Orange Beach accident 11/11/06

[jon m]

Who was the charter boat that took customers that far off shore w/o a working radio? ( this was a commercial charter right? not a private boat?)

A boat going that far off shore should have two radios in case one fails regardless of whether it's a charter or private boat.

YES!YES!YES!

 

[seadoggirl]

This was a private boat. Not a charter. The radio would receive but not send. Believe me if we knew this it would have been fixed. As for the backup handheld, you can bet that we are spending some serious money and time double and triple checking everything.

Lessons learned the hard way stick with you a lot longer than the easy ones like sitting on shore and reading the books. Believe me, I learned more Saturday than in any course or average day of diving. Please continue with the constructive feedback, we are doing so much of it ourselves. Everyone on the boat (except the distressed diver) gathered back at the boat early and talked for several hours about what happened. The distressed diver showed up later and it was great for him to hear everybody give their positive feelings about him. The hard part for him was going to work at the commerical dive company today. As you can imagine they were all second guessing him also. We have all been through angry, blame, crying, cussing, everything. But one thing for sure, we are all better divers for it and stronger friends. thanks again everyone.

 

[mike_s]

This was a private boat. Not a charter. The radio would receive but not send. Believe me if we knew this it would have been fixed. As for the backup handheld, you can bet that we are spending some serious money and time double and triple checking everything.

Seadoggirl. I'm glad everything came out ok with this.... Here's some thoughts on the radio that might be helpfull to you in planning for your upgrades. (please take this as constructive feedback)

As you can tell, those handheld are worthless offshore.

For a boat that runs offshore and is big enough to support dual engines, it will most likely have enough console space for dual console mounted radios. Put them both on seperate whip antennas so that they are completely isolated from each other in case of coax or antenna failure. If your boat has dual batteries, wire them so they are on seperate batteries to keep a single battery failure from killing boat radios. Make sure you have spare inline fuses for those radios also. A blown fuse will kill a radio.

Also, BTW... a sympton that the radio will receive but not send is also a sympton of the batteries being low or having a bad power connection. This is typical on VHF handhelds also. The lower the handheld battery power, the lower the transmit power. A really low radio will flash the display when trying to transmitt on many models.

also consider a radio that connects with your GPS and supports the emergency DSC signal that will send your Lat/Long coordinates in the event of an emergency.

The other benefit to having two console mounted GPS's is that you can use it to monitor two different radio channels at the same time. This is good if you want to listen in on fishermen bragging about where the fish are or listen to the marine weather forcast but still maintain one radio on channel 16.

The handheld still has its place, but with that rubber duckie antenna and lower wattage, it's range is extremely limited when compared to console mounts.

Some boaters also consider a SAT phone. They are cost effective to buy now and service plans are reasonable if you buy a low minute plan. (BTW... these typically are sometimes sold on the annual plan of minutes instead of a monthly plan like cell phones are. This works to your benefit as they are typically not used as much monthly but more in spurts at certain times of the year when out of cellular range. While they may not seem cheap, consider the cost of emergency o2. Cost doesn't really matter when you need it.

IF you often take out buddies on your boat, this might be a good group gift item from them as boats and outfitting/equipping them is an expensive task. We did this for an outpost camp(cabins) of a friends in the Canadian wilderness that we use for free. Every year we as a group make a large purchase of something the camp needs since he's nice enough to let us use it for free. One year was a Sat Phone. (other years were two propane refridgerators.... gotta keep the beer cold).

In addition to that handheld VHF, consider a handhelf GPS as a backup also. If you have an complete electronics failure, it could help get you back to port in the even of visibility problems during an unpredicted squall.

Lots of folks pack a "boat bag" with this stuff. Put the GPS handheld, VHF, Sat Phone, etc because they can just grab the bag and put it on the boat as needed. They don't like to leave them on the boat due to summer heat or being stolen.

One most important thing that many boaters are guilty of is not "filing a float plan" with someone. Now you can actually download "float plans" to fill out and give to someone, but at the minimum at least tell a responsible party where you intend on going and what time you expect to return to port. Have them write down the sites and approximate times you should be at them if more than one site. (To someone who's not familiar with the sites, if not written down, they could be easily confused). If you make a drastic change in your planned events of the day, you can update the person on shore via cell phone easily. This is important in case you experienced engine failure and VHF or electrical failure, your repsonsible party on shore will know that if you are X minutes (pre determined between the two of you) past your due time, that they will call the proper authorities and alert them.

A float plan example could be as easily as telling someone (in writing) that you plan to launch about 7am and hit the Chevron oil rig by 9am, then the sunken barge #12 at 11am, and should be back to port by 1pm. If you get to a site and can't dive it and choose an alternate site, it's easy to phone in the change. Of course these changes are as important on a nice calm day inshore, but offshore in rought conditions, you can see the importance.

anway.... hope all that is helpfull and constructive feedback

-mike

 

[scubadobadoo]

Doc has been very wise with his comments above. I'll third that the idea (in part) of a Rescue class is to learn how to avoid putting yourself in the position of having to be in a rescue situation in the first place. As you know, in several ways, you and the other very experienced but (in this case) seemingly dumb divers did many things to directly aid the possibility of an incident. Broken radio, 17 miles off shore, no O2, hunting in low viz, deep depths with new divers, bad gas management and planning, the list goes on and on and on.....It almost seems as if you didn't take that Rescue class you mentioned earlier.

How is it that a commercial diver of many years doesn't kow that he/she needs oxygen with all of those obvious symptoms? How is it that you were left to be the rational one on a boat with some very experienced divers? Something is odd here. Good for you for keeping your cool and for learning from this. Bad for you for stepping onto that boat in the first place.

I'm glad it all worked out in the end. For the record, I'll dive with you any day. Your honesty here has proven your future dedication to diving in a more safe manner.

 

[Divmstr223]

Just a few things to add...

You said in your original description that the BC was not connected to the inflator hose and that he saw this BEFORE the second dive. Did something break, or did he just not reconnect it?

Also...#4 should be #1 in my opinion... If his buddy had never left him, you would not be posting about this incident at all. Maybe just an OOA, air-shairing ascent. Not trying to Monday morning quarterback, sorry if it comes off that way.

All things considered...everything went wrong and it's fortunate that the diver is okay. So much better to have a live and learn experience than a fatality learning experience.

Glad your training paid off and the diver still has a career....

 

[WesTexDiver]

Another thing to consider is an AED. We bring one with us..they are in very small packages now days, and there is a man walking this earth today who owes his life to said AED. Glad to hear everyone made it out all right and lessons were learned, thanks for the post.

 

[DeepisBliss]

I happen to know that this was NOT A CHARTER! This was a bunch of friends out for an afternoon of fun. All charters should have O2, if not, get off the boat. The point is that private boats should consider O2.

 

[DeepisBliss]

Note to new instructors: don't post pics of yourself giving the "up" signal underwater. It makes it appear that you don't know "ok" from "up".

 

[DeepisBliss]

For this situation, you did everything right. What I've found about near misses, is that when the crap hits the fan, EVERYTHING seems to go wrong: weather, radio, cell phones, etc. Just keep that in mind. Yes, some things like gear malfunction (I would have dove it myself so don't sweat it. In fact, I have dove without a power inflator.), performing a radio check before leaving shore, having 02 on board...these things are in your control. There are a LOT of factors out of your control. YOU CANNOT CONTROL WHAT YOU CANNOT CONTROL (weather, un-cooperative diver, dumb decisions by someone else). In spearfishing you are most likely solo diving, and anything that happens is the SOLO DIVERS RESPONSIBILITY. I believe you are taking too much on yourself. The injured diver decided to go off in low vis, with poorly working equipment, and shoot TWO fish with less than 1000 psi. He's a commercial diver. He knew enough to make his own decisions and to live with the consequences. I commend you for posting the incident, and for the way you have learned from it. But I also think you are taking too much responsibility. I have dove with you, and will always be proud when you've got my back.

Guns-N-Roses Rule!

Much love and respect,
Beth
PADI MSDT #180167
Down Under Dive Shop, LLC
Gulf Shores, AL

P.S. Call me! I can't find your number!

 

[ItsBruce]

Mike's comments are very good. I'll add my 2 cents, though they are not really relevant to this incident. I don't get on any boat bigger than a dinghy in the harbor (and this includes 100,000 ton cruise ships) without my own GPS and handheld VHF. I also carry the wax portion of the wax ring that is used to seal a toilet to the floor. That wax can help solve all sorts of water leakage problems on a boat.