Sad...Another Florida Diver Down

[cudachaser]

Search continues for missing diver

ASSOCIATED PRESS


PONCE INLET — The Coast Guard is searching for a missing diver in the Atlantic Ocean near Daytona Beach.

The Coast Guard says xxxx xxxx was last seen shortly after surfacing from a Saturday morning dive about 10 miles northeast of Ponce Inlet.

Family members said the 54-year-old Port Orange man was exhausted after struggling against a strong current.

xxxxxxx’s 14-year-old son, also named xxxxx, said he swam to the boat for help after they had trouble with their flotation equipment. His father was nowhere in sight when he reached the boat.

 

[cudachaser]

A follow on note...It appears they BC issues. I always have my students fully inflate their BC's during their equipment set ups and check for leaks. That may eliminate most of these type of failures, however I have had one student's BC hose pull loose where it attaches to the shoulder dump valve...tie wrap failed.

From an instructor's point of view, we really should pay a lot more attention to BC failures

 

[Jeff Toorish]

Any idea what the BC issue was?

JT

 

[jsado]

I really would like to know what the bc issue was!

Cudachaser - What happens if "your zip tie fails" and you DO pull the hose off of the bc shoulder dump? Does it fill with water and if so, what do you do then?

 

[msdiver04]

Anyone who offers a way to avoid an accident is doing us all a favor.....thanks!

 

[jtivat]

I really would like to know what the bc issue was!

Cudachaser - What happens if "your zip tie fails" and you DO pull the hose off of the bc shoulder dump? Does it fill with water and if so, what do you do then?

What does the BC filling with water have to do with it? The no air in it part is the problem and dumping your weight should fix that.

 

[Tom Winters]

I can't comment on the circumstances of this accident, but time after time in the stats compiled by the NUADC on diving fatalities, the decedent was still wearing the weight belt. People in extremis just forget that one supersimple evolution.
If you ever, ever remotely consider that you need to drop the weight belt, do so. If your bc starts filling with water for whatever reason, ditch that. Since almost every diver has some type of exposure suit on, there's plenty of flotation.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I really would like to know what the bc issue was!

Cudachaser - What happens if "your zip tie fails" and you DO pull the hose off of the bc shoulder dump? Does it fill with water and if so, what do you do then?

I don't use a bc with a shoulder dump because pulling on the thing that's holding in your air just doesn't seem wise (and yes I have seen them pulled off, LOL) but...You should never be so negative that you can't get to the surface and stay there.

You should never be negative by more than the weight of the breathing gas you carry. In the case where lots of breathing gas has you too negative to stay at the surface easily, it's time to ditch weight...at the surface ditch whatever you need to in order to establish positive buoyancy.

Most bc failures leave the bc still able to hold some air. However, in the case where it won't and/or you aren't wearing buoyant exposure protection, then you obviously need to know how to swim. A bc is a tool for compensating for buoyancy changes caused by exposure protection being compressed and breathing gas being used. It isn't a life preserver and you shouldn't need it to stay alive!

If you have a buddy, it's probably best they don't leave.

 

[nitroxjunkie]

accidents happen so fast it's hard to say what went wrong. does the son or any of us
even know? god bless

 

[DandyDon]

Are these two threads about the same story?

New Smyrna diver missing http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=198777