If ever a point was reinforced ...

[oconnor69]

I was diving at Portland (UK) today. First dive was a drift at Grove's Point. Vis was no more than 4 metres and the current was strangely unpredicatble... we appeared to go in a circle.

Anyway, upon sufacing we had to wait a good few minutes in 4ft swells before we were picked up. Once onboard the Rib we discovered another diver on oxygen. It turns out that his DSMB (with reel clipped to BCD) had been snagged by a passing fishing boat and he was pulled to the surface from 14 metres. Shortly after we got onboard he started to suffer serious pains and ended up being lifted by helicopter and spent several hours in a chamber.

As a new diver I am still playing it by the book ... my reel does not get clipped to me. After today's events, it never will be.

What similar, reinforcing experiences have you folk had?

By the way, last I heard before leaving was that he was doing fine and had a couple more hours scheduled in the chamber.

 

[The Chairman]

Great point... glad he is doing well!

 

[Jcsgt]

Wow, that really makes you think! Thanks for the post.

 

[oconnor69]

The diver concerned was a very experienced diver. From conversations on the boat he has been diving for over 10 years. He managed to cut the line during the ascent but unfortunately too late to prevent a rapid ascent to the surface.

The fishing boat passed way too close (around 5m) to the dive boat which was flying the alpha flag and I can only assume that they never saw the 2 metre DSMB in the swells. They were aware of what they had done however as soon as the dive boat moved on to collect the next lot of divers (us) they left.

The coast guard were very interested in talking to the fishing boat and suggested there would be a investigation into the incident.

As a relatively novice diver I don't wish to criticise folk with more exprience, but to enable newcomers like myself to make informed decisions.

 

[Meng_Tze]

clipping off a smb is not a smart thing to do. And alas this is a good example.......

You can not trust others to do the right thing, even if you have a smb up, a 'diver down' flag... there are idiots who just come too close.....

 

[TexasZR2]

I was in Coz two weeks ago. The guide was using a rather large orange bag for his marker and had tied a looped knot at the 15' safety stop. Near the end of one of our dives, someone signaled they were getting low on air and ready to go up. The guide inflated his bag, started to unreel the line, and the looped knot caught on the handle and started dragging him up - from about 65'. He struggled with it for a couple of seconds and finally just left it go. Had it been clipped to him, it could have turned out much different. Just a little reinforcement for me.

 

[rawls]

I hope he is doing well and has some DAN insurance...Just the copter ride will cost at least $15,000.00...Man I hope he had insurance...$70.00 versus $15,000.00, pluse the recompression, doctors, hospital stay...Irregardless, I truly hope he is well and wish him a full recovery...

 

[oconnor69]

Luckily for us in the UK we don't get charged by the coast guard so the helicopter ride is free. I believe the same applies to the chamber.

 

[String]

Correct, all evacuation and treatment costs will be free. Insurance (dan or other) not needed.

Theres a very good reason DSMBs are never clipped off during deployment or use and the above highlights it nicely

 

[oconnor69]

xscreamuk spotted and posted this in the Accidents section;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6096518.stm