Is the surface the most dangerous part of the dive?

[L13]

Reading comprehension people!

The first graph (post #42) explicitly states that the horizontal axis is "The depth at which incident started."

EDIT:
To be explicit, DCI and other incidents which start at depth would not count as surface for this graph.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Complete and utter garbage, for a property weighted scuba diver the surface is where you’re the safest. You can’t get decompression sickness if you stay on the surface, you can’t drown if you stay on the surface, you can’t hit yourself with a boat some other clown has to do it. YouTube crap.
Edit: This stuff must be made for people who have no experience of going outside their own houses.

In an age where it’s stylish to integrate all of ones weight onto the S.C.U.B.A rig in an unditchable manner AND be overweighted is absolute madness!
May as well just tie someone to a marble pillar and throw them overboard.
What happened to learning proper weighting first and the physics behind it, then applying that to diving? They used to teach skin diving skills first and proper weighting way before students were ever allowed to don a scuba unit. And prior to BC’s students absolutely needed to be properly weighted or they couldn’t stay on the surface or dive at all. This whole new fashion of elevator diving is really warped.
I’m with you, theoretically the surface should be the safest place to be and there no reason why it shouldn’t. When divers get uneasy or run into a problem at depth the surface is the ultimate goal to reach. It’s not a place to dread.

 

[L13]

...
I’m with you, theoretically the surface should be the safest place to be and there no reason why it shouldn’t...

Theoretically it is. Realistically it isn't. Primarily because of complacency etc, not inherent danger.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Theoretically it is. Realistically it isn't. Primarily because of complacency etc, not inherent danger.

“Realistically it isn’t”
Who’s reality is that?
You have an unlimited source of air, and you can be seen and located by surface crew or buddy, if you’re not feeling well and need to be sick you are at the safest place for that to happen.
Complacency needs to be trained out of those who take gear for granted. I’m assuming you mean “complacency” in terms of people using (or abusing) a BC for what it’s not supposed to be.
Still to me the biggest factor in surface hazards is the modern culture if gross overweighting, if Complacency applies to this phenomenon then you’re right. This alone explains why people surface in distress, then sink back below the waves and die. Part of establishing positive buoyancy at the surface is not being negative at the surface in the first place.

 

[L13]

“Realistically it isn’t”
Who’s reality is that?

Reality as measured by BSAC and other organizations.

You have an unlimited source of air, and you can be seen and located by surface crew or buddy, if you’re not feeling well and need to be sick you are at the safest place for that to happen.

All of this is true.

Complacency needs to be trained out of those who take gear for granted. I’m assuming you mean “complacency” in terms of people using (or abusing) a BC for what it’s not supposed to be.
Still to me the biggest factor in surface hazards is the modern culture if gross overweighting, if Complacency applies to this phenomenon then you’re right. This alone explains why people surface in distress, then sink back below the waves and die. Part of establishing positive buoyancy at the surface is not being negative at the surface in the first place.

Agree that these are big issues, but there are others as well.

 

[johndiver999]

“Realistically it isn’t”
Who’s reality is that?
You have an unlimited source of air, and you can be seen and located by surface crew or buddy, if you’re not feeling well and need to be sick you are at the safest place for that to happen.
Complacency needs to be trained out of those who take gear for granted. I’m assuming you mean “complacency” in terms of people using (or abusing) a BC for what it’s not supposed to be.
Still to me the biggest factor in surface hazards is the modern culture if gross overweighting, if Complacency applies to this phenomenon then you’re right. This alone explains why people surface in distress, then sink back below the waves and die. Part of establishing positive buoyancy at the surface is not being negative at the surface in the first place.

You really seem to be missing the boat with your comments. The surface IS dangerous, especailly for those people who are endangered at the surface. The ones who can't swim well, have no snorkel or are uncomfortable using one, can't orally inflate, people who will be driven to panic if waves start slapping them in the face nd going in their mouth, the ones who are more comfortable with the mask on the forehead and who are over weighted.

Just because you don't dive with people like that does not mean that they are not out there or are particularly rare.

I can't tell you how many AOW students I have had to rescue, who have stepped off a boat with air in their BC and totally panicked on the surface when their lips got wet. They spit the reg, start yelling and flailing and often pop the mask. You would be surprised how many times I have had to yell "put your regulator in your mouth" as I swim over to grab them and haul them 15 feet to the platform.

these types of "rescues" are far, far more common than having to really help someone underwater, in my experience anyway.

 

[Celt]

If people think the surface is dangerous, they must be doing very little diving. In the BSAC report mentioned there was a single incident of injury to a lady hit by a propeller, the vast majority of the surface incidents are mechanical failures reported by the coast guard or the RNLI. Compare this to 16 diving fatalities 3 of which were heart attacks the others diving related. 60 cases of DCI. 16 rapid ascents. 9 technique incidents and 21 equipment incidents. As for people unintentionally sinking off the surface either after a dive or before it, is absolutely ludicrous and they have no business in the water. They are a liability to themselves and others.

 

[L13]

...As for people unintentionally sinking off the surface either after a dive or before it, is absolutely ludicrous and they have no business in the water. They are a liability to themselves and others.

If we subtract the majority of the divers that die at the surface, because they are "absolutely ludicrous and they have no business in the water" then it isn't dangerous at the surface. Except, according to BSAC stats, they happened and they outnumber the ones at depth(in 2021 over 125, outnumbering all other depths, including unknown, combined).

Ludicrous or not, they are happening. (see post #42)

 

[Joneill]

Is the surface the most dangerous part of the dive? What do you think?

No - if you are a competent/responsible diver, the surface parts of the dive are absolutely not the most dangerous parts.... "competent/responsible" being the key words.

 

[L13]

No - if you are a competent/responsible diver, the surface parts of the dive are absolutely not the most dangerous parts.... "competent/responsible" being the key words.

You could say the same thing for almost every other part of a dive. If you do everything competently and responsibly 100% percent of the time, none of it is dangerous.

Very few if any incidents do not have at least one instance of someone either not being responsible or not being competent at some point in the sequence of events.