I often throw fins in from the side while waiting for my turn at the ladder, or put them on the platform if there is one. I think on smaller boats without proper ladder you take off all your gear in the water, but IME "handing over" the BC is not that much fun for all involved, people drop belts, and so on. And that's when there's no chop. Why anyone would have that as the SOP is... puzzling.
Indian fatality - Koh Phi Phi, Thailand
- Thread starter DandyDon
- Start date
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First off, very tragic...sorry to hear about it. It also brought back memories of an incident I was involved in a few years back while diving in Indonesia. At the time I had done about 20 dives or so. Some might find it disrespectful to share it in a thread like this, but I think it might be of value for preventing accidents.
We were on the outside of some rocks, where heavy swell was breaking. The boat was not in very good condition and neither was the engines. While we are getting the equipment ready both engines fails. This leads to the boat being pushed up on the rocks very quickly. This makes the boat tilt and throws me from the right bow(now being the top of the boat) into the water on the left side. A fall of about 2,5 meters. On my way down I crash into a fellow diver and bring her with me into the sea. Seconds after all divers and dm´s are ordered to get of the boat while the crew struggles with getting of the rocks.
What made this situation even worse is that I had made the misstake of putting on my weight belt. Because of this I struggled with keeping my head above the surface for probably 20-30 seconds before even realizing that I my belt was on me. Than I dropped the belt and was able to get to the other diver who I crashed into while falling, and we both stayed afloat with her bcd.
It wasn´t until I was back on the shore I understood how serious this incident was. What if I hit my head and got knocked unconscious in the fall? Or just wasn't a very strong swimmer? Nobody was able to help me at the time and it was definitely a high risk of drowning.
In hindsight, weights on before fins was a bad idea. This rookie diver was lucky not to get seriously hurt.
We were on the outside of some rocks, where heavy swell was breaking. The boat was not in very good condition and neither was the engines. While we are getting the equipment ready both engines fails. This leads to the boat being pushed up on the rocks very quickly. This makes the boat tilt and throws me from the right bow(now being the top of the boat) into the water on the left side. A fall of about 2,5 meters. On my way down I crash into a fellow diver and bring her with me into the sea. Seconds after all divers and dm´s are ordered to get of the boat while the crew struggles with getting of the rocks.
What made this situation even worse is that I had made the misstake of putting on my weight belt. Because of this I struggled with keeping my head above the surface for probably 20-30 seconds before even realizing that I my belt was on me. Than I dropped the belt and was able to get to the other diver who I crashed into while falling, and we both stayed afloat with her bcd.
It wasn´t until I was back on the shore I understood how serious this incident was. What if I hit my head and got knocked unconscious in the fall? Or just wasn't a very strong swimmer? Nobody was able to help me at the time and it was definitely a high risk of drowning.
In hindsight, weights on before fins was a bad idea. This rookie diver was lucky not to get seriously hurt.
InTheDrink
Contributor
I think it’s very context dependent on the order you doff and don your kit. In nearly all cases however a weight belt needs to go on before BC (as it fits under it) and in many conditions need to walk before getting in water (even on a dive deck) so wearing fins is a hazard. Getting back out again depends on what kind of dive your doing from what environment (shore/boat/zodiac/conditions/support). Main thing is BC should be at least somewhat inflated when near water. Except of course when doing a negative entry.
This doesn't much sense to me... you get off your weight belt before the BCD, so if you fall back in the water, even without fins, you will float due to the air in the BCD when you previously surfaced.
There's really nothing to remember or a procedure to follow, it's natural like opening the car door before exiting it, unless you want exiting from the window.
There's really nothing to remember or a procedure to follow, it's natural like opening the car door before exiting it, unless you want exiting from the window.
Casper Rønhof
New
I've been doing around 80 dives in Thailand the last 18 months from both small longtail boats and bigger boats with a platform..
On the bigger boats I take off my fins and handing them up 1 at the time while holding on to the ladder or if the sea is rugh a rope that is attached to the boat after that I'm going up the ladder with both weight and bcd on and sit down on the bench popping my tank in the holder on the way down.. taking of my bcd and open the weight belt before I stand up and taking the weight of as im standing up.. When diving from a longtail boat on the side of the boat that has a very small ladder I hand of my weight, bcd and then fins to one of the guys on the boat and go up the ladder..
On the bigger boats I take off my fins and handing them up 1 at the time while holding on to the ladder or if the sea is rugh a rope that is attached to the boat after that I'm going up the ladder with both weight and bcd on and sit down on the bench popping my tank in the holder on the way down.. taking of my bcd and open the weight belt before I stand up and taking the weight of as im standing up.. When diving from a longtail boat on the side of the boat that has a very small ladder I hand of my weight, bcd and then fins to one of the guys on the boat and go up the ladder..
InTheDrink
Contributor
So yes context dependent. Main thing is have mechanism inflated where near water. Don’t walk around with just a weight belt. Fairly simple.
It's a nice safety notion, but it means you have to take your belt off while wearing tanks on your back. Very easy in the water, OK sitting down, and really uncomfortable to do standing up on a rocking boat.
For me the doff order has always been either:
Belt+fins - pass up - climb aboard - BC+tanks - mask, or
Fins - climb aboard - BC+tank - belt - mask.
Even in light of this accident, I still don't plan to wear tanks on deck any longer than necessary. The high probability, low impact risk of dropping or falling with the tanks outweighs it. Perhaps just be more sure not to delay the procedure and get the belt off right away. Somewhere like Phi Phi, I'd only have a couple pounds plus tools on it, so it's easy to forget it's there.
More focus should be on novices like DSD and students. First, stop overweighting them. Second, ensure that belt removal should be second nature before one puts it on at sea. And third, supervise their don and doff procedure, so this doesn't happen. Even if you teach them to do the belt last/first, they won't follow it without supervision, the equipment is too unfamiliar to them.
divinh
Contributor
In my limited experience so far, the order of removing equipment varied with the operator and situation. They usually give a rundown of how they want/expect the equipment removed.
French Polynesia - most of the boats are small, some with and some without ladders. First is to hand over camera and weight belt, then BCD with tank attached, then fins... unless you were using a ladder, which means handing over the fins and climbing up the ladder with BCD and tank on your back.
Maui - Hammerhead Site specifically, hang onto a rope dragging behind the boat (strong current) until it's your turn (waves are slamming the boat and you want to time it so there isn't a wave coming in that would slam you against the boat), pull yourself quickly toward the boat while kicking and remove the fins when you're almost there to hand to someone on the boat, then quickly climb up the ladder with all of the rest of the gear.
Thailand - remove weights and fins to hand over, then climb up ladder
French Polynesia - most of the boats are small, some with and some without ladders. First is to hand over camera and weight belt, then BCD with tank attached, then fins... unless you were using a ladder, which means handing over the fins and climbing up the ladder with BCD and tank on your back.
Maui - Hammerhead Site specifically, hang onto a rope dragging behind the boat (strong current) until it's your turn (waves are slamming the boat and you want to time it so there isn't a wave coming in that would slam you against the boat), pull yourself quickly toward the boat while kicking and remove the fins when you're almost there to hand to someone on the boat, then quickly climb up the ladder with all of the rest of the gear.
Thailand - remove weights and fins to hand over, then climb up ladder
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