Ontario diver dead - Bell Island, Canada

[SlugLife]

The gauge has a bolt snap tied on to it and it all connects to my upper left chest D-ring. It is always easy to read, always exactly where I expect it to be.

I had an incident where there were LOTS of bubbles coming from my 2nd-stage (hose came loose), and I couldn't find my octo. VERY soon after, I made sure all of my regs were properly retained and always where I could find them. I now do sidemount, but regardless, I always have one on a necklace, and other is on right-chest-d-ring.

 

[boulderjohn]

OOA as 50% of deaths. It's hard to understand how the percentage could be that high (not questioning the information posted). How do divers allow their air/gas level to get that low or OOA?

I did not write that, and I do not believe it is true. It was never even close to true in the years I studied fatalities. I would like to see a link to an authoritative source for that statistic.

As I implied in my earlier post, I studied the DAN statistics carefully because of all the people who would write, "According to DAN statistics..." and then follow that with something that was not remotely true.

 

[boulderjohn]

For your own sanity, perhaps stay away form Facebook.

In my search of an alternative to ScubaBoard, I tried a very popular FaceBook site. Someone asked a basic but not well known question about decompression, one that could easily be answered with simple facts. By the time I saw the question, about 30 people had answered it. Maybe 2-3 answered correctly, and in each of those cases, I knew the people who gave that correct information. The rest were all completely wrong. I tried to give a full and accurate response, but by the time I did, another 20 people had responded with nonsense. I gave up after I saw several hundred nonsense posts and maybe 15 posts from people who knew what they were talking about. I am sure the person who asked the question was thoroughly satisfied that his question had been answered accurately, and, who knows, perhaps he has since then repeated that idiocy to others many more times.

The Facebook format, which makes it difficult to respond directly and clearly, with quotations, while citing sources, makes it a great site for generating pure noise.

 

[quietlife4me]

I found the DAN video....


At minute mark 10:49

For those not wishing to watch the entire thing...

- 50% of fatalities for age group 40-59 are cardiac
- 41% of triggering events are out of breathing gas

The recent reaction video that referenced is this one…

 

[Stoo]

I'm sorry, but that does not make sense, at least as typed. Certainly not "all." I think that most that are found are found with weights securely attached, and I am a strong supporter of risking rapid ascent injuries over drownings which are almost always more deadly. If panic is your copilot, surface, whatever it takes.

As am I. To quote the resident hyperbaric physician on town, "We can fix bent. We can't fix dead".

Don, by "all" I meant all of the recent fatalities in Tobermory. Just going from memory, one was kicking towards the boat against a current. He was morbidly obese and suffered a massive heart attack. He could not be revived.

Another suffered an aneurism while completing his safety stop. I recall it was cerebral, but don't quote me on that. He'd indicated to his buddies minutes earlier that he wasn't feeling well and headed up. The gentleman was a regular fixture in Tobermory, an experienced diver, but about 70. His buddies found him still gasping the line.

There are others, but the disposition of their lead wasn't relevant.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

That's a major reasons why I encourage redundant air, even if one buddy-dives. Mr Pony is the dive buddy that doesn't abandon you to go look at a cool fish.

When I started diving in 2020, I liked the idea of redundant air. I found a practically new, 13cu Catalina, that I slung from my 1st dive as an OW diver. I got grief from quite a few experienced divers, that a pony was too much for a new diver. 312 dives later, I have slung a pony on all of my dives, save for about 6 of them, due to equipment issues, or gas was drained by accident. (todays dive being one without) Most of my diving is with a buddy, but being self reliant, has it's advanages. SDI Solo cert at 177 dives. I now sling a 30cu Catalina. My pony's name is Han.

 

[SlugLife]

I got grief from quite a few experienced divers, that a pony was too much for a new diver.

I've seen similar behavior, and I really don't get it. We all learned gas-management and regulator switching, so there's nothing inherently unsafe or complicated. I honestly think a lot of people are embarrassed to carry one, or rigid in their ways of thinking, as if there's some hidden cultural sigma, or it being thought of as a sign that you're a bad diver. Or maybe they're embarrassed about not having one themselves? I have extra pony-bottles with regs, in 6cu and 19cu, that people seem uninterested in borrowing.

I've never come close to having a surprise gas-management OOA or even low-air. I can very accurately guestimate remaining air, even though I'm terrible at estimating time. I did have a loose regulator hose which inspired me to stop being cheap and buy a pony.

Could I CESA from 60ft? I mean probably, but I'm not sure I want to find out. I'd much rather have something like "what are all those bubbles? Hmmm, that's annoying. Guess I better close my tank valve, switch to my pony and worry about it on the surface." than "holy fu** I may be about to die!" I'm equipped well enough, that I'd have to have two almost identical emergencies at the same time to even start to be worried. I try to have at least 3 ways out of any wet-paper-bag, if at all practical.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

I've seen similar behavior, and I really don't get it. We all learned gas-management and regulator switching, so there's nothing inherently unsafe or complicated. I honestly think a lot of people are embarrassed to carry one, or rigid in their ways of thinking, as if there's some hidden cultural sigma, or it being thought of as a sign that you're a bad diver. Or maybe they're embarrassed about not having one themselves?

My OW instructor, would not let me use my pony during the course; although, I did offer it to him to use. ( I had semi-private lessons ) I am diving off Vancouver Island, so vis can range from 3" to 100'. Usually though, it runs 15'-25'. My 1st dive after my course, I did a drill to switch over, but I also flooded my mask 1st, to do it. Some have asked me what a new diver is doing, doing drills from a PADI Tech 40 course. I like to think of it as my, knowing how to save my ass. I am now 61, and having redundant air, gives me a peace of mind, underwater. A few of my dive buddies, carry redundant air in the form of a pony. I also dive with a few people from the "Kool-Aid" crew, so they are on twins, and a couple of buddies who dive SM.

 

[boulderjohn]

Could I CESA from 60ft? I mean probably, but I'm not sure I want to find out.

I have written about this many times in the past, but the fact that you wrote this sentence (a sentence that has appeared in various forms many hundreds of times in threads over the years) demonstrates the danger of the instructionally unsound way we teach CESA. Of course you can CESA from 60 feet. Properly instructed, you would have no doubt.

In OW instruction, you are taught that if you have any doubts about making it on a CESA, you should drop weights and turn it into a buoyant ascent. Weight dropping is the only difference between the two, so I will speak of them as simply an emergency swimming ascent (ESA).

Since the 1950s, the ESA has been taught and practiced by navies for submarine ascents. They have been done from 300 feet and more. But will I have enough air if I suddenly run out at the end of a breath? In the submarine escape, people are taught to exhale fully before beginning the ascent. That is because the remaining air in the lungs (at least half is still there after an exhale) expands so rapidly upon a direct ascent to the surface that the person ascending still needs to exhale all the way up.

But we teach the CESA swimming horizontally in a swimming pool. Sometimes it is done diagonally from the deep end, but there is still nearly no expanding air. Students finishing the required 30 feet think, "Phew, I barely made it! No way I could do it deeper than 30 feet!"

And that could be why the DAN/PADI study found so many deaths from breath-hold ascents after an OOA experience. If you don't think you have enough air in the lungs to go more than 30 feet, you may be sorely tempted to hold your breath.

 

[tursiops]

My pony's name is Han.

Cute.