more often..than people like myself, for instance?

Now, I am always getting safety lectures, but nothing ever happens to me because, I KNOW how dumb I am, and for that reason....I am ready for any dumb thing I do, which is pretty smart, if you think about it. I really do think smart people are more accident prone. I think there are statistics to back it up too.

 

[caveseeker7]

Andy, Andy, Andy, sometimes you really worry me.
Glad you're okay and thanks for posting.

Rick, that was so funny it wasn't funny anymore,
I've spit a cookie all over my screen and keyboard. :bluthinki

 

[jeckyll]

Andy: Thanks for posting. I'm not in doubles (yet) but I've heard of a similar story locally where a diver fell getting into the water and almost drowned.

Rick: Thanks for the laugh

 

[bradshsi]

Thanks for sharing your tale. I guess it reminds us how benign looking situations and objects are sometimes not.

For example I have an innocent looking hot tub in my back garden. According to the US CPSC, the use of hot tubs is linked to over 800 deaths in the last 15 years including 2 dis-embowelments. Go figure...

As the others have noted we need to be prepared whenever we are in a position where we might enter the water (by accident or not). I can recall sometimes not having my regulator to hand when entering from the beach. If I'd tripped or stumbled, I could easily have ended up in a similar predicament. I'll take your lesson as an incentive to improve my own level of preparation.

 

[radinator]

A few months ago, I tried on a pair of loaner doubles in my living room, and before I knew it I was flat on my back doing the turtle dance trying to either get out of the harness or get rolled over. Reading your story made that feeling of helplessness come back. I would NOT want to have to do that in the water. Good lesson about always having the air on hear the water.

 

[Diver0001]

first, get your gear on and ready to dive.
eyebrow

Andy, just a question. Is your back permanently gibbled like that? It sounds to me like you might need a different tactic to getting in and out of the water.

Have you considered buying a handtruck (or a dolly or whatever you call it) to take your kit down to the water, get your buddy to take it in the water with them and then don it in the water..... You could do the reverse to get back out again.

R..

 

[miketsp]

..snip..
Never since have I approached water without air on and reg in mouth or at least in hand.

Just goes to show it's the silly things that can kill you.

I'll never forget the start of one night dive where a very experienced instructor was going to show me the "correct" way to equip in the water. Anyway he tossed his BC in the water, jumped in, opened it up and tossed it over his head with his arms through the appropriate holes.
Then he stayed there in that position for the next 2 minutes struggling with his arms sticking up and face down in the water until the onlookers realised he wasn't going to get out on his own and was practically drowning.
After being rescued we analysed what happened. It wasn't his BC and was 2 sizes smaller than he normally uses.