First open water dive . . . :depressed:
Missing diver in Tacoma Washington (Les Davis)
- Thread starter wetb4igetinthewater
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dumpsterDiver
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Sounds like a nightmare, especially with a young son along for the outing. I was involved in searching for a lost diver and I know that the failure to find her was really hard to accept for the family and others.
If the report is correct that she made it to the surface, yelled for help and then sunk down .... that would lead me to suspect that the root cause of the fatality was an inability to ditch ballast at the surface - caused by panic.
Diving with a tight group in terrible vis, might still allow buddy separation, a bolt to the surface and panic. I think the take home message to new divers would be to ditch the lead..Make sure you can do it and practice.
Are tidal currents at that location such that a body would be moved far away?
If the report is correct that she made it to the surface, yelled for help and then sunk down .... that would lead me to suspect that the root cause of the fatality was an inability to ditch ballast at the surface - caused by panic.
Diving with a tight group in terrible vis, might still allow buddy separation, a bolt to the surface and panic. I think the take home message to new divers would be to ditch the lead..Make sure you can do it and practice.
Are tidal currents at that location such that a body would be moved far away?
OP
The dive site is near the mouth of a river, so yes, a body could potentially be moved far away. My hopes is that it is found for the sake of her family and friends.
Currents at this site are generally very mild. If she was negative and sank, she should pretty much stay where she fell. There is river outflow, but it is very gentle. One of the reasons this site is popular is because it is current-insensitive, and can be dived any time.
Currents are mild but I would imagine over time there is movement at most sites. The only thing that came to mind for me, if the body isn't immediately found, is that Lobster Shop wall isn't far away and the depths do increase rapidly at that point.
I seem to remember Kirby found a body in that area after search crews had given up looking for another body a few years ago.
It's not hard to get to 200 fsw in that area.
I seem to remember Kirby found a body in that area after search crews had given up looking for another body a few years ago.
It's not hard to get to 200 fsw in that area.
Drin
Contributor
I've seen the flood current move through Les Davis pretty rapidly, but that's rare. I suspect she won't be far from where she was last seen.
The body Kirby found at Lobster Shop if I recall correctly was someone lost during a dive on the site. He was found (I think) a year later in roughly the same place he went missing. The slope to the Lobster Shop wall has been pretty much current free every time I've been there.
The rule of thumb I learned in PSD was that a body will usually be recovered in a circle around where the victim was last seen, where the radius of the circle is equivalent to the depth of the water at the point the person was last seen. So if the water is 50' deep they'll usually be in a circle of radius 50' centered on where they were last seen.
-Adrian
The body Kirby found at Lobster Shop if I recall correctly was someone lost during a dive on the site. He was found (I think) a year later in roughly the same place he went missing. The slope to the Lobster Shop wall has been pretty much current free every time I've been there.
The rule of thumb I learned in PSD was that a body will usually be recovered in a circle around where the victim was last seen, where the radius of the circle is equivalent to the depth of the water at the point the person was last seen. So if the water is 50' deep they'll usually be in a circle of radius 50' centered on where they were last seen.
-Adrian
Hintermann
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That is exactly what I thought. Being an inexperienced diver, she might have been overweighted as often is the case. Whatever the problem was that caused her to cry out for help must have panicked her into not making the right decisions. Even without shedding weights, I would have thought that once on the surface an inflated BCD and wetsuit would have kept her afloat.
Really sad. RIP.
It's tragic that this was her first dive outside of her certification class. If she was feeling panic it's quite possible that she didn't inflate her BCD (she could have deflated it by mistake or she could have been out of air).
Hintermann
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With all due respect for your sentiments, I have to disagree with you. This forum is designed for a reason and appropriate for such discussion, even if some of it turns out to be speculation that was inaccurate. As long as such speculation is sensible and realistic, it should be considered as being aimed at reducing the chances of such accidents happening again to other divers. That is the purpose of investigation into any accident - air crash, trail derailment, drowning etc. It might seem morbid at first....and I do not deny that there are a few with morbid curiosity....but the outcome usually involves a lot of lessons learned and can be used to minimising such things happening again. In this particular case, the discussion might raise points of safe diving which might turn out to be not applicable to the case itself but still serve as useful advice for other inexperienced divers.
brnt999
Contributor
If this was her first dive after certification, my common sense tells me a red flag should have done up with the dive shop. ( maybe one did). Special care should have been taken. I don't care how well you were trained, it is going to take at least 10 dives to get your feet under you.
If you were trained in a pool with perfect visibility, and took open water dives in benign conditions, low visibility would be another red flag to the diver. I am a relatively new diver, and I think one of the messages lacking in open water training is--( with red lights flashing and sirens screaming) Save your life. If something doesn't feel right or look right thumb the dive. That should be the first thing you are taught.
If you were trained in a pool with perfect visibility, and took open water dives in benign conditions, low visibility would be another red flag to the diver. I am a relatively new diver, and I think one of the messages lacking in open water training is--( with red lights flashing and sirens screaming) Save your life. If something doesn't feel right or look right thumb the dive. That should be the first thing you are taught.
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