Michigan Diver Missing at White Lake

[jimthediver]

Several people have commented something to the effect of "Where was his buddy?" Solo diving is very common and widely accepted in the Great Lakes wreck diving community.

jimthediver

 

[DandyDon]

Several people have commented something to the effect of "Where was his buddy?" Solo diving is very common and widely accepted in the Great Lakes wreck diving community.

jimthediver

That may be true, but it sounds like that's what killed him.

 

[cruiser]

That may be true, but it sounds like that's what killed him.

Even with a buddy pair, the first one in the water is solo until the buddy jumps in. He would have sunk the same whether a buddy was right behind him (hopefully ready to go) or not.

 

[DandyDon]

Even with a buddy pair, the first one in the water is solo until the buddy jumps in. He would have sunk the same whether a buddy was right behind him (hopefully ready to go) or not.

Before the entry, a good buddy check should have exposed potential problems, like BC not hooked up maybe, air not on maybe, release fouled, or whatever may have gone wrong. I don't think we are clear on what went bad exactly are we?

And there may be others who enter with fins not on feet, but I wouldn't - not from a boat at least.

As you said, the first one in is alone until the other enters - which I prefer to be at the same time if possible, or follow very soon. Yeah, I have seen divers balk at the last minute not ready to enter while buddy was alone in the water: not good.

 

[cruiser]

Before the entry, a good buddy check should have exposed potential problems, like BC not hooked up maybe, air not on maybe, release fouled, or whatever may have gone wrong. I don't think we are clear on what went bad exactly are we?

With multiple errors it compounds the question of what the problem was. I could see overlooking one item if you're distracted gearing up.And when he yelled help to his co-divers what did they do? If they were fully geared up they could have jumped in to help him but the article doesn't give any info about this.

 

[DandyDon]

With multiple errors it compounds the question of what the problem was. I could see overlooking one item if you're distracted gearing up.And when he yelled help to his co-divers what did they do? If they were fully geared up they could have jumped in to help him but the article doesn't give any info about this.

Multiple errors or failures possible yes, but we don't know of any do we?

When I was filling my tank at the LDS the topic of conversation was this accident. A member of the dive team reported to the LDS that the air was turned on. The diver spit out his reg to call for help. His power inflator was hooked up and working but there is no explination why he didn't inflate his BC or drop weights to stay floating or recover his reg for air. A tragic accident caused by a series of small preventable errors that added up.

IF that is correct, then I am as puzzled as ever.

 

[cruiser]

Multiple errors or failures possible yes, but we don't know of any do we?

Unfortunately, no.

 

[Crush]

With multiple errors it compounds the question of what the problem was. I could see overlooking one item if you're distracted gearing up.And when he yelled help to his co-divers what did they do? If they were fully geared up they could have jumped in to help him but the article doesn't give any info about this.

+1. I have mused over this a few times in this thread but I haven't heard any responses.

 

[cruiser]

To safely giant stride, a lot of times you jump in, then put fins on.

VooDoo--Is this to say that wearing fins prevents you from making a safe giant stride? Please explain.

 

[cruiser]

Multiple errors or failures possible yes, but we don't know of any do we?

At first I would have thought that having no fins on when jumping in was a major fail. Then VooDooGasMan and fdog posted that divers do that (although I've never seen it nor would I do it jumping off a boat).

Just SPECULATION but it's plausible that the diver's air being OFF would have been a trigger for the rest of the events that led to his death.

Any idea of the deceased diver's diving history? Like how long he had been diving or how many dives he had? If he wasn't very experienced, I could see how having NO AIR would be an "oh sh*t" moment that would trigger panic, rather than thinking what needed to be done, like dropping weights.