Puget Sound Fatality

[MXGratefulDiver]

Our dive last night was completely uneventful ... vis was fantastic and there was no current whatsoever.

I posted something this morning on our local forum, that I think might be worth posting here. It isn't an attempt to speculate what might have occurred, but describes the condition we have been referring to as the Redondo River, and a scenario that's worth thinking about from the perspective of "what would you do?"

All that we know about this accident is that she ran out of air at depth, and that her buddy tried but was unable to assist her to the surface. Whether she ran out due to poor gas management decisions or some other reason isn't known. Whether her buddy lacked the skills or had some other issues preventing him from helping her is unknown. Whether an SMB would or would not have helped in this case is unknown. The only other known we have is the time that the accident occurred. I was initially told (by the Q13 reporter who interviewed me) that it was around 4 PM. Subsequent reports puts it closer to 6 PM. That window was during an 11-foot ebb. Most of us who dive this site regularly know ... or have experienced ... what occurs at Redondo during large ebb exchanges, particularly during the middle of the exchange when water is moving rather a lot. So I'm positing this not as speculation of what occurred, but to point out that perhaps better gas management skills ... or a better familiarity with basic skills ... may not have been able to prevent this from occurring. In that context, let's not suppose this is Leanne and her dive buddy ... but any pair of divers. Let's suppose it's you and your dive buddy, for example.

As most divers will, you and your buddy descend in front of the aquarium, and you head downslope following the fat rope. You head off to check out the octopus under the boat, down to the tire to see the wolf eel, and maybe all the way down to the carousel boat. You're having an enjoyable dive, and you turn the dive with the appropriate amount of air remaining for a safe return. As you begin heading back up, you notice visibility deteriorating. You see bits of floating debris starting to head toward you ... coming from upslope. Within a minute or two current has picked up noticeably, and you're suddenly having to work pretty hard to kick against it (guess what's happening to your air consumption?). Another minute or two, it's really gotten stronger. You're kicking as hard as you can and barely going anywhere. Because you're working hard and trying to "point" into the current as you were taught to do, your perception narrows and you're not paying as much attention to your buddy as you usually do. They're right there with you ... or maybe behind you on the line ... and it's all you can do to make headway against this current. At this point, you're not thinking to check your gauge ... you're going in as fast as you can anyway. Suddenly your buddy grabs your arm or leg, tugging. You turn around and they slash their hand across their throat. As soon as the both of you stopped kicking, the current's pushing you back downslope the way you just came. You turn to donate air, just the way you were taught, and the current catches you ... because now you're almost vertical and offering a bigger area to the force of the moving water. You have difficulty controlling your position, and your buddy is struggling because she's not breathing. At some point you realize that you can't help her ... the current's just too strong and it's all you can do to just help yourself. The current pulls you and her away from each other. Survival says head to the surface, and that's what you do ... leaving her to do the same and hoping that's what she does.

I'm not saying this is what happened ... nobody except the dive buddy really knows. But given past experience it's not hard to imagine something like this happening at that site and that time.

Think about it for a moment. What would you do if that were you? How well prepared are you to deal with it? You did everything exactly as you were taught to, and it wasn't enough.

Shooting a bag in those conditions isn't the answer ... in fact, unless you're an exceptionally strong diver with automatic skills at SMB deployment, it would only complicate an already bad situation. And even if it were successful, what's that going to buy you? How will it make getting out of that situation better?

Dropping weights might be an option, but if the current's pulling you down hard enough even that might not be adequate ... especially if you're out of air, because a downcurrent is still going to make the trip to the surface rather long. At best you're going to end up a long way from the exit point by the time you hit the surface, with a current that's going to want to take you out into the Sound.

At what point would you recognize the onset of a situation that might be more than you're equipped to deal with? And what would you do about it?

There is a way to deal with this ... but rather than tell you what I think you should do, let me instead ask you to tell me what you think you should do? Because at this point, no one can help Leanne ... so let's instead ask ourselves what we would do ... because whether or not this is what occurred in this accident, it's something that many of us have experienced to some degree at Redondo, and it could easily happen to someone else ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mblazer]

I say this with the obvious benefit of having recently taken a drysuit skills class from Bob (well beyond the basic drysuit cert) and having discussed the incident with him at Redondo last night. So Bob, while I realize that these are to some extent your words, and the teacher in you wants folks to give their own thoughts, your thoughts make all the sense in the world to me.

I've been a trial lawyer for 31 years. I've tried to teach countless numbers of young lawyers the tricks of the trade, with varying degrees of success. Why do I mention this? Because the ultimate answer to Bob's question is the same one I give young lawyers when they ask for the "key" to success. There are three such "keys" - knowledge, preparation and proactivity.

The first two are rather self-explanatory. Applying them to a place like Redomdo, or any other dive site that is new to the diver, they mean learn about it and be prepared for what you may find before you get in the water.

The third one is more difficult because it's counterintuitive. Our brains are hard wired to react to outside stimulus. It is much more difficult, in a split-second situation, to recognize, assess and act before it is too late. In a trial, if you are constantly reacting to what your opponent is doing, you will lose. Under water, if you are constantly reacting to changing conditions, you will die.

So, what would I do in Bob's hypothetical? When I see that apparent change in flow, I would stop and grab something solid. Nothing solid around? Then dig myself a handhold. But whatever the options, do something to stop myself and give myself the chance to assess what's happening, and conserve my gas. Do I wait it out? Do I drop weights and shoot to the surface? I may not know yet. I may not know what's coming next, but I at least I give myself a fighting chance to deal with it.

Well Professor Bailey, your thoughts?

 

[TSandM]

"Stop, think and breathe" is a mantra in diving for a reason. There are rare situations where a big, instant response is critical (like donating gas) but in the majority of diving issues, stabilizing and having time to think will serve one very, very well.

The Redondo River is reportedly transient, although in the three experiences I've had with it, it didn't go away during the time it took us to get to shore and get out. If you were fairly shallow, near the dropoff, and still had a lot of gas, just stabilizing and waiting might be a reasonable strategy. If you're deeper or have less gas, you may not have enough time to wait out 15 or 20 minutes of current, and you may HAVE to figure out how to get to shore or at least to the surface.

It is quite feasible to use your hands as blades and pull up the substrate (I know, because I've done it). A knife will also serve to do this. Getting to any structure you can use to pull yourself upslope is also good. What is most important in this whole scenario is remaining calm and keeping your breathing under control, and this is where dive experience is just plain priceless. A novice, faced with this, will have a smaller toolbox and far less composure; somebody like Bob will have a lot of strategies to contemplate, experience with using them, and lots of practice with controlling his respiratory rate when stressed (as well as the breadth of situational awareness to remember he needs to check his gas!).

 

[DeepDog]

Thank you Bob for providing such a great description of this area since I don’t dive that site. Thanks also for posing such a vivid safety scenario.

Before sharing a response, I want to say that my concern now is that the surviving dive buddy may read our posts and be in any way distressed by them.

I hope I speak for every single diver responding to this thread that if the surviving diver is reading this, we want you to know that we applaud all that you did in response to your terrible situation and very much offer our support in any way you want it going forward. Please feel no hesitation in approaching any of us for any kind of support we can offer.

-------------------------------

My best lesson in sudden currents was a class I will simply call “Titlow 101”

Yes, we were a few minutes tardy to descend Titlow Park and sure enough we got hit with a fairly sudden headwind on our way back.

Yes, we found ourselves “climbing” our way back up along the bottom. We both had adequate air to finish our exit, but shortly into our return crawl, my dive buddy panicked and decided there was no substitute for atmosphere.

In this case, we were out of the traffic channel so I very quickly grabbed my dive buddy, checked their air, deflated their BC and provided a gradual controlled accent for both of us. Fortunately, my dive buddy was calmed by the contact and not frightened by it so I was able to sustain eye-contact while even giving us a nice safety stop before final ascent.

To this day I know I benefited from the experience of providing the controlled ascent for two using only gauges and my BC.

Yes, we ended up a LONG ways from were we entered. But the long walk back under the structural piers gave us plenty of time to review what we might do differently next time.

---------------------------------

So, in quick answer to Bob’s above story problem, in an effort to save an out-of-air buddy in distress when my own air is also probably low, I would begin breathing my backup regulator while my dive buddy uses my primary reg. I would deflate buddy's BC and probably ditch my belt (that's about half my weight).

If I have a flag, I'll send it up assuming there is boat traffic in the vicinity. I realize we would end up a long ways from our entry point, but I would then abandon the advantage of the slope of the bottom and attempt a gradual controlled free ascent for both of us using gauges and my BC for the ascent control.

 

[TSandM]

Bob and I were on a dive at Skyline a year or so back where we mistimed our entry -- we ended up in a downcurrent that even the scooters couldn't make headway against. Now, Skyline is known for current, and for the potential for downcurrents, so it wasn't that we were ignorant or stupid -- we just miscalculated. It was an eye-opener, although we had plenty of rocks to hang onto, and knew the current was going to drop with time.

Tidal currents are not entirely predictable and they are VERY powerful. It's always a good idea to have a plan in place for getting an unpleasant surprise. We had to wing it at Skyline, but among the three of us, we had probably five thousand or more dives, so everything came out fine. A LOT depends on being able to maintain your composure.

 

[redacted]

My experience is that when the current is stronger than you can reasonably easily overcome, then your choices are to grab onto something, go with the current or swim across the current. If it is not a transient, short lived phenomenon then grab and hold is not very appealing. Riding it out is a good possibility as long as you are willing to go there which may not be the case if it is down and out. If the current is of limited dimensions, swimming across and exiting is an option. Based on what you have told me I would opt for swimming west and across the current until I could ascend which I expect would be 20 meters or less. Then an open water ascent to 15 ft and swim east until I hit bottom or more current. If it is more current the ascend and probably surface,

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Bob and I were on a dive at Skyline a year or so back where we mistimed our entry -- we ended up in a downcurrent that even the scooters couldn't make headway against. Now, Skyline is known for current, and for the potential for downcurrents, so it wasn't that we were ignorant or stupid -- we just miscalculated. It was an eye-opener, although we had plenty of rocks to hang onto, and knew the current was going to drop with time.

Tidal currents are not entirely predictable and they are VERY powerful. It's always a good idea to have a plan in place for getting an unpleasant surprise. We had to wing it at Skyline, but among the three of us, we had probably five thousand or more dives, so everything came out fine. A LOT depends on being able to maintain your composure.

[hijack]That was a very strange dive in a lot of ways ... there was nothing in the plan for how to deal with an errant bird that wanted to use my head as a perch ...[/hijack]

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[TSandM]

Bird poop on the head was an omen. We should have heeded it!

 

[diverrex]

If the buddy pair was aware of the Redondo River and perhaps just miscalculated it then waiting it out my be viable. I suspect it's also very possible that the buddy pair was unaware of it such that when encountered there may be not be a reason to expect it to be short lived, in which case then a typical reaction would be to try to get out of it somehow, and perhaps just panic since you don't even understand exactly what is happening. The old "you don't know what you don't know". And also why the advice of always seek out local knowledge no matter how much dive experience you have is good advice.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

What I described in the scenario I posted yesterday is something I've witnessed more than once ... which is people trying to kick against it, which gets them nowhere and just uses up their air. Often they're four or five feet above a guide rope that will lead them to the entry ... it just doesn't occur to them that it would be easier to dump air, get on the rope, and use it to pull themselves up the slope ... at which point life becomes much easier. Most times when they see me doing it they'll "imitate" and figure it out. One time I intervened by going up, taking a diver by the hand, and putting their hand on the rope ... then signaling "watch me" and showing them what I wanted them to do.

Current is a way of life in Puget Sound. Instructors usually talk about it, but only in a generalized sense. Many will give the traditional "swim across it to try to get out of the current" advice, which works well in some circumstances, but not in others. My take is that if there's an easier way to get shallow, you should do so before your air supply gets too low. In this case, at the top of the rope there are some pilings that you can use to assist you to the surface, even if the current is still ripping.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)