rjchandler
Contributor
yup - belongs on another board
Missing Diver incident
- Thread starter dazedone
- Start date
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gezuvor
Guest
Coast Guard urges stricter scuba rules
Instructors accused of negligence after student diver stranded off Newport.
By BRIAN MARTINEZ
The Orange County Register
The Coast Guard on Thursday urged the scuba-diving industry to better account for divers after a man was left behind by instructors seven miles off Newport Beach this week. Dan Carlock of Santa Monica spent nearly five hours drifting in the ocean Sunday while rescue workers searched 11 miles away at the second location his group had been diving that day. He was found by San Diego Boy Scouts sailing to Newport Beach who had veered off course because of heavy fog. The incident is still under investigation. "We anticipate that we will file a complaint for negligence against the captain" of the recreational diving boat, said Lt. Cmdr. John Fassero, a senior Coast Guard investigator. "There is absolutely no question about that." The Coast Guard wants the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and similar groups to recommend the use of numbered wristbands and written checklists and to discourage the use of verbal roll calls.
There are no standard methods for accounting for divers, said Pat Fousek, risk management director for the Rancho Santa Margarita-based Professional Association of Diving Instructors. Dive masters are expected to ensure all passengers are accounted for, but they must each decide how to best accomplish that task, she said. The group is reviewing Sunday's incident, at the Coast Guard's request, and its own dive-master training manuals, she said. But no decision has been made on whether policies need to be changed, she said.
"We value the safety of every diver and our own reputation, so rest assured we will leave no stone unturned," Fousek said. Capt. Ray Arntz is responsible for the incident Sunday, despite a dive master's verbal roll call of all 20 passengers before leaving the first dive location, Fassero said.
"The buck stops with the captain," he said.
If a federal administrative judge agrees, Arntz's Coast Guard-issued license could be suspended or revoked. Dive Master Zacharias Araneta could face discipline from the diving association.
Capt. Arntz declined to comment Thursday, and Araneta referred questions to Ocean Adventures Dive Co. owner Steve Ladd.
"The entire diving community and this store are reviewing their procedures and we will make changes if needed," Ladd said.
"I'm very happy Dan is OK," he said. Several similar diving accidents have happened near Florida in recent years, including a couple who drifted on a small platform for 26 hours. And in 1998, two American divers were never found after being left by a charter boat off Australia. The owner and skipper of the boat were later charged with manslaughter and subsequently cleared.
Instructors accused of negligence after student diver stranded off Newport.
By BRIAN MARTINEZ
The Orange County Register
The Coast Guard on Thursday urged the scuba-diving industry to better account for divers after a man was left behind by instructors seven miles off Newport Beach this week. Dan Carlock of Santa Monica spent nearly five hours drifting in the ocean Sunday while rescue workers searched 11 miles away at the second location his group had been diving that day. He was found by San Diego Boy Scouts sailing to Newport Beach who had veered off course because of heavy fog. The incident is still under investigation. "We anticipate that we will file a complaint for negligence against the captain" of the recreational diving boat, said Lt. Cmdr. John Fassero, a senior Coast Guard investigator. "There is absolutely no question about that." The Coast Guard wants the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and similar groups to recommend the use of numbered wristbands and written checklists and to discourage the use of verbal roll calls.
There are no standard methods for accounting for divers, said Pat Fousek, risk management director for the Rancho Santa Margarita-based Professional Association of Diving Instructors. Dive masters are expected to ensure all passengers are accounted for, but they must each decide how to best accomplish that task, she said. The group is reviewing Sunday's incident, at the Coast Guard's request, and its own dive-master training manuals, she said. But no decision has been made on whether policies need to be changed, she said.
"We value the safety of every diver and our own reputation, so rest assured we will leave no stone unturned," Fousek said. Capt. Ray Arntz is responsible for the incident Sunday, despite a dive master's verbal roll call of all 20 passengers before leaving the first dive location, Fassero said.
"The buck stops with the captain," he said.
If a federal administrative judge agrees, Arntz's Coast Guard-issued license could be suspended or revoked. Dive Master Zacharias Araneta could face discipline from the diving association.
Capt. Arntz declined to comment Thursday, and Araneta referred questions to Ocean Adventures Dive Co. owner Steve Ladd.
"The entire diving community and this store are reviewing their procedures and we will make changes if needed," Ladd said.
"I'm very happy Dan is OK," he said. Several similar diving accidents have happened near Florida in recent years, including a couple who drifted on a small platform for 26 hours. And in 1998, two American divers were never found after being left by a charter boat off Australia. The owner and skipper of the boat were later charged with manslaughter and subsequently cleared.
gezuvor
Guest
I have been out on this boat several times this year and feel that feel that it is the nicest and best-run boat I've travelled on.
I hope that this doesn't happen and am showing my support by booking another trip with them asap. Hopefully they're still taking divers while this is going on around them...
gezuvor:
I hope that this doesn't happen and am showing my support by booking another trip with them asap. Hopefully they're still taking divers while this is going on around them...
sirensmyst:
I agree with sirensmyst. I think the signing in and out is a bit much. I think the best, most workable and effective method is to have the DM personally track each person down. There is nothing like an actual roll call. If the diver skipped the dive and is below deck sleeping, then wake their A$$ up and get them on deck to answer.
I like the idea of the DAN tags, but what if one of the divers doesn't take his/her tag off the board and into the water with them? Or if they jump off for a between dive snorkel and don't take the tag? I would STILL do a roll call, where only the person CALLED answers. As another poster said, much earlier in the thread, we have all done roll calls since the first grade. It's not THAT hard.
Simple, the DM supervises the divers off the boat. No tag, no go. And if you if you violate this, you're on your own (and if I was captain, it'd be your last trip).
debdiver:
kelpmermaid
Contributor
You have to sign in to see it, but there is an article in today's LA Times with more comments from the diver involved.
www.latimes.com
www.latimes.com
IndigoBlue
Contributor
debdiver:
However it appears that the U.S. Coast Guard has officially disagreed with you.
IndigoBlue
Contributor
sirensmyst:
It is going to need to become "practical" really quickly, however. LOL !
IndigoBlue
Contributor
Dive Source:What no die marker, flares, cell phone or dive alert?
Just a comment and no offense intended but your strong voicebox comment is rather "interesting" advice...I'd Stick with a good fox40 whistle - it can be heard much much farther than your voice and can even make noise when your voice is shot.
Interestingly enough, however, it was the victim's voice call for help that the Scout on the boat reported hearing. And then he saw the victim's safety sausage or dive float or something like that.
Scuba Diver's Pals Left Him in a Sea of Trouble off Newport
A Santa Monica man left behind by his buddies treads water for hours before his rescue. But he says he'd dive with them again.
**By Regine Labossiere, Times Staff Writer
After surviving hours treading water off Newport Beach and a subsequent media maelstrom, diver Dan Carlock has a refreshed outlook on life and some pained feelings for his scuba buddies.
Carlock, 45, had been diving Sunday morning when he surfaced from the 60-degree water to find himself left behind 12 miles off the coast.
* Hours later, a troop of Boy Scouts who had been sailing for the weekend spotted him and pulled him aboard their boat. His ordeal has since been all over the news, including NBC's "The Today Show."
The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating why the Santa Monica resident was left behind by other divers on the boat Sundiver. Carlock and the more than 20 others on the boat were diving with Ocean Adventures Dive Co. of Venice, whose owner wouldn't say much about the incident.
"There's definitely some anger on my part," Carlock said, but he will not seek legal action. "They're kind of like family, and I don't want to destroy that."
Still, he finds the incident hard to believe. And he has been cooperating with the Coast Guard investigation to keep it from happening again.
Carlock boarded the Sundiver at a Long Beach marina on that foggy Sunday morning and dived with the first group about 8:45 a.m., he said. He had trouble equalizing the pressure in his ears, which caused him to fall behind the others.
When he felt ready to continue, he could see only their trail of bubbles. The fog even prevented him from seeing a nearby oil rig used as a reference point.
Carlock remembers being afloat for almost four hours, from about 9:15 a.m. He kept a log and took pictures of himself. With a pencil and slate that was attached to his suit, he marked the hours.
"I wanted to prove that I existed up to a certain point in time," he said. "I penciled in the time just to say I made it to 12 noon and I'm looking forward to making the next entry at 1 o'clock. It gave me a short-term goal."
During those four hours, Carlock said there was only the fleeting thought that he might not make it ashore.
"There certainly was the despair and the pleading in my prayer," he said. "I said, 'God's going to take care of me. I don't know how, but he's going to take care of me.' "
Carlock was equipped with a tank, a flotation device and a fluorescent green emergency glow stick. Fears of hypothermia or the strong swell dragging him south crept through his mind, he said.
Then, about 12:45 p.m., soon after the fog opened to clear skies, San Diego Boy Scout Troop 681 and the Orange County Sea Scouts came to Carlock's rescue.
Their ship, the Argus, had sailed from Newport Beach to Santa Catalina Island on Saturday and was on its return trip when Sea Scout Zack Mayberry spotted something in the water.
"I thought it was a piece of trash, but I wanted to make sure," Zack, 15, said.
Zack, who lives in La Mesa, spotted Carlock through binoculars, which he passed to his friend to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, he said. "You don't really see that every day," the teen said. "It was weird to see a person out there."
He said Carlock was frantically waving his hands and the glow stick. Zack and a friend boarded a small motor boat and retrieved Carlock.
"I was elated. So elated," Carlock said.
The scouts treated Carlock to clothes, food and coffee. "I'm very grateful for the gift of life," he said. "I think that and my faith in God have been deepened."
Before he dives again with Ocean Adventures, Carlock said, he wants to talk with the owner.
"I'm not going to quit because of this, and I can even see myself diving with them again," Carlock said. "But some things have to happen between now and then."
A Santa Monica man left behind by his buddies treads water for hours before his rescue. But he says he'd dive with them again.
**By Regine Labossiere, Times Staff Writer
After surviving hours treading water off Newport Beach and a subsequent media maelstrom, diver Dan Carlock has a refreshed outlook on life and some pained feelings for his scuba buddies.
Carlock, 45, had been diving Sunday morning when he surfaced from the 60-degree water to find himself left behind 12 miles off the coast.
* Hours later, a troop of Boy Scouts who had been sailing for the weekend spotted him and pulled him aboard their boat. His ordeal has since been all over the news, including NBC's "The Today Show."
The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating why the Santa Monica resident was left behind by other divers on the boat Sundiver. Carlock and the more than 20 others on the boat were diving with Ocean Adventures Dive Co. of Venice, whose owner wouldn't say much about the incident.
"There's definitely some anger on my part," Carlock said, but he will not seek legal action. "They're kind of like family, and I don't want to destroy that."
Still, he finds the incident hard to believe. And he has been cooperating with the Coast Guard investigation to keep it from happening again.
Carlock boarded the Sundiver at a Long Beach marina on that foggy Sunday morning and dived with the first group about 8:45 a.m., he said. He had trouble equalizing the pressure in his ears, which caused him to fall behind the others.
When he felt ready to continue, he could see only their trail of bubbles. The fog even prevented him from seeing a nearby oil rig used as a reference point.
Carlock remembers being afloat for almost four hours, from about 9:15 a.m. He kept a log and took pictures of himself. With a pencil and slate that was attached to his suit, he marked the hours.
"I wanted to prove that I existed up to a certain point in time," he said. "I penciled in the time just to say I made it to 12 noon and I'm looking forward to making the next entry at 1 o'clock. It gave me a short-term goal."
During those four hours, Carlock said there was only the fleeting thought that he might not make it ashore.
"There certainly was the despair and the pleading in my prayer," he said. "I said, 'God's going to take care of me. I don't know how, but he's going to take care of me.' "
Carlock was equipped with a tank, a flotation device and a fluorescent green emergency glow stick. Fears of hypothermia or the strong swell dragging him south crept through his mind, he said.
Then, about 12:45 p.m., soon after the fog opened to clear skies, San Diego Boy Scout Troop 681 and the Orange County Sea Scouts came to Carlock's rescue.
Their ship, the Argus, had sailed from Newport Beach to Santa Catalina Island on Saturday and was on its return trip when Sea Scout Zack Mayberry spotted something in the water.
"I thought it was a piece of trash, but I wanted to make sure," Zack, 15, said.
Zack, who lives in La Mesa, spotted Carlock through binoculars, which he passed to his friend to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, he said. "You don't really see that every day," the teen said. "It was weird to see a person out there."
He said Carlock was frantically waving his hands and the glow stick. Zack and a friend boarded a small motor boat and retrieved Carlock.
"I was elated. So elated," Carlock said.
The scouts treated Carlock to clothes, food and coffee. "I'm very grateful for the gift of life," he said. "I think that and my faith in God have been deepened."
Before he dives again with Ocean Adventures, Carlock said, he wants to talk with the owner.
"I'm not going to quit because of this, and I can even see myself diving with them again," Carlock said. "But some things have to happen between now and then."
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