Incident at Dutch Springs 21 May

[tddfleming]

The DUI drysuit demo days I've participated in were great but divers do need to expect a lot of do it yourself training. I don't know what they charge now but I doubt it comes close to covering costs. I am sure it could be a better experience if the fee was doubled but it's still a very worthy and safe experience. Ask your LDS what they would charge for a one day drysuit class with no intention of purchasing?

This sad loss sounds much more clearly to be a failure to follow training: close buddy protocols, monitoring air with prudent ascent, orally inflating BC, ditching weights - an all too common combination we see frequently on death threads. One of the reasons I would not carry a camera for the first hundred dives is that I wanted to carry my console in my hand rather than have it on a retractor so I could easily check my gas often and was reminded to do so.

I see that most of the people reading this thread are guests and I read that a number of new divers are following it. I do hope that they can accept the needs to emphasis those important actions, again: close buddy protocols, monitoring air with prudent ascent, orally inflating BC, ditching weights.

Don:

At least one shop around here sells it as a drysuit demo along with getting your drysuit cert. You pay the LDS $15 for the Demo then go out the day of hook up with the LDS and do the demos, need 2 dives out of it. If you want your dry suit cert you then pay the LDS for the class also. These dives can also goes towards your adventure dives, via Padi. The LDS I was with last year, for the second dive, we surfaced for the min amount of time required by PADI stayed on the surface then went for the second dive. I do not disagree with you about this being a safe and fun day. But much of your day depends on who you go through and how they handle everything.

As you so well stated, everytime I read one of these tragic accidents, I always stop and think and look at how we do things. I mentally go over in my head how to handle these situations. Very sad, if true, how the kid was being pushed.

 

[TSandM]

To respect the request by the eyewitness to keep this positive and proactive, I'd like to offer, yet again, the link to Bob Bailey's article on gas planning.

Although remembering to orally inflate and drop weights is important, once you have dug yourself into a hole, staying out of the hole in the first place is the most effective way to be safe. Aside from the rare catastrophic equipment malfunction, there is simply no excuse for running out of gas. I know I don't sound sympathetic, but after six years on this board, I've gone through profound sadness and have ended up in rage, that so many people die for this completely avoidable reason. I don't know if teaching the material in Bob's article in OW would change anything, but I sure wish we could do it.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

1. Young, novice diver certified only a few moths.
2. Both divers Diving Dry for first time, separates selves from larger demo group.
3. Dive buddy with aggressive expectations of step-sons abilites. (as stated by friends of divers who stated the father "just kept on pushing that kid")
4. Teen made it to surface, was panicked, didn't drop weights, didnt try to orally inflate BC, sunk under surface after not being able to remain afloat.
5. Was not overweighted. Had "O psi" air in tank as indicated by his pressure guage.
6. Was not in deep area of park, 35ft maxdepth. (was brought to pennisula by rescue team, that is where ambulance does pick up and boat can land quickly)
7. Dive buddy 'tried" best effort, found teen already under water without air on his way to surface.
8. Teen non-responsive, pupils fixed when brought to shore, 18 minutes approx without air supply. nuff said on this point.
9.Weather was sunny and fair, 75 degrees, dive conditions good, vis 30-40 ft.
10. All gear was new or in certifed/inspected condition for both divers.

Would like input from these "facts" and looking forward to intelligent discussion about what we can learn from this situation. Would like to see constructive input from fellow divers...particularly to assit novice and experienced divers alike.

To hear this pisses me off to no end. I grew up in that area and used to occasionally sneak into that quarry to dive while it was still active and no tresspassing was allowed.

The kid made it to the surface and then failed to ditch lead and then sunk down for 18 minutes in 35 feet of water in 30 feet of visibility in a quarry???? Clearly the buddy (dad) screwed the pooch.

I think I've have had to bite my tongue 100 times as I read some newby know-it-all-psuedo-tech diver spout off about how they don't need ditchable lead and they can't imagine a reason why anybody would and the danger of accidentallyy loosing a belt is a death sentence. It is all BS. It drives me crazy, yet I don't say anything.

I am old school, i wear a weight belt (a rubber one) and I will ditch it if I have to. It is not hard to practice ditching it, I just removal and replace on dives.

If you are worried about a weight belt falling off during a dive, then don't buy the POS soft belts, mesh belts, plastic buckles and non elastic nylon belts!!!!! If you are really worried about it, use a double buckle on the belt and an extra long tab.

People need to be capable of, and practiced in, the ditching of their lead (especially for non-deco recreational diving). What better example do we need than this?

 

[openmindOW]

Let's slow down a bit and ask a question.

Is it a fact that the victim in this incident ran out of gas?

Yes, Sohnje saw that the gauge read zero. He did not say, as far as I know, that he was sure that the victim's gas supply was gone. (Correct me if i'm wrong about that, Sohnje.)

Sohnje also said that the victim was wearing a single tank. Is it possible that the cylinder valve was in the closed position and that the hose had been purged?

Does anyone know whether the victim was participating in a Drysuit Demo Day?

 

[ReeferBen]

I thought sohnje already confirmed both that he checked the gauge as the diver was being pulled from the water, and that he was wearing a demo dry suit.

 

[Joeyk]

To respect the request by the eyewitness to keep this positive and proactive, I'd like to offer, yet again, the link to Bob Bailey's article on gas planning.
.

Wish they was brackets with the metric units as well. And I have no idea what the cylinder descriptions were about.

 

[Joeyk]

To respect the request by the eyewitness to keep this positive and proactive, I'd like to offer, yet again, the link to Bob Bailey's article on gas planning.
.

Wish there was brackets with the metric units as well. And I have no idea what the cylinder descriptions were about.

 

[Garth]

I don't wear weight. So I have nothing to ditch. Does that piss you off?

 

[Ragnar]

I don't wear weight. So I have nothing to ditch. Does that piss you off?

Yes, why not I don't know the circumstances of the dive but running OOA at 35-60' takes some serious lack of attention.

That said it's a damn shame that a young kid had to go like that, that's what Really pisses me off. A friend of mine was there also, haven't spoken to him yet but his mail to me said the kid was bleeding from the mouth nose and ears at the surface so ascending on the Dads octo may be questionable He also mentioned it was his first time in a drysuit, but I can't be sure any of that is accurate having not talked to him yet to see how closely he was involved.

 

[Garth]

Your right it sounds like ascending on the dads octo did not occur but the bleeding out the mouth, nose and ear makes it sound like a rapid ascent.