San Diego Dive Fatality 9-29-09

[gwilki]

We dive from small inflatables frequently and always remove our gear before getting back into the boat. The order is as Crispix set out. Hand the weight belt to someone on the boat, then clip the bc to a line hanging from the boat, then get out of the bc. The current in the St Lawrence is always strong, so clipping off first frees both hands to get out of our gear.

 

[I Dive]

That sucks. Having never dived off the Cali coast, I have no idea about the conditions at the reported dive site.
Question: How does a diver become "separated from his scuba equipment?" I can understand if a mask or fin was missing, but his regs, tank, BC????

The diver is using a weight belt and takes off their BC before their weight belt. Sounds like a simple solution to us, ditch the weight if needed, but panicked people don't think rationally...

 

[Ayisha]

I've had to remove gear first before climbing onto a zodiac as well (as described already), but also for some boats that have swim platforms. I thought it would be possible to climb on with full gear, but we were asked to remove the weight belt and hand it up; remove the BC and hand it up; and then climb on. So a zodiac or some other type of boat that requires divers to remove gear before boarding is a possibility.

You only need enough weight to offset the buoyancy of your exposure protection in the envt you're in, don't you? So if you're correctly weighted, you should not plummet in your exposure protection with a weight belt. Also, if someone is using integrated weights, all of their weights may not be on a belt and they definitely should not plummet. I'm just wondering if there is any info on weighting of the victim.

 

[rivers]

The articles say he was somehow separated from his equipment. If it was a matter of removing them to get on the boat, don't you think the articles would have said that instead?

 

[Ayisha]

We don't know exactly when, where or why the victim became separated from his gear, other than that he apparently arrived at the surface with his gear, then became "disconnected" from his gear and submerged.

It was suggested that a diver never remove their gear in the water and several people gave examples of when it CAN be necessary to remove gear before boarding some types of boats, like inflatables or some boats with swim platforms. It is simply a possibility of why the gear may have been removed.

 

[sohnje]

I just returned a few days ago from diving san diego area. Was in the very vacinity of this accident. There were mulitple Kelp beds right around that site. Wonder if he got entagled. At some points it was trying to swim through a jungle swamp chasing fish. After five minutes and ten entaglements, I enjoyed the outside of the kelp beds for the remander of the dive. I swear the kelp reached out and tried to grab me!

 

[vladimir]

The articles say he was somehow separated from his equipment. If it was a matter of removing them to get on the boat, don't you think the articles would have said that instead?

No, I don't. The writers generally don't have a clue. Crispix and ItsBruce have probably diagnosed the cause of this tragedy correctly, in my opinion.

 

[Garrobo]

Vladimir has it right.

 

[I Dive]

You only need enough weight to offset the buoyancy of your exposure protection in the envt you're in, don't you? So if you're correctly weighted, you should not plummet in your exposure protection with a weight belt. .

You are absolutely correct. But this simple little piece of knowledge doesn't seem to be enough to stop many divers from wearing enough lead to sink 7 divers...

 

[robint]

As a Calif diving fan for the past 5 years, I can attest to the fact that kelp reaches out and grabs you like nothing I have ever seen! Especially at the surface. Most dive boats give a briefing explaining how to come up and avoid it - try to come up right at the steps, but if you come up away from boat you do the "kelp crawl" which is you stay on your belly and push down on the kelp as you make your way to boat. This is true all over Calif and really works! Diver may have come up away from boat and done like everyone does in other locations, rolled over on his back and tried to kick to the boat, thus entangling himself.


I Dive - yes, most divers do wear too much lead, but in Calif with 50-60 degree water and thick 7mm suits, it is necessary to wear more than you do in Fla. I personally like my integrated BC, but I see lots of wt belt divers in Calif. It says he was from AZ so it may be his first time in such heavy gear, too.

Do we know which dive boat he was diving from? It says 6 divers, but since it is the kelp beds right at SD, it could me any number of boats that normally hold more divers. Nowhere does it say a panga or inflatable boat. Some dive boats people hand up weights, but since article says he was tangled and fighting the DM, I doubt he took off his BC to hand it up. I think we need to hear from the dive boat guests and DM before we speculate what happened any further.