hawk44
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Hey yall, this is my first real post here and a first thread. It's more of a lesson learned type thing and looking for advice.
I am a new diver but have been around water my entire life (17 years old) I had gotten an opportunity to do research in the kelp forest of southern California and so I jumped at the opportunity. This study is supposed to start the 1st week of July and run once a month for a year. I had been talking to one of my friends from school about helping me out with this and doing this study together.
This was our dive plan...
Pick him up at 530 A.M. at the beach at 540 AM, suit up and walk down the trail at 550, strap up BC's and in the water at about 610, surface swim out and dive down at about 610. Follow the bottom as it drops off from 30 to 70 ft and mark out 5 transects of 30 meters x 2 meters for a study area with 250ft reels. 15 ft safety stop and then surface with at least 800 PSI, uses the current to help us get back to the beach and get in.
The reason we were up so early was to take advantage of the tides. The beach we were on is a rocky beach with good, 2ft diameter boulders and about 1-2 ft surge at slack tide (when our dive plan had us there...)
Now for when things start to go pear shaped.
My buddy was a PADI rescue diver. The last 2 weeks he talked about how excited he was to go diving and how he couldn't wait to go. He told me about how he could do pretty much anything and how he wanted to go diving in there so bad. Told me how he had hundreds of dives logged and how he wanted to become a PADI dive master this summer. I asked him how he felt about doing a beach dive on a rocky coastline with surge and surf. He said no problem. So I was thinking, "cool he knows what he's doing and he has enough experience to be fine with the entry and exit. This is going to be a fun dive and should go well." famous last words.
6 days ago I got a BP/W set up and my buddy (he just got a new back inflate BCD) and I went to the pool to do a weight check and run over a few skills. In hindsight this is when I am now noticing red flags
He asked to borrow regulators for the dive. I was caught a little off guard thinking, "wow you have that many dives and a RD cert and you don't have your own rags or spg's?" So I asked my stepdad who is a NAUI divemaster about it and he said it was kind of weird that he didn't have his own stuff and had as many dives as he (my buddy) said he did. He also said he never would loan anyone any of his life dependent gear because of legal risk and that my buddy should go rent a set.
When we got to the pool we got set up in our wetsuits and gear to do a weight and buoyancy check. It was a typical sunny southern California hot summer day and we were in a warm pool with 7mm hooded wetsuits gloves and booties on. To say it was hot was an understatement but the water out here in the ocean is a chilly 50.
The entire time we were getting set up he was complaining about how hot he was and how it sucked being in a wet suit. I asked him:
"Aren't you used to being in a wetsuit by now?"
"No I've only been in a sortie before."
I looked at him and said, "Out here are you kidding?"
He said, "No all my diving has taken place in warm water."
At this point I noticed that his cert cards (sitting on the table) were from Hawaii, the BVI and Florida.
Once we were suited up I ran though a gear checklist for both of us. I'll cut it short and say he was missing a Knife, Lights and a snorkel. He then proceeded to argue with me about how he didn't need all that stuff on a dive that involved a pretty long surface swim, under a kelp forest canopy where vis is about 10 ft on a good day, and in a kelp forest that used to allow fishing until 2 months ago.
I stood my ground on this and told him to get the stuff. He said he didn't have enough money/time to get the stuff that night. l let him borrow a backup snorkel, one backup dive light and an old knife.
We got in the pool and got new weighting figured out from our old BCD's to new ones. He was perfectly weighted with 4lbs of lead but he decided that he didn't sink fast enough so he added 8lbs. I looked at him like what are you doing???
I kept my mouth shut because he had a "PPB Specialty"
We got out of the pool and went over our plan for the next day several times. That night I sent him a text message saying see you at 530
Now the fun part...
The next morning I got to his house at 527 and all the lights were off. His dog started barking when I came up the steps to the door. His mom answered the door and said, "Ill go get him up." Apparently he didn't tell his mom about our plans until the night before. He came out of his room at 545. We got to the beach and he was moving at a snails pace like something was wrong. He kept saying I'm fine I'm fine.
We walked down the trial and got everything set up. Scrambling over boulders with 70lbs worth of gear on is entertaining to say the least...
Well I thought it would take 10 minutes to get our tanks set up and ready to hit the water, it took him 30. He kept screwing up too: put the regs on backwards, then put them on coming over the left shoulder then finally got it right. I looked at him thinking "he's not comfortable or ready." but I kept my mouth shut because he had more certs than I did. Finally he had his gear sorted out and then proceeded to ask, "So how do you get in the water?" I looked at him kind of funny and said "walk over wait for a lull set, get in after one rolls in and let it carry you out." he then said "you do it first."
So after we checked everything I got out and went in the water. He then proceeded to stand up and when he did. Apparently his tank slipped. What happened is when he moved from one rock to another he tapped it on a rock and he thought the tank tapping the rock was the tank slipping?
At that point I finally said, "Nope were done get back, you're not comfortable here and I don't want me or you to get hurt because of it." I looked at my watch and we were now 20 minutes before high tide. Because of this instead of waves rolling in at 1-2 feet they were now 3-5 feet. I thought this is going to be interesting as I came in during another lull set. I turned around just in time to see a 4-foot wall of water headed my way, I tucked into a ball, holding my mask and rag with my tank wing taking the force of the blow into the rocks. All I can say is one second later I was 10 feet higher up on the beach. I grabbed on to another rock and just held on as the next wave hit me. Got out right after that set, throwing my fins up higher. He was just sitting on a rock staring out into space, never gave me a wave call or heads up.
I got my fins and asked him what happened and here is the dialog
Him "I didn't even know we were allowed to dive here"
"Yup you are"
"Like I didn't know you are allowed to walk out into the ocean and dive, I've only been off a boat. I've never even dove in CA before. I've never done a shore dive before."
"Well you need to go to Catalina or Redondo and get some experience before coming out here."
He made excuses all the way up the hill till we got to the car
We had an awkward 5-minute ride back to his house where I dropped him off.
Lesson has been learned. Just wondering when you guys think I should have called it off, or if I should have? Similar experiences?
I am a new diver but have been around water my entire life (17 years old) I had gotten an opportunity to do research in the kelp forest of southern California and so I jumped at the opportunity. This study is supposed to start the 1st week of July and run once a month for a year. I had been talking to one of my friends from school about helping me out with this and doing this study together.
This was our dive plan...
Pick him up at 530 A.M. at the beach at 540 AM, suit up and walk down the trail at 550, strap up BC's and in the water at about 610, surface swim out and dive down at about 610. Follow the bottom as it drops off from 30 to 70 ft and mark out 5 transects of 30 meters x 2 meters for a study area with 250ft reels. 15 ft safety stop and then surface with at least 800 PSI, uses the current to help us get back to the beach and get in.
The reason we were up so early was to take advantage of the tides. The beach we were on is a rocky beach with good, 2ft diameter boulders and about 1-2 ft surge at slack tide (when our dive plan had us there...)
Now for when things start to go pear shaped.
My buddy was a PADI rescue diver. The last 2 weeks he talked about how excited he was to go diving and how he couldn't wait to go. He told me about how he could do pretty much anything and how he wanted to go diving in there so bad. Told me how he had hundreds of dives logged and how he wanted to become a PADI dive master this summer. I asked him how he felt about doing a beach dive on a rocky coastline with surge and surf. He said no problem. So I was thinking, "cool he knows what he's doing and he has enough experience to be fine with the entry and exit. This is going to be a fun dive and should go well." famous last words.
6 days ago I got a BP/W set up and my buddy (he just got a new back inflate BCD) and I went to the pool to do a weight check and run over a few skills. In hindsight this is when I am now noticing red flags
He asked to borrow regulators for the dive. I was caught a little off guard thinking, "wow you have that many dives and a RD cert and you don't have your own rags or spg's?" So I asked my stepdad who is a NAUI divemaster about it and he said it was kind of weird that he didn't have his own stuff and had as many dives as he (my buddy) said he did. He also said he never would loan anyone any of his life dependent gear because of legal risk and that my buddy should go rent a set.
When we got to the pool we got set up in our wetsuits and gear to do a weight and buoyancy check. It was a typical sunny southern California hot summer day and we were in a warm pool with 7mm hooded wetsuits gloves and booties on. To say it was hot was an understatement but the water out here in the ocean is a chilly 50.
The entire time we were getting set up he was complaining about how hot he was and how it sucked being in a wet suit. I asked him:
"Aren't you used to being in a wetsuit by now?"
"No I've only been in a sortie before."
I looked at him and said, "Out here are you kidding?"
He said, "No all my diving has taken place in warm water."
At this point I noticed that his cert cards (sitting on the table) were from Hawaii, the BVI and Florida.
Once we were suited up I ran though a gear checklist for both of us. I'll cut it short and say he was missing a Knife, Lights and a snorkel. He then proceeded to argue with me about how he didn't need all that stuff on a dive that involved a pretty long surface swim, under a kelp forest canopy where vis is about 10 ft on a good day, and in a kelp forest that used to allow fishing until 2 months ago.
I stood my ground on this and told him to get the stuff. He said he didn't have enough money/time to get the stuff that night. l let him borrow a backup snorkel, one backup dive light and an old knife.
We got in the pool and got new weighting figured out from our old BCD's to new ones. He was perfectly weighted with 4lbs of lead but he decided that he didn't sink fast enough so he added 8lbs. I looked at him like what are you doing???
I kept my mouth shut because he had a "PPB Specialty"
We got out of the pool and went over our plan for the next day several times. That night I sent him a text message saying see you at 530
Now the fun part...
The next morning I got to his house at 527 and all the lights were off. His dog started barking when I came up the steps to the door. His mom answered the door and said, "Ill go get him up." Apparently he didn't tell his mom about our plans until the night before. He came out of his room at 545. We got to the beach and he was moving at a snails pace like something was wrong. He kept saying I'm fine I'm fine.
We walked down the trial and got everything set up. Scrambling over boulders with 70lbs worth of gear on is entertaining to say the least...
Well I thought it would take 10 minutes to get our tanks set up and ready to hit the water, it took him 30. He kept screwing up too: put the regs on backwards, then put them on coming over the left shoulder then finally got it right. I looked at him thinking "he's not comfortable or ready." but I kept my mouth shut because he had more certs than I did. Finally he had his gear sorted out and then proceeded to ask, "So how do you get in the water?" I looked at him kind of funny and said "walk over wait for a lull set, get in after one rolls in and let it carry you out." he then said "you do it first."
So after we checked everything I got out and went in the water. He then proceeded to stand up and when he did. Apparently his tank slipped. What happened is when he moved from one rock to another he tapped it on a rock and he thought the tank tapping the rock was the tank slipping?
At that point I finally said, "Nope were done get back, you're not comfortable here and I don't want me or you to get hurt because of it." I looked at my watch and we were now 20 minutes before high tide. Because of this instead of waves rolling in at 1-2 feet they were now 3-5 feet. I thought this is going to be interesting as I came in during another lull set. I turned around just in time to see a 4-foot wall of water headed my way, I tucked into a ball, holding my mask and rag with my tank wing taking the force of the blow into the rocks. All I can say is one second later I was 10 feet higher up on the beach. I grabbed on to another rock and just held on as the next wave hit me. Got out right after that set, throwing my fins up higher. He was just sitting on a rock staring out into space, never gave me a wave call or heads up.
I got my fins and asked him what happened and here is the dialog
Him "I didn't even know we were allowed to dive here"
"Yup you are"
"Like I didn't know you are allowed to walk out into the ocean and dive, I've only been off a boat. I've never even dove in CA before. I've never done a shore dive before."
"Well you need to go to Catalina or Redondo and get some experience before coming out here."
He made excuses all the way up the hill till we got to the car
We had an awkward 5-minute ride back to his house where I dropped him off.
Lesson has been learned. Just wondering when you guys think I should have called it off, or if I should have? Similar experiences?
