Regarding this story, I would say the reporting was pretty good compared to most such reports, but there is still not enough information to know what happened. The story said that the deceased diver panicked for an unknown reason, let go of the ascent line, and drowned. I can speculate a number of reasons that might have happened, but the important things is that when she let go of the rope, she descended, meaning she was negatively buoyant. This means it could be one of those cases in which dropping weights might have helped, but she should not have been in that situation to begin with, and if he was panicking, she would not likely drop the weights. During the ascent, she should have been roughly neutrally buoyant, in which case descending would indicate she was already helpless. She was probably negatively buoyant and pulling herself up by the rope, which is not good technique.
What follows is sheer speculation based on what I have seen in similar situations. It may have absolutely nothing to do with this actual case, but perhaps readers might find it helpful.
In dive instruction, students usually do hours of training in a swimming pool prior to going into the open water environment. They are often dressed in 3mm suits or less. (The dive shop with which I am somewhat associated is now using a pool so warm that they are not using wetsuits at all.) As they practice ascents, there is little change in buoyancy. Many instructors teach an incorrect ascent technique that is commonly used in warm water diving. They teach students to dump ALL their air from their BCDs prior to beginning the ascent. They should instead teach them to begin the ascent while neutrally buoyant and dump a little air at a time as they ascend so that they maintain control. In a swimming pool with a 3mm suit, the difference is negligible.
If they then go to a site like Lake George and use a 7mm suit (or worse, the typical 7mm two-piece common then), it is a whole different world. Because a 7mm suit loses buoyancy so rapidly upon descent, a diver needs much more weight to descend than is needed during the dive. Thus, at depth, anyone in a 7mm suit is overweighted, and dumping ALL the air out of the BCD may make it impossible for the diver to ascend without help--as by pulling on an ascent line. Letting go of the line will lead to an immediate descent.
Ascending with a thick wetsuit takes practice for a beginning diver. You must begin the ascent neutrally buoyant and dump air in little burps as you ascend. The wetsuit will become more buoyant especially in the last 15 feet, so you have to be careful to avoid a rocket ride to the surface. You don't want that, but neither do you want a plummet to the bottom. My first cool water diving was as a DM assisting classes while wearing a 2-piece 7mm suit. My job was to swim around the class doing their skills in shallow water to make sure everyone was OK. I was very surprised at how much skill that took for me--only a few feet of depth change made a huge difference in my buoyancy.
What follows is sheer speculation based on what I have seen in similar situations. It may have absolutely nothing to do with this actual case, but perhaps readers might find it helpful.
In dive instruction, students usually do hours of training in a swimming pool prior to going into the open water environment. They are often dressed in 3mm suits or less. (The dive shop with which I am somewhat associated is now using a pool so warm that they are not using wetsuits at all.) As they practice ascents, there is little change in buoyancy. Many instructors teach an incorrect ascent technique that is commonly used in warm water diving. They teach students to dump ALL their air from their BCDs prior to beginning the ascent. They should instead teach them to begin the ascent while neutrally buoyant and dump a little air at a time as they ascend so that they maintain control. In a swimming pool with a 3mm suit, the difference is negligible.
If they then go to a site like Lake George and use a 7mm suit (or worse, the typical 7mm two-piece common then), it is a whole different world. Because a 7mm suit loses buoyancy so rapidly upon descent, a diver needs much more weight to descend than is needed during the dive. Thus, at depth, anyone in a 7mm suit is overweighted, and dumping ALL the air out of the BCD may make it impossible for the diver to ascend without help--as by pulling on an ascent line. Letting go of the line will lead to an immediate descent.
Ascending with a thick wetsuit takes practice for a beginning diver. You must begin the ascent neutrally buoyant and dump air in little burps as you ascend. The wetsuit will become more buoyant especially in the last 15 feet, so you have to be careful to avoid a rocket ride to the surface. You don't want that, but neither do you want a plummet to the bottom. My first cool water diving was as a DM assisting classes while wearing a 2-piece 7mm suit. My job was to swim around the class doing their skills in shallow water to make sure everyone was OK. I was very surprised at how much skill that took for me--only a few feet of depth change made a huge difference in my buoyancy.
