Lost Fin

[pdelannoy]

My daughter and I made a 60 ft dive at Lake Pleasant, Arizona. Water temperature was 55 degrees and the vis was 30 feet. We were about 20 minutes into the dive, near the turning point, in a shallow canyon with a mud bottom-limestone walls.

My daughter stopped and at first I thought something had caught her interest in the nearby rocks-she is 14. Then I saw her reach down and grab her fin. With the fin now in hand she gave me that I'm going to surface look. However, I was slightly above her and dropped, taking the fin.

By this time her feet were in the bottom and our vis went to zero. I maintained contact with her, slid down her leg and put the fin back on by feel. Then, hand-in hand we ascended above the plume (50 feet). In the process my compass bezel had been displaced and so we ended up south of our float. We knelt at 15 on the upslope, did our 3 min stop, and discovered we had 70 or 80 yards to our buoy.

PD

 

[BioLogic]

What was the problem with the fin in the first place? Thanks for the post; that's another problem I'd rather avoid.

 

[pdelannoy]

The fins had a faulty quick release which we had replaced. On our previous dive we had road tested the replacement releases with no problems. My daughter was able to get the fins on and off without any issues. On the second day of diving the releases started jamming again: On the first dive I had to help her get the right fin off her foot. On the second dive I don't think the latch was seated all the way. We are going to change to springs for her next dive and/or get a different set of fins.

The scary thing with kids is that when a problem comes up they want to bolt for the surface. No doubt when the fin came off my daughter gave me "that look." I was pleased she maintained her cool and I think we did ok on the deal.

PD