San Diego Dive Fatality 9-29-09

[DiveMom1]

Ok, over the last 2 days I've read all 230 posts in this thread. All I can say "There but the Grace of God could have been me" I see soooo many parallels it's just spooky. It is definatly time to acess and reacess how to hadndle various scenarios "before" I am in even a slightly panicked mode. Maybe [hopefully] I can get some advice and feedback to help me prevent being the subject of such a thread. Here goes:

I learned to dive in the 80's and always used a weight integrated BC.. that is until now. I'm considering using a 12lb belt and splitting my weights. My BC is an i3 Pearl and I love it, but it's lift capacity is not enough to support ALL of the lead I need in cold CA Waters. My BC also has a crotch strap that does not disconnect very easily. I've tried putting the belt [at home not in the water yet] over the BC straps/band but it doesn't sit well with the BC under the weight belt. So I have put the belt first and then the BC with the wt belt under the crotch strap. I just tried removing the weight belt with the BC and critch strap over and really fought with it taking nearly 5 min to do so infront of a mirror... this will not work in an emergency situation.

I was out of CA watre for a few years and was pretty anxious about just plunging back in. I hunted for suggestions, took a refresher [totally worthless in my case] and finally hired a DM who became a great mentor to help me reintegrate. I tend to be an "entanglement magnet" as dubbed by many over the years, be it boat current lines, kelp, you name it it comes right toward me! an OP in Hawaii laughted himself sill as he wittnessed a line literally move from stationary to me the second "I" hit the water.. The DM in the water untangled it and was holding it and another section of line made the same B-line for me. It was a good joke the whole week but never failed to happen.

Just to clarify, I tend to be an "overly cautious diver" according to most I know. I am aware of my limitations both physically and diving and tend to seek extra help or training to overcome my aprehension... with that said, kelp and/or different equipment can be quite impacting.

I've been on a few boat charters... most were more than happy to help if I were honest ahead of time and told them what I wanted/needed. This was not the case last month with a highly respected SoCA charter. I always take my BC off in the water and pass it up to the boat Op. It is physically difficult if not impossible to climb aboard with my heavy gear [with integ weights] in place.

Last month beginning of Lobster season and pretty knarly weather I took the first dive as there was reportedly no current and little surge.. RIGHT! NOT! It kicked my butt and I headed back up discusted with about 850 psi. I got pretty tangled in the kelp and my buddy/hubby didn't notice. I was trapped just under the canopy and couldn't seem to break through. I finally did at 200psi and in quite a beginning panic as I'd never let air get that low. Thank God it was a very short crawl to the at the platform which was engulfed in kelp. The guys on board stoof on the boat deck [swimstep + second step + 4 stairs] and told me to climb out. [after I'd told them I needed help getting back aboard after offdonning pack] FINALLY one guy came to the first step above the platform to help. I bet I struggled much more than 5 min. but it seemed like hours!!! Once I was unclipped I must have layed/floated on that swimstep for a good 10 min [to prevent homicide]

OK.. that was too long a recap but here is the $1,000,000 question. What would have happened if a weight belt was "caught" under that BC? Would I have sunk below the canopy? [panicked and exausted] The crew didn't want to get their feet wet on the swim step and I doubt they would have come in after me. Would ditching my weights have made manuvering the kelp easier? is there a safer way to seperate my weights for easy ditching?

I would really love constructive feedback. Consider this your chance to really prevent a divers accident or death.

 

[DandyDon]

DiveMom your "I'm a fish" choice on your profile suggests over 4,000 dives I think, which can discourage some from offering suggestions. It might help if you selected the appropriate choice.

My BC will hold 30# of lead with 40# of lift, 20# ditchable - and if I didn't have one that did, I'd get one. If I needed to add more weight on a belt, I'd make sure I could jettison them or not wear them. But maybe the more learned and experienced here will offer better ideas.

 

[*dave*]

. I just tried removing the weight belt with the BC and critch strap over and really fought with it taking nearly 5 min to do so infront of a mirror... this will not work in an emergency situation.

I can tell you if you're in a horizontal position, you can release the belt and pull it off quite easily without it hanging on the crotch strap. In the vertical, gravity tend to make things much more difficult.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

@DiveMom1: First of all, you should have your own cutting tool (EMT scissors, z-knife, regular knife, etc.). Many people carry 2 cutting tools and mount them on different parts of their rig.

If having ditchable weight is important to you, then make sure it's truly ditchable. You should practice removing and replacing the ditchable weight so that when an emergency arises you won't have a weight belt that gets snagged on the BCD.

If you + your rig are positively buoyant at the surface (with inflated BCD)...and you attempt to remove your weight belt but you can't...you should still remain positively buoyant, right? No problem there. Of course, the result would be different if you happened to release air from your BCD while you were trying to ditch your weight belt.

In my experience with kelp diving, you should not always default to "ditching weights" when entangled. If kelp entanglement occurs at the surface, it can be very helpful to stop moving and descend a little to free yourself. This, of course, requires that you have enough air to do so. If you don't have enough air to re-descend, then do the "kelp crawl." If that doesn't work, get help from your buddy or the boat crew. If kelp entanglement occurs under water, there are lots of methods to free yourself: remove kelp with hands, break with hands, cut kelp with tool, stop moving and descend a little, get help from your buddy, etc. In certain cases of kelp entanglement under water, ditching your weights could get you even more entangled. At the very least, it limits your available options from that point forward.

You did the right thing attempting to surface with 850 psi in your tank. For people inexperienced with kelp diving, I'd recommend being even more conservative (surface with 1000 psi). I hope that the divemaster/captain made this part of his pre-dive briefing.

Your story also revealed a failure in the buddy system. I completely understand how difficult it can be to stay with your buddy in thick kelp. It takes vigilance and practice by all members of the buddy team. Perhaps every so often you should switch the leader-follower positioning. It sounds like your husband might like to move faster than you. If he gets frustrated moving at your slower pace or would rather not be bothered keeping tabs on you, then perhaps your diving goals aren't compatible. In other words, you might want to consider a new dive buddy.

It sounds to me like you were a little bit frustrated with the level of assistance the crew was providing. In my experience on SoCal boat charters, divers usually exit the water in full gear. Generally, a crew member will be on the swim step to hang onto your fins as you doff them while on the ladder. Removing your rig in the water is unusual...and as such should be discussed with the crew beforehand. I know that these kinds of accommodations are made. I've seen people with pre-existing injuries gearing up in the water. Twice I have encountered a paraplegic diver (once on a dive charter to Anacapa and another time at Casino Point) who would doff and don his gear in the water. The guy had an amazing dive buddy who was very well versed in the procedure for enty/exit, but the boat crew helped out, too.

As a side note, I try to avoid diving on charters or in areas where people are lobster-hunting at the beginning of the season. There are a lot of people in the water who don't know what they're doing. I've seen people freak out on opening night of lobster season because...it was a night dive. People also like to get in the water with gear that hasn't been serviced and/or tested. Drama ensues.

 

[DiveMom1]

DandyDon: "DiveMom your "I'm a fish" choice on your profile suggests over 4,000 dives I think, which can discourage some from offering suggestions. It might help if you selected the appropriate choice."

I chose this to try and defer confusion but I guess it created more. I had about 900 dives [most in California or British Columbia] cold water until I stopped diving for some time. I now have another 50 or so but didn't quite know how to reclassify my experience. In reality I should not have many of the issues I'm facing due to "experience" but I am.. I'm not comfy listing as 900 or 50 dives.. it depends on the situation.

Yes, I NEVER should have gone on this kind of Testosterone quest.. and won't again. As for working out "assistance" needs ahead of time I did!! I taked to the chater company multiple times before booking..they said "Oh, no problem we can help with anything you need!" "BULL" I also taked to the captian, the second captian and the deck hands... it didn't help and I didn't do much diving and that that I did do was frustrating.

My hubby/buddy is another can of worms. He is the "VIKING HUNTER" and testosterone kicks in full throddle when he prepares for a dive. He was back on the boat, ungeared drinking coffee when he realized I was just FINALLY nearing the swimstep! I'm the kind that likes to slowly muck dive and find every hidden nudi and treasure to be found. [yep, currently looking for seperate buddies]

I am going to Monterey, CA this weekend to decide what weight configuration to use. I will thouroughly test this out in he calmer shallows and not smack in the middle of the kelp forest. I'm just afraid that if too tired or panicked that I'd mistakenly remove my pack with a weightbelt still in place. I've only ever used integrated weights before.

It has been a slow learning curve trying to "discover" how to overcome some level of strength depravity and challenge in the water. I did not expect it to be this difficult to learn new ways of doing things. All these suggestions have been helpful.

 

[ItsBruce]

DiveMom1: My immediate reaction to your post is that you have way too much weight. (You mention your BCD's lifting capacity and having trouble climbing the ladder.) Remember that your wetsuit is very buoyant. In fact, most of your weight is just to counteract your wetsuit so that you can submerge at all. You may have an additional 4 pounds to counteract the buoyancy of your tank once it is empty. Thus, at the end of a dive, you should be close to neutral or even a little positive without any air in your BCD. (Now, if you were to remove your wetsuit without removing your weights, you might be in for a problem, but I don't think it is possible to remove a wetsuit without removing weights. And, if you remove a weight integrated BCD, it may not float by itself.)

In any event, to float you at the surface in your wetsuit with the right amount of weight, you need very little lift out of your BCD. You may need more lift at depth where your wetsuit is highly compressed and not as buoyant.

Thus, I think you may have been overweighted from your description.

As far as dumping weight, my current train of thought is to dump if you can't otherwise maintain buoyancy, but don't dump as a knee-jerk reaction. OTOH: If you wear all of your weight on your belt and are removing your BCD, you might want to dump a few pounds before removing your BCD. (If you use a weight belt with pouches, you might even remove one or two weights and put them in the pocket of the BCD.)

 

[DiveMom1]

Hi "ItsBruce" I tend to agree with you. I do think I'm overweighted.. but can't seem to fine tune it alone.. and am systematically replacing old equipment so when I think I'm close I have thrown a new piece of equipment into the mix messing up the water again [so to speak]

I now have finally replaced all of my older equipment so what I now have will be the FINAL equation. I am taking a peak performancy class Thursday to get dialed in [since I'm just too frustrated to do it alone at this point] I think this piece will solve 2/3 of my current issues. I need to feel confident in my own ability once again... that means proper weighting so I'm not distracted or frusterated with those things.

My BC even overweighted floats me at the surface fine.. although it does not float without me in it. I was only considering moving some weights to a belt after "ISSUES" on this last boat charter.. In the last few months I've dived here in CA and HI and never had any problems either doning or doffing equipment in the water or before reboarding the boat. Maybe it's not an issue if I do little boat diving with new charters. I really like having the weight integrated.

 

[Ayisha]

As a result of this incident, at the end of my dive yesterday, I did a practice / test in which I took off my BCD (a BP/W). At 25 feet, I was positive and it was negative. (As a result, it was important that I hung onto it until I put it back on.)

Bruce, the weight that you wear to offset your exposure protection should really be attached to you (weight belt, harness, etc.). It does little good attached to a BCD if the BCD is not attached to you. If for some reason, although rare, you had to remove your BCD at depth, you could too easily lose hold of the BCD and rapidly ascend to the surface, #1, and without a gas source, #2.

It seems that it cannot be reiterated enough that if you are correctly weighted, you will not plunge from the surface. If you are correctly weighted, you will not plunge uncontrollably at depth either. Needing to remove weights is a result of being overweighted.

 

[DandyDon]

Yes, I NEVER should have gone on this kind of Testosterone quest.. and won't again.

Huh?

As for working out "assistance" needs ahead of time I did!! I taked to the chater company multiple times before booking..they said "Oh, no problem we can help with anything you need!" "BULL" I also taked to the captian, the second captian and the deck hands... it didn't help and I didn't do much diving and that that I did do was frustrating.

Odd, the hands usually work for tips.

My hubby/buddy is another can of worms. He is the "VIKING HUNTER" and testosterone kicks in full throddle when he prepares for a dive. He was back on the boat, ungeared drinking coffee when he realized I was just FINALLY nearing the swimstep! I'm the kind that likes to slowly muck dive and find every hidden nudi and treasure to be found. [yep, currently looking for seperate buddies]

Whether a hormone problem or not, sounds like poor buddy work - by both of you.

 

[drdaddy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by reefphreak View Post
"I spent Saturday diving with one of the investigators that was involved in the body recovery and investigation of this incident. He told me that the diver surfaced and got hung up in some kelp. The Dive master jumped in and swam to him. When he got to the diver the DM removed the diver's BC. The diver, who still had his weight belt on, dropped to the bottom."
__________
"That would explain why he went down but not why he could not be caught and pulled back up." Dave
__________

In the Rescue Diver course, if one is on a boat and sees a diver in trouble, he/she assesses the situation and then it's the old life guard drill, "reach, throw, row, and go". If you need to get in, you grab your snorkel, fins, a float, and go - not geared up. If another is on the boat, their gearing up is an option. Once the rescuer gets to the distressed diver, he/she drops the diver's weights and inflates the BCD. In some instances, the BCD should be removed, but again, the weights have been dropped. Sequence is important. Training and rehearsal is essential.

I'm feeling rusty, even as I write this.

DrDaddy