Readers Poll: Boat is sinking. Don SCUBA or Life Vest?

[Shaka Doug]

A lot of scenarios for sure...if there's any best answer its the one where you live to talk about it in the end. No boats really sink alike and time is a major factor in several areas. Be alert and be prepared. Overall I think dive boats are probably some of the safest tour boats on the planet.

oh as far as floating dead or alive, I'd bet the survivors would be happier to recover a corpse rather than not recover one. That's my preference for that.

 

[Wingy]

Way too many variables to answer x or y. Ive been on a boat that sunk on the home stretch of a 7month ocean crossing - one thing that no one has mentioned here is the mental state you may find yourself in. Some people react calmly, others panic, and you cannot tell who is going to do which one until it happens. The people I thought would be mentally together turned into flailing balls of panic (Yep, think that scene from the flying nun...now put a cool bodybuilder type dude running round the mast screaming in that scenario..yep, we had to physically pry him off the mast and throw him overboard..a fist fight on a sinking boat is not a good situation and one that took valuable time and added a whole new level of stress to the situation). The question in the OP assumes a scenario where you are not confronted by things being thrown around everywhere in a boat rapidly taking on water...your dive gear may be stacked on deck nicely but once the boat is not level and water is flowing around id love to see someone manage to find their gear and calmly gear up and slip into the water. When the decks under water your freediving skills to get your gear and put it on best be fantastic...i couldnt manage it. Shaka Doug is correct, no two boats sink alike.
Imagine you are on a liveaboard on the second deck and you are awoken by crunch, alarms, thuds, crashes, water gushing down the companionways bringing assorted debris with it. That debris can be something as simple as a can of baked beans which split my eyebrow open as it hit me. So you are in darkness, trying to work out wtf is going on, trying to get up out of your cabin and on deck - dont assume others are going to politely move out of the way to let you get past them.
What we plan we would do in a situation is often totally impossible or totally forgotten about in those moments. The yacht I was on actually took quite a while to sink, the process leading up to the boat slipping beneath the surface can be seconds..minutes..or in my case..an hour. That hour still did not give me time to get anything other than a life jacket on before having to swim for it. Most of that hour was taken up with dealing with other people freaking out, setting off Epirbs, cutting lanyards where needed and trying to get as close to land as possible.
Until you have been on a boat that is sinking, its all just hypothetical.
Personally...id do everything exactly the same. It wasnt pleasant going into the sea at 4am in october in a storm in jeans and a jumper but I did have a life vest on and could see land which we all made it to. The outcome of that sinking if it had been a couple of weeks before halfway between thailand and australia's west coast would have been terribly different.

 

[Rhone Man]

And always remember kids: abandon the sinking vessel before tweeting all your friends about it.

 

[NAM001]

Wet suit on, mask fins and snorkle. the rest of the gear would depend onwhre i was at. is help/shore was nearby go for the scuba gear. If not then don the life vests and minimize drag as I fin to shore. Perhaps using the bcd with out the tank would work well also.

 

[Divescape]

One consideration for takig a life vest is that they are designed ensure that the persons head is clear of the water weather concious or not. this is not the case with scuba equipment.

 

[Malpaso]

It all comes down to planning and preparation. Are you the kind of person who looks for the emergency exits before you sit down in a restaurant or theater? Do you listen to the safety briefing from the stewardess in the plane (and actually check under your seat for the safety cushion, and look where the nearest exit(s) are)? Do you listen to the safety briefing from the ships captain? Do you have a safety plan at home, on vacation?

As has already been said, every sinking, like every emergency is different. Saying what we'd do here is a world away from doing mental "what ifs" when you are in an unfamiliar environment and being prepared.

 

[nimoh]

While I wouldn't spend much time "hoping" for life rafts to be deployed, getting into a life raft would be my first choice, although it would be in conjunction with a life vest, so I guess life vest would be my first choice.

Time permitting, I would probably grab my fins and some other stuff like compass and smb and if I thought of it, I would probably inflate my BC but just leave it on the boat.

 

[AfterDark]

yes, don't fly, yes, yes. My 1st reaction would be to grab a lifejacket and clip my cell phone in it's waterproof container to it, then if possible put on my wetsuit jacket, I have a step in. Again if time allowed I'd inflate my wing and throw it overboard tank, reg with my fins clipped to the harness. Of course this all depends on the capt orders he knows how fast his boat is sinking if the capt says no time get out then out I go.

First priority is floatation life jacket. Next I'm thinking here in NE themo protection, also provides some floatation wetsuit jacket. Backup floatation, single mirror, knife, SMB, liftbag, jon-line all that is on my harness/wing.

If I was able to do all of the above, I'd feel more than ready to wait for rescue or swim to another boat or land if possible.

 

[divin'dog]

yer assuming the lazy a** crew refilled your tank after the last dive?

LOL!!! I knew there was something too easy about that idea...

 

[Peter_C]

Oddly enough my first priority would probably be to save the boat. Or at least assess the situation and see if it could be saved. We have taken a rogue wave/wake a few times (Different boats) that put us in danger of sinking. The thought of being prepared to sink wasn't there as much as saving the boat to begin with. Fortunately we succeeded in saving the boats.

Otherwise I would go for exposure protection and my dive pockets with all my safety gear (Nautilus, SMB, signal mirror, whistle, backup mask, and wet notes to write my will and last thoughts on). From there it is whatever is easiest. I might inflate my BC and unhook it, possibly tossing it overboard, but a lifejacket and fins would probably be the priority.