Looking for info on Seattle/Alki Cove 2 diver

[jodomonk]

Update: The diver's fiancee has just posted her story as a comment on our site, and says he did not survive. We have reposted her report as a standalone update here and will be adding whatever else we find out:
West Seattle Blog… » Seacrest diver accident update: Fiancee says he didn’t survive

Thank you very much. I appreciate knowing what the final outcome was.

I am not actually a diver, but I wanted to tell about Josh. He is the diver pulled from the water yesterday on Alki beach . He was one of my best friends, and I am his fiance's best friend as well. I was supposed to be in their wedding, we just hadnt decided what side I was to stand on yet. Dont know why I thought you should know that, it just seems important. Every detail of him seems important to me now. Despite all efforts, nothing could bring him back. He is loved by so many, and will be greatly missed. He loved diving, and is in school to do it for a living. His fiance' loves him more than anything in this world and thanks you for everything everyone one that beach did to help rescue Josh.

My heartfelt prayers go out to Josh's friends, family, and his fiance. It was a tragic scene that took place at the beach, but you could see that she loved him incredibly and that is always comforting to know that he went with a loved one nearby. May he rest in peace.

 

[jim T.]

Thank you to Josh's friend and fiance' for making clear what happened in this unfortunate incident. It serves Josh's memory well in that it may help others to avoid making the same mistake(s) and save someone else's life before they even get into the water. Had Josh begun his professional training? Was it training for hard hat diving?

It is my (and other's) opinions that it seems that Josh was diving beyond his current level of ability and training and certainly for a solo dive. That seems to be the lesson and point(s) to be made to help others to avoid a similar and tragic fate.

Also sadly, it is incidents like this that give solo diving a bad name. With proper training, experience/lots of prior dives/ redundant equipment, many solo divers regularly execute safe solo dives. Sure there is an extra element of risk, but
not a universally unmanageable one. The last thing the newscaster on tv said was that this outlines the importance of diving with a partner/buddy.

A more pertinent message might have been and that the diver was likely not ready for or properly equipped for a solo dive.
I was glad to see Bob's comments here regarding solo dives.

We are all very sorry for the loss of your friend and fiance'. Please understand that the purpose of these threads is to analyze and opine about what caused and can be done to prevent similar accidents. Folks often forget that accidents put others at risk when they try to assist ,as well.
Sometimes people are harsh and
that is unfortunate but people often forget that the underwater environment can be harsh and staying within the level of one's current training and abilities is
the most important message that can be conveyed here as it commonly is in beginning Open Water cert training.

Please know that all of the families are in our hearts and minds and have our deepest sympathy. Please try not to be
too hurt or slighted if others comment and analyze. They are in the end, really trying to help prevent similar situations from happening to other's loved ones.

 

[quentusrex]

One thing to keep in mind, before talking about this divers skill is that he was at the surface, called for help, then went under before being brought up by jodomonk's dive buddy. It seems that there was an issue that impaired his diving abilities.

My heart goes out to those who knew and loved him.

 

[PuyallupCoug]

This was just posted on King5.com. Not much more info than the PI article though. My thoughts and prayers go out to Josh's family, especially his Fiance.



Man dies in diving accident in Elliott Bay | Top Stories | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington

 

[jim T.]

quentusrex, The current level of ability/training issues /opinions expressed were based on the issues of diving solo without redundancy and surfacing with a (reported) empty tank.
He may have been a skilled diver but standard solo protocols were apparently not followed based on the information presented thus far.
The blog entry sounded like it was from last Oct./Nov.? No year was
stated but it sounded like Josh was a fairly new diver?


Once again deepest appreciation to the the recovery divers and deepest sympathy to Josh's fiance', her family and his family.

 

[Gdog]

Heartfelt condolences to Josh's family and Fiance and friends. If there were anything I could say, it would be that at the very least, he died doing something he loved, not some other way. Again, my deepest sympathy.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

But having a buddy willing and able to donate air would have made a difference...

I wouldn't assume that someone in distress will take a donated regulator.

The woman that Lamont and others attempted to rescue last year had a buddy who was willing, able, and trying to donate her reg. Sheryl refused to take it, and ended up embolizing.

I had to deal with a panicked diver underwater once ... and it wasn't anything like what we'd been led to expect in our training ... it was all I could do to keep him from drowning me, much less taking the reg I was trying to give him.

It's one thing to go out and practice OOA's with your dive buddies when everyone's expecting it and are calmly passing regulators back and forth. It's an entirely different matter trying to deal with someone who's on the verge of ... or beyond the point of ... panic. Sometimes even the best buddy in the world isn't going to make a difference. It really depends on the reactions of the diver in trouble.

The one thing we know about this incident is that Joshua was on the surface calling for help ... a rationally thinking diver would've been ditching weights at that point. Distress does that to people ... it causes the "flight" instinct to kick in, and the ability to think calmly and rationally goes out the window. In a diving situation that can be fatal.

A dive buddy, in a case like that, may not be able to help ... that's a reality the agencies don't like to talk about ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DiverLaura]

I am in agreement with Grateful Diver.

You can drill and drill, and train and train, but if someone has an underlying issue with panic attacks and anxiety, it will do next to no good. If anything, it may do harm by giving a false sense of security.

Instead of hammering on what this or that diver personally did wrong, perhaps we should look again at the bigger picture of increasingly foreshortened scuba classes and the industries push to certify anyone and everyone to dive as quickly and at as low a cost to the consumer as possible. Another very big concern to me (in a similar vein) is all the young kids being certified now (with the agencies dropping the cert. age lower and lower) who may or may not get any more training as they reach adulthood, instead saying "pfft.. I've been a diver for X number of years, why do I need more education".

Perhaps diving should go back to being somewhat cost prohibitive. Along the lines of Skydiving, where in reality, it costs you upwards of $3000 to actually be able to jump by yourself at the most basic level. (not counting all the gear you'll want to buy). Where does all that money go? Well, you have to have 25 jumps for your "A" license. Basically all of those jumps are with an instructor or coach. In addition, after you HAVE your license, you must log a jump every 30 days to remain current, and if you do not remain current, you pay extra for 'retraining' when you decide to jump again. I hear you all saying "well, skydiving is different! It's more dangerous! More things can go wrong!" Keep in mind what thread you are currently reading.

The diving industry needs to change its mentality.

I'm not mandating a DM sitting on the shore at cove 2 checking log books. My feeling is this, there will always be outliers on the bell curve. There will be a good number of people who are "safe enough", and some on either end (stellar at the end of 5 dives or a hazard to themselves or others) We as a community need to figure out a way to push the industry to give us a a training format that helps lessen the number of diving accidents that seems to be on an increasing trend despite the fact that very good gear is getting cheaper and cheaper. We need a paradigm shift. We need more "coaches". We need less "us" vs. "them" in the community regarding training agencies, CCR vs. open circuit, DIR vs. the world, Tech vs. Rec, etc... The diving 'world' is, in reality, very very small. We need to work together.

 

[tc]

Oh, bless the two of you for trying to help.

If he had any chance, it's because you were there. WHY do people dive alone?

Nice Job on the rescue guys.

There are many and varied reasons why people choose to solo dive. Did you want to start that discussion here?

 

[lamont]

one quibble:

The one thing we know about this incident is that Joshua was on the surface calling for help ... a rationally thinking diver would've been ditching weights at that point.

he could have had a CAGE and been fatally injured at that point though, and been justifiably beyond rationality...

still i agree with everything else...