Missing diver in Monterey, CA area

[Chavodel8en]

*Note that this point has nothing to do with the incident in question, as he apparently had all his gear with him, but was still lost in the surf. RIP.

One thing about ditching your entire rig - now you have no air source. Yes, you'll be on the surface, but if you have to walk/crawl out of a surf zone, a working regulator is a real benefit.

One of my mantras about diving a challenging surf entry/exit like Monastery Beach is "As long as I have my reg securely in place, I wont drown." I have been knocked down, tossed around Monastery, but I just kept breathing from my rig as I crawled out /swam in past the surf. I would hate to maneuver Monastery or any other challenging beach without a working regulator.

I prefer to ditch weights, rather than the whole rig.

 

[DAJ]

I prefer to remain flat on the bottom and work my way in until I’m in 3-4 feet of water. Let that last wave wash over, pull the fins and stand up.

 

[suricatasuricata]

One thing about ditching your entire rig - now you have no air source. Yes, you'll be on the surface, but if you have to walk/crawl out of a surf zone, a working regulator is a real benefit.

One of my mantras about diving a challenging surf entry/exit like Monastery Beach is "As long as I have my reg securely in place, I wont drown." I have been knocked down, tossed around Monastery, but I just kept breathing from my rig as I crawled out /swam in past the surf. I would hate to maneuver Monastery or any other challenging beach without a working regulator.

One of the things my fundies instructor kept harping on was to make sure that entries and exit into the Breakwater were always mask on, regs in mouth. Even if you decide to take the reg out once you cross the surf zone.Just so that it becomes muscle memory.

The other day, I finally had to do the crawl out for the first time ever, I decided to crawl instead of reaching for help from the person next to me because I didn't want to drag them down. It was fine, just hard with a drysuit and everything.

The thought that was in the back of my mind is how hard this would be with doubles. Another place where I feel like it'd be easier to drown in shallow water if your reg is knocked out of your mouth.

I have been biting down into the mouth piece to make sure I have a tight grip on it when coming out, but I don't know if there is a better way.

(Not intended to be a speculation that that was what happened with Zach.)

 

[Belzelbub]

Of the two that I use most often, a heavy-duty Zeagle Ranger and a more minimal / travel version, Zeus, both feature easily-ditched weights -- the former, a ripcord gadget (which looks to be a bitch to rethread),

It's really not, though. Without a doubt, rethreading a ripcord takes a bit more time than clipping in a weight pocket, but it's really not all that difficult, and once you try it once, it's fairly intuitive.

 

[rjack321]

I think if someone had a weightbelt with say 12-24 lbs on it (depending on the combination of all other parts of the kit - and not overweighted), dumping that belt would make a huge difference in self rescue. You’d be a lot more agile and have half a chance of being able to fin yourself to safety and move around without having all the diving ballast. It would be a lot easier to climb out onto some rocks too if and when you finally got to shore. You’d still have an air source too if the water was so churned up that it was almost impossible to breathe with all the sloppy water, foam, froth, etc.
I just think in a situation like what was described that day, being stuck with all your ballast on your rig would be hell. Drysuit or not, it would be miserable. This is what nightmares are made of.

We rarely have one conclusive thing in the accident chain which ends up being the life or death difference (in hindsight). Ditching lead wasn't going to make his survival chances worse, but it also may not have helped enough to ensure survival in those rough conditions either. Totally agree on keeping the reg in your mouth

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I don’t know what the deceased diver was using or how he was set up so I will refrain from further comment or speculation in that case.


I could turn your comment right around and claim there is an extreme focus on non ditchable weight too.
The point is, too much weight is too much weight regardless of whether it is ditchable or not.
In a perfect world everyone wears the exact proper amount of ballast and not a gram more, but that is not always the case. In an active ocean with waves, rips, and currents, white water, etc. getting as light as possible to make it impossible to sink is a very critical safety feature. Some of us were taught very early on that if you get in trouble you ditch your weights. Even if I was perfectly weighted and ran into a severe situation I would seriously consider dumping weights to become lighter and more agile just because I can. Weightbelts are a lot cheaper than dumping your entire rig.
They were shore diving too which on the California Coast, which is exposed to the wrath of the Pacific storms, can be a very unforgiving and unpredictable environment. It’s not a cave or a quarry, lake, or fjord.

I'm sure that we all agree that whenever we lose a member of our diving community that we all feel it and we all are deeply saddened by the loss and especially for the loss to families and friends. The Eric S that I have quoted above very well may have known the Eric S that is in the SB link below......and I am betting that we all have been in the same Nor Cal ocean at the same time, diving for Ab's, without even knowing it.

Vallejo abalone diver dead - California

Ninth for the year: Second Abalone Diver Dies Off Mendocino County Coast In A Week « CBS San Francisco POINT ARENA (CBS-SF) A 58-year-old Vallejo man has become the second diver in a week to die while attempting to harvest abalone along the Mendocino County coast, authorities said Monday...

scubaboard.com

This SB thread from 2015 is all about my best friend and my best man at my wedding, Dr. Eric Stine. I was not active on this forum at the time of the event. I was not with Eric on that day and wish I was. I was 800 miles to the North up here in Seattle when I got the news.

Our friends and dive club were devastated... We wanted to help, ask questions and get answers. I contacted the Sheriff's office and they didn't have a lot of answers other than we was found dead in the cove the next day following the previous days search... I tried to think everything through and replay the many times Eric and I had dived that cove. After getting the Sheriffs email info, I sent them a message offering to help in any way and also to ask some important questions while the investigation was still ongoing.... This was a freediving incident so my questions were as follows...

• When found status / condition of weights, mask, snorkel, mouthpiece, fins, fin straps, etc.
• Was he wearing his weight-belt when found?
• If yes, how much weight
• If not found wearing his weight belt, was a weight belt ever found?
• If a weight belt was found, was it still buckled or unbuckled.
• Location of dive float if found?
• If float was found, was it tied off? ( typically Eric's float would have been a standard car sized inner tube with a burlap sack attached to essentially make it a floating bucket. Also acts as a resting point if needed).
• Depth at the location of the float if found?
• Number of Ab’s, if any present in float?
• Was his float, if found, tied off. ( Erics SOP would to have an approximate 10ft "leash" tied to the float and the other end with a large stainless clip similar to a large diaper pin and that would be tied off to an intact bull kelp just below the head or "bulb".
• Was there a tox report and any indication of Sudafed?
• Was his dive knife and sheath found with him? (it would have been attached to the INSIDE of his left calf)
• If the knife was missing, was the sheath still present.
• In addition to his knife he would have had a flat Ab Iron with a wrist lanyard.
• There would have been a spare Ab iron in his float.
• Were his dive booties on the outside of his wetsuit legs or were his wetsuit legs pulled over the outside of his dive boots.

Sorry again about the long post... but I just wanted to point out that when a fatal diving incident happens, it is best to thoroughly investigate the reasons why so that we all can learn from it... Unfortunately in Erics case, the Sheriff was not very helpful in providing answers.

 

[mr_v]

One of the things my fundies instructor kept harping on was to make sure that entries and exit into the Breakwater were always mask on, regs in mouth. Even if you decide to take the reg out once you cross the surf zone.Just so that it becomes muscle memory.

Interestingly enough, very few instructors enforce these rules in that area. For each team that has regs/masks on, you'll have several student groups with masks on their backs and regs out.

 

[lostsheep]

Interestingly enough, very few instructors enforce these rules in that area. For each team that has regs/masks on, you'll have several student groups with masks on their backs and regs out.

That's a rule? At Breakwater?

If someone told me I HAD to do that I'd laugh at them, Beto included If it was so rough at breakwater you NEEDED to do that, I'd go get breakfast.

 

[mr_v]

That's a rule? At Breakwater?

If someone told me I HAD to do that I'd laugh at them, Beto included If it was so rough at breakwater you NEEDED to do that, I'd go get breakfast.

Not a rule at Breakwater per se but a good practice to learn and follow: Don't take regs out and keep masks on until you're safe. But you do you you.

 

[lostsheep]

Not a rule at Breakwater per se but a good practice to learn and follow: Don't take regs out and keep masks on until you're safe. But you do you you.

Me is what I do best, don't you worry.