Sad...Another Florida Diver Down

[SnakeRiverPirate]

They do indeed appear the be about the same incident.

 

[cowdog77]

Our OW instructor had us doing manual inflations at the surface after ascents on the second day of training. He told us to make it a practice to do most of our inflation at the surface manually and then when it "matters" it will be second nature.

 

[TROTP6488]

I have had the zip tie fail and if you get some chop your BC will start to fill with water if the opening gets exposed. NOT FUN, I was about to ditch the bc, did not think about the weight belt first until afterwards, 10 min later the boat finally wakes up and came to get me. Check the rental gear out really well. But a zip tie is only plastic and will eventually break.

 

[cudachaser]

Yesterday I had my class practice towing a diver with a completely failed BC. I conducted the rescues in a "free form" format...gave them little direction other than your buddy's BC doesn't work. The reaction to jettison the weights didn't come naturally and had to be coached, however they all seemed to develop a consistent towing form...Rescue diver would position themselves under the victim...gotta experiment with this more

 

[fisheyeview]

I have seen a friend have a BC failure at the surface. Her hose ripped completely out of the BC due to fabric fatigue. She kept trying to inflate, but the air was dumping out the hole as fast as it was going in.

She had no idea what to do. She called to me for help showing me the hose in her hand. She was near panic. I swam over to her, and took off her weight belt. I held it up for her to see. She immediately calmed down and was able to float. I asked her if she remembered learning to drop her weights. She said she didn't even think about it. It's something I regularly stress with my wife.

 

[DocIndyDiver]

Monday 8/27/07, Just heard on the local news his body was recovered, off shore and north of last known contact. Thankfully, the family can now have full closure in this horrible tragedy. My condolences to everyone involved.

 

[cudachaser]

Thank goodness he was recovered...so sad for the family

 

[BidAndDive.com]

That's terrible. So sorry to hear that.

 

[Misplaced Priority]

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

Well first I will say that I am sorry for the family. Secondly, If my BC had a bad leak in it, maybe I would ditch it on the surface inflate my saussage and use it to float on.

That said, it is easier said than done when you are exhausted and on the verge or in a full blown panic. But something to keep in mind anyway.

 

[jbd]

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.

Tom,

I truly understand what you are saying, but ditching weights is not something that is trained to the point of instinct and then practiced on a routine basis. While it seems like such a simple, logical solution; its just not going to happen, as you have already noted, when people are anywhere from highly stressed to fully panicked.

OK, I'm back after a brief interruption. In these situations, self rescue is going to be most unlikely and it will be up to a "rescuer" to respond appropriately as noted in the post above by fisheyeview--job well done fisheyeview.