Solo diving accidents?

[scottfiji]

Hello fellow solo-divers and solo-diver-want-to-be's

I was wondering if anyone knew of someone who died or had a serious accident (besides a heart attack) while solo diving (not freediving), I'd be interested to hear what happened.

I don't mean someone who lost their buddy, or their buddy went back early, I mean someone who made up their mind before the day of the dive that they were going to be a solo diver.

It would be great to learn from these stories. (And yes, I've already read most of the DAN 2003/2004 accident reports).

My apologies if this has already been covered somewhere else.

Scott

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I had a buddy that alternated dive weekends. When we would dive together, we would hit the local shipwrecks, or go for lobsters. The other weekend he would make deep dives that were well beyond my comfort zone. He tried talking me into making these dives with him, but I plan to live forever, so diving between 300-400 feet on air is not high on my list of fun things to do. One day he didn't come back from a planned dive to 300 feet at Farnsworth Bank off the backside of Catalina Island. His dive plan was to enter the water first, make the dive, then pass his buddy on the way up. On his last dive he went second and his buddy saw him around 270 feet heading down. He was never found. We "discussed" his dive practices for years, but although he was a very nice guy, he was extremely stubborn. He always said since he got away with it for so long he didn't believe it was unsafe.

 

[DORSETBOY]

Sorry to hear about your friend, that's pretty scary, only once did a dive to a tad deeper than 60m on air and woud'nt fancy diving deeper than 40m on air now. i tend to get narked as hell on deep dives and Im sure if I did the same profile again I prob would have the same prob of wanting to go deeper, thankfully I'd hit the bottom at the time. I was with a dive team at the time but only on a 12 litre tank with no redundancy - now have far more respect for diving and the risks involved which has been reinforced by hearing of far too many fatalities.

Nowadays when not teaching I mainly dive solo, but limit such diving to shallow depths, I've chatted with a few fellow solo divers at the sites i use, none thankfully have had any probs.

 

[Diver0001]

Hello fellow solo-divers and solo-diver-want-to-be's

I was wondering if anyone knew of someone who died or had a serious accident (besides a heart attack) while solo diving (not freediving), I'd be interested to hear what happened.

I don't mean someone who lost their buddy, or their buddy went back early, I mean someone who made up their mind before the day of the dive that they were going to be a solo diver.

It would be great to learn from these stories. (And yes, I've already read most of the DAN 2003/2004 accident reports).

My apologies if this has already been covered somewhere else.

Scott

Steve Berman comes to mind. He went solo into a cave (which was quite routine for him) and ran out of air. Nobody is really sure why. It's not unthinkable that a buddy could have helped him.

Shek Exley was solo when he died too but he was making a dive that may have been more complicated/dangerous with a buddy than it already was. In this case he was *reeeeeally* deep in a blue hole (I think) and something happened. His tanks were also empty when they recovered him.

Closer to home a sportdiver here died last year diving solo in a nearby lake. There was all kinds of speculation about what happened to him from suicide to equipment malfunction. Given the location and conditions when he died I would say it's safe to bet that barring anything really wierd a buddy would have increased his options.

R..

 

[Nemrod]

Is this a troll? I have no recalls offhand of solo deaths but I have over the years encountered several multiple drownings and near drownings. In my opinion, Solo for a strong reliant diver is safer!
Look, them caves are dangerous, solo or not or with a dozen buddies if you are lost and out of air you are dead! Do not go into caves without training and the correct equipment and someone to mentor you. My wife now forbids me from cave diving, my insurance company forbids cave diving, my mom forbids cave diving because she counts on me to take care of her.
Please do not count on a stranger that you have been buddy up to with a Padi C card to save you. On the other hand, if you have occasion to mentor such persons and you can then do so. It is fun teaching people new methods and helping them out and making new friends and of course, you/I learn as well from them. N

 

[scottfiji]

Is this a troll? I have no recalls offhand of solo deaths but I have over the years encountered several multiple drownings and near drownings. In my opinion, Solo for a strong reliant diver is safer!
Look, them caves are dangerous, solo or not or with a dozen buddies if you are lost and out of air you are dead! Do not go into caves without training and the correct equipment and someone to mentor you. My wife now forbids me from cave diving, my insurance company forbids cave diving, my mom forbids cave diving because she counts on me to take care of her.
Please do not count on a stranger that you have been buddy up to with a Padi C card to save you. On the other hand, if you have occasion to mentor such persons and you can then do so. It is fun teaching people new methods and helping them out and making new friends and of course, you/I learn as well from them. N

Nemrod,
If you had read all my previous posts, I think you would have answered your own question. If you have personal knowledge of a solo diver getting in an accident or getting bent, please share it here, so maybe we can learn from it. This is what the thread is about. I mean you no disrespect, but there are other threads for cave diving, the dangers of buddies, etc.
Scott

 

[Otter]

Is this a troll?

Doesn't sound like it to me....

..snip...Please do not count on a stranger that you have been buddy up to with a Padi C card to save you...snip...

Thats an interesting extreme to use for a comparison....a stranger AND a newbie ( I am guessing you mean to represent a "PADI C card" as perjorative for a new diver -- or maybe you are just down on all divers that have a PADI C card.)....and I agree, when diving in a cave, I wouldn't expect a stranger or new diver to save me......but for that matter, I wouldn't dive with a stranger OR a new diver in a cave...it certainly might put me a more risk than solo.

That being said, I wouldn't dive a cave solo...and my buddy would be someone that I not only knew well, but one whose skills are frame of mind were aligned with the risks of cave diving. I have lots of friends that dive, there are very few I would cave (vs. cavern) dive with.

Now back to Scottfiji's question.....

 

[Nemrod]

"Thats an interesting extreme to use for a comparison....a stranger AND a newbie"

I don't think I used the word newbie.

Oh, I get it, sorry, accidents while solo diving and their outcomes but not accidents resulting from solo diving. Sorry for the confusion. Good topic, (un?)fortunately the only deaths I have encountered were one heart attack while on a check out dive with students and two drowning deaths in Florida caves thus my warning about caves. Again, sorry for the confusion and thanks for the nice explanation. Good luck, take care. Swimming off in a new and uncharted direction. N

 

[derwoodwithasherwood]

Is this a troll

I think it's an interesting area of research. While a deeply devisive emotional issue, is there objective statistical evidence to either demonstrate or disprove that properly planned and executed solo diving is more dangerous?

 

[novadiver]

Hello fellow solo-divers and solo-diver-want-to-be's

I was wondering if anyone knew of someone who died or had a serious accident (besides a heart attack) while solo diving (not freediving), I'd be interested to hear what happened.

I don't mean someone who lost their buddy, or their buddy went back early, I mean someone who made up their mind before the day of the dive that they were going to be a solo diver.

It would be great to learn from these stories. (And yes, I've already read most of the DAN 2003/2004 accident reports).

My apologies if this has already been covered somewhere else.

Scott

Don't dwell on the negative, only think of the positive. Solo diving has a positive risk profile , if your trained and ready