razorbackdiver
Contributor
I am not a dry suit diver so perhaps my thoughts on this are way off base but here goes. We are told Quero was diving with 26lbs of lead and a 17lbs of lift in her BC. So from this point she is 9lbs beyond the ability of her BC. She was also diving a steel tank, if it was a high pressure tank there may have been another pound of negativity (haven’t read of the buoyancy characteristics of her particular tank). Let’s say that there is another 2lbs of negativity by taking into account regs, heavy fins, and other misc gear. Now we are at 12lbs beyond her BC ability. Finally, add in the negativity of her camera, I am going to guess 3lbs negative and she is at 15lbs beyond her BC’s ability.
Now I do not know Quero, except through a few of her post on SB, so I may be wrong but in a benign environment that she was in, I would only intentionally vent enough gas to ensure a steady descent. I am thinking around 5 lbs. or less (I may vent more gas upon descent on other occasions, such as trying to get away from surface chop or trying to avoid surface current). Add in the fact she was ten feet from the sand and I see no reason for her to empty her dry suit. So she should have had 10 to 8lbs of lift in her suit after starting her descent. (If she drops the camera, she would only have to swim up about2lbs). Since we are told her dry suit had to be cut off her, that was not the case here, it seems her dry suit as devoid of any lift (feel free to correct me if this may not have been the case).
This seems to me to indicate that her vent valve was atleast partially open. If the valve was closed it seems to me that there should have been 10 to 8lbs of lift in her suit. Perhaps the valve was defective or had a bit of debris in it preventing proper closing or Quero for some reason did not fully close the vent. Perhaps there was an issue such as a cramp the distracted Quero from fully closing the vent. Or perhaps she went OOA as soon as her head went under water and didn’t fully close the valve. I personally suspect this was the case.
I understand the SPG was off by 10 bar and she reported having 50 bar remaining before redescending. In my mind, 40 bar or 600 psi should be enough for a experience diver resolve a problem in 10ft of depth without panic setting in. Only Quero knows what her SPG actually read. As I have said I never met or dove with Quero but it seems to me that the final overriding issue in this accident has to be needlessly using her reserve rather than doing a surface swim to shore. Perhaps others can weigh in as to if Quero was the kind of diver that might attempt a short submerged swim with a spg that only read 15 to 20 bar. To me with the information available to me this is the most logical explanation. The lesson to be relearned is:
Reserves exist for a reason. Do not use them unless absolutely necessary.
Now I do not know Quero, except through a few of her post on SB, so I may be wrong but in a benign environment that she was in, I would only intentionally vent enough gas to ensure a steady descent. I am thinking around 5 lbs. or less (I may vent more gas upon descent on other occasions, such as trying to get away from surface chop or trying to avoid surface current). Add in the fact she was ten feet from the sand and I see no reason for her to empty her dry suit. So she should have had 10 to 8lbs of lift in her suit after starting her descent. (If she drops the camera, she would only have to swim up about2lbs). Since we are told her dry suit had to be cut off her, that was not the case here, it seems her dry suit as devoid of any lift (feel free to correct me if this may not have been the case).
This seems to me to indicate that her vent valve was atleast partially open. If the valve was closed it seems to me that there should have been 10 to 8lbs of lift in her suit. Perhaps the valve was defective or had a bit of debris in it preventing proper closing or Quero for some reason did not fully close the vent. Perhaps there was an issue such as a cramp the distracted Quero from fully closing the vent. Or perhaps she went OOA as soon as her head went under water and didn’t fully close the valve. I personally suspect this was the case.
I understand the SPG was off by 10 bar and she reported having 50 bar remaining before redescending. In my mind, 40 bar or 600 psi should be enough for a experience diver resolve a problem in 10ft of depth without panic setting in. Only Quero knows what her SPG actually read. As I have said I never met or dove with Quero but it seems to me that the final overriding issue in this accident has to be needlessly using her reserve rather than doing a surface swim to shore. Perhaps others can weigh in as to if Quero was the kind of diver that might attempt a short submerged swim with a spg that only read 15 to 20 bar. To me with the information available to me this is the most logical explanation. The lesson to be relearned is:
Reserves exist for a reason. Do not use them unless absolutely necessary.
