Insights from Rescue for BP/W users

[TheRedHead]

Hmmm... must be something very new. I've been diving both places for a while and never had anyone try to discourage my knife or shears.
Yet.
Rick

Cozumel has a no knife rule, I'm pretty sure, but I think shears are ok. Bonaire may not, but after hearing stories of getting your gear confiscated for having gloves, I decided not to chance it. I've always carried shears in my pocket, but now that I have streamlined and don't have a pocket, I carry the Dive Rite Z-knife on my webbing.

http://www.diveriteexpress.com/tools/img/ac2059lg.jpg

I'm not sure if it would cut though a harness.

 

[TheRedHead]

Cozumel has a no knife rule:

It IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED:
To stand on, or take hold of the coral reefs
To fish for, to collect, to disturb or to keep any marine life organism found in the Park (fishes, corals, shells, starfish, etc.)
To carry spears, hooks, harpoons or explosives
To carry gloves or knives (Dive Masters and Instructors may register these items for use with the Marine Park).
To disturb or to remove fauna and flora from their refuge.
To feed any fish or animals in the Marine Park
To dispose of any kind of solid waste in the ocean.
To dump fuel, grease, oil, or any other liquid substances into the ocean
To use sun block or suntan oils which are not biodegradable.

Some dive operators may not enforce it, but I'm sure some would.

 

[Cacia]

When I was there, nobody took my knife, nobody quoted the rule.I think maybe the intent of the rule is to reserve the right in case some guy is going around hacking up urchins and black coral, etc. besides, I need it to tuck my longhose.
My goal is usually to conduct myself in a way that nobody whips out the rules and starts applying them all. fly under the radar.

 

[Taipeidiver]

Great thread...

I am just back from PG and my TDI Extended Range (baby tech) course. The guys down there have thrown a lot of rescue stuff into the curriculum and, of course, everybody on the course and the instructors are all wearing BP/W, doubles and stages.

My own solution is to release the waist buckle (and free the crotch strap) then cut either of the shoulder straps (you only need to cut one), then making sure that you have removed their alternate (which is bungeed around their neck) and sorted out any problems with the long hose, you can slide the whole rig off the arm which you didn't cut. The whole exercise, including getting the victim back onto the boat should take less than four minutes so that you can descend to carry out your schedules for omitted decompression (if any).

Leave the reg in and the mask on until the last minute as they seal the airway from water ingress. We were not taught to carry out in water rescue breaths like they do in the PADI rescue course.

Cheers,

TD

 

[AlexMDiver]

In a rescue scenario, you would want to release the weightbelt and the harness, get rid of the weights first, then get rid of the BC (BP or jacket)...

If you remove the BC and leave the weights... makes for a negative buoyancy scenario..

My thoughts... why not unbuckle both?? Keep the diver floating on the BC . The weight belt will pull through the buckle pretty much by it's self.. although you probably don't want them falling in the pool during practice.

Thoughts?

I agree, no removing the BC before the weights are off. Have the weights buckle oppositely handed to the harness.

Important is to stay calm in this high stress environment. Time is crucial, yes, but the stop, think, act procedure is always worth it. It is quite possible to remove a harness without cutting. In a real life scenario of course the diver might have too much air in the dry suit when on the surface, the arms will not pass through for the harness to be removed. Then cut, calmly.

Is this maybe more of a problem in a rescue class itself in comparison with those that wear simple quick release gear, rather than in a real scenario where the diver with the quick release gear as maybe endless hoses clipped over his body with two ldive lights in the wrong place and strange cummerbunds and endless chest clips to open etc etc

Remaining calm, looking at what the problem is and then acting is the key. Whether the rescue of a given diver takes 15 seconds more or less is in the real life maybe insignificant. I used to teach students in the rescue class initially counting out loudly and calmly every step that they were doing while removing the gear, instead of it being a race.

Know your buddies gear before the dive.

 

[BarryNL]

You'll be cutting the harness once you reach shore or the boat. Very shortly after, your unresponsive diver is probably going to be cut out of their drysuit too. So if you nick it, that's the least of their problems.

The problem is not the damage to the dry suit but the loss of buoyancy to the victim if the suit is cut. Admittedly, a small nick won't cause a rapid loss of buoyancy but a good cut might do.

 

[Hoyden]

The solution to the whole "how to cut a one piece harness" dilemma is easily solved by wearing a small z-knife strapped to your harness high on your right shoulder - it is easy to reach with either hand, in plain view and very accessible to rescuers. It will slice right thru harness webbing and leave everything else alone. It is also inconspicuous enough to avoid everyone's no knife rules and would probably pass even if it was noticed.


Jackie

 

[rescue15]

had a hard time discerning which buckle was my weight belt and which was my harness.

This troubles me. It is no harder to take off than a back pack while camping. A BP/W is easier to don and doff than a jacket BC.

As far as which buckle is which...what ever happened to left hand release of the weight belt and right hand release of the BC belt?

Steve