Laguna Beach Death

[runway1]

Anybody have more info on the story posted on CA Diving News ?

DK to News
show details 4:04 PM (28 minutes ago) Reply

All,
A scuba diver died Saturday while attempting an entry at Cleo St. in Laguna Beach. The diver was Antoine Hayes (53) of Costa Mesa and his buddy was Matthew S (38) of LA County. The buddy reports that the pair were experienced, had dived together before, and it was fairly common for Hayes to take a little longer to get through the surf zone. The buddy was in the water, already past the surf zone, when Mr. Hayes indicated with an arm gesture that something was giving him trouble in the surf zone. There was never a call for help. The buddy was not aware of any diver distress but thought there could have been some problem. The buddy returned to Hayes and found him floating. He pulled the diver from the water and initiated rescue techniques.

 

[Ann Marie]

Whoa! Hadn't heard anything. I went diving on Friday morning and didn't experience any unusual conditions.

Too sad!

 

[runway1]

I was there that day at Divers Cove. It's about 1-2 miles north of that spot. Our group decided to abort, as did many others.

 

[OCdiving Deb]

Anybody have more info on the story posted on CA Diving News ?

DK to News
show details 4:04 PM (28 minutes ago) Reply

Hi Runway1,

I wrote that item to the OCdiving News email list, not CA Diving News. Confusing, I know.

My condolences to the friends and family of the diver.

 

[=C=]

looks like an easy entry on Google. Anyone know what the bottom is like?

 

[runway1]

Hi Runway1,

I wrote that item to the OCdiving News email list, not CA Diving News. Confusing, I know.

My condolences to the friends and family of the diver.

Correct, my mistake.

I feel terribly for that diver and his family. Especially because he fits my profile to a tee and I thought that one day, that could easily be me.

May our Father carry his soul and give peace to those he leaves.

 

[ChrisA]

looks like an easy entry on Google. Anyone know what the bottom is like?

It's an easy sandy beach with reasonably nearby parking. but if the surf is up if can take quite a bit of physical effort to push past one wave after the other. The key is to get past the surf zone in a minimum amount of time. Many times people "'fight" the surf and let themseves get slammed in the chest and head by a big wall of moving water rather then deflating the BC and ducking under the waves. If the period between waves is short, you never have time to catch your breath. if one were tto have a heart attack it would be when they were working hard.

There have been accidents in the past were divers were breathing compressed air in the surf zone and get rolled by a 6 or 7 foot wave. They held their breath and got an over expansion injury. Some training agencies advice to never use scuba in the surf, breathe only with a snorkel. PADI and others teaches students to use scuba. opinion is devided on this.

I don't know what happended but yes even on a nice sandy beach bad things can happen to you.

 

[luapo]

He was a good friend of mine. Both divers were very competent with close to a thousand dives. This was a regular dive site for them. Both knew it like the back of their hands. So far it is not clear if it was a heart attack or an equipment malfunction (BC Leak) which lead to a drowning. By the time Mathew got hold of him, he had already dumped his weights.

These guys were regular dive buddies and knew each other’s limits and capabilities. We are all shocked that such an excellent diver could have such a terrible accident. They were both rescue divers as well as technical divers. We've all dove this site together so many times that it is inconceivable that this could be anything but a result of a medical issue that none of us knew of. The extreme cold coupled with the walk down the bluff and the entry through the surf zone could all have been factors. But, like I said, Antoine had made this dive so so many times.

Matt did in fact blow his whistle and yell for help as he towed Antoine back to shore. Problem, as I understand, no one heard or payed much attention. I'm not sure if there was a life guard on duty. Seems as he was towing Antoine in, he was hit in the surf zone and lost grip but swimmers on the beach by this time swam out to help. When he was pulled to shore they initiated CPR. Nonetheless, Antoine had passed away by the time paramedics arrived at the scene. We all feel horrible for both Antoine’s family and Mathew, who did everything he could.

And no, this is not necessarily an easy dive. Like all beach dives, the conditions at the moment dictate the challenge. And considering that the walk down to the site is steep and tedious with over a hundred pounds on ones back, it can be quite challenging. And as all Californians know, the water is freezing, the currents are strong, and the temperament of the surf is mean to say the least. Some of the best divers still have an off day at this location.

Just remember, diving is deceiving once you've been doing it for a while. We all know what to expect and it is so darn relaxing that we sometimes forget that our bodies are under a great deal of stress when we are diving. Especially easy to overlook the dangers when we are diving a familiar site. This is not to say that anyone overlooked anything. I simply mean that we are responsible for our own safety and we should never take chances if there is any possibility that our health may be a factor. Again, I don't know that this was the case, but I know that I've dove at times when I know that I was physically pushing my limits. Never again though. This is a reality check for me and should be for everyone. I mean, I've been on dive boats with persons who had no place diving some of the locations, but nonetheless the operators let them in. Crazy sometimes how foolish people can be. But as with anything in this country, we are allowed to be fools.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks for the info Luapo. Certainly an unfortunate accident and sad loss of your friend. Please extend our support to his buddy who should not feel any quilt, but could.

 

[CZ_Diver]

My husband and I were at Diver's Cove that afternoon. We are VERY newly certified, only three weeks ago. This was our third dive w/o an instructor w/ us. We got thru the surf after much watching/analyzing wave patterns, dropped down between the first two outer reefs, which run parallel to the beach, and hit massive surge! I would say 8 feet...it was blowing us back and forth, almost crashing into the reefs on each side. Oi!! We were down for about two minutes when we thumbed the dive. The worst part was I got seasick on the surface and was throwing up! My hubby buddy-towed me for a bit until my stomach settled, then we got out... Frankly, we were happy to have escaped, and we felt lucky we got out unscathed. Hubby said, "Glad I didn't have to inflate the safety sausage so soon after training!" Seriously though, we were very winded and exhausted.

So sorry for Antoine's family. Could've been me, I swear...was rough out there.