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.
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.
