Spiegel Incident

[schu1842]

There is a thread on Deco Stop concerning a Calvin College student who took a serious DCS hit on the Spiegel over the holidays. The thread was discontinued since it was not considered a tech dive. Does anyone have an update on his recovery?

 

[Rick Inman]

Sure.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/fl...alyzed-diving-keys-anyone-have-more-info.html

 

[deepstops]

Then again, they supposedly weren't beginners:

DeVlieger was diving with his father and his twin brother, Andrew, also a Calvin student. All are experienced divers, and have participated in the activity for between five and six years. Over Christmas break, the DeVliegers were exploring the USS Spiegel, a sunken naval ship, at a depth of about 135 feet.

I would then ask to define what their experience was. If they were regularly wreck diving in the Great Lakes, that's experience. If they were doing a few tanks on vacations once or twice a year, that's not *much* experience and begs for trouble on a wreck like the SG.

 

[bsee65]

For those interested, I will try to summarize the reports as I read them:

The diver, a college student, was on the Spiegel Grove with a max depth of 135fsw. He was diving with his twin brother and his father. His father ran low on gas and ascended while the brothers continued the dive. At some point, the victim realized his gas level was too low for his liking and began an ascent at a more rapid rate than safety would allow. The report says he ascended from 135fsw in about five minutes and without any stops. His own words tell us that he was finning to ascend, and that he failed to adjust his bc and became too positive on the way up. His brother apparently had more gas left and ascended behind him without incident. They contacted the USCG and transported him to the hospital and ot him into treatment, though I didn't see much detail of any initial aid or how quickly he got to a medical facility.

It was reported that he had been diving six years and had done other dives in the keys as well as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. There were no further details of his experience that would tell us how many dives he actually had, their difficulty, or if he had any advanced training.

The last report says his right arm is "normal", his left arm is weak but strengthening, and he is paralyzed from the chest down.

 

[bsee65]

My take on the above is that he may have been diving for six years, but he certainly wasn't what people here would consider highly proficient. Here are a few thoughts:

1. He was late to realize that he was running out of gas. There is no detail about how much earlier his father had ascended, but if he felt the need to make a 20 minute ascent in five minutes, that would suggest he was 15 minutes late in starting his ascent.

2. Buddy breathing doesn't appear ever to have been a consideration. There doesn't seem ever to have been any sort of team mentality

3. When trying to conserve gas, a finning ascent doesn't make a lot of sense to me. That's effort that will require more oxygen to the muscles. Wouldn't a couple strokes or a dash of gas into the bc to create positive bouyancy and then managing ascent by controlling the bc allow you to extend your gas supply just a little?

4. He didn't seem to be aware that he would get another breath or two from his tank as he ascended.

5. I don't believe it was published how much gas was left in the tank when he surfaced. We don't hear that he actually ran out, so we don't know how real the risk of OOG was.

6. He mentions that he failed to recognize that his bc made him too positive and too fast on ascent. With a few years of diving, one would think that he knows that he becomes more bouyant as he approaches the surface, but did the apprehension of his perceived gas situation take his attention away from the details that needed to be managed for a safe ascent?

7.After the ascent, there's no mention of O2 or other immediate care. I don't recall anything about what operation they dove with or if it was a private boat.

 

[Crush]

...but if he felt the need to make a 20 minute ascent in five minutes, that would suggest he was 15 minutes late in starting his ascent.

I am very afraid to ask this in case I have made some horrible mistake, but did the diver feel that he should have taken 20 minutes to ascend, or is it the case that he really should have taken 20 minutes to ascend? I am confused. If it was a no-deco dive, and if he were to ascend from 135 to 20 feet at 30 ft/min, the ascent would require 3 min 50 sec. Add on a three minute safety stop (which was not done), plus (for an extra margin of safety) ascend at 15 ft/min for the last 20 feet (1 min 20 sec) and you are still at 8 min 10 sec. Am I missing something?

 

[sydney-diver]

I am very afraid to ask this in case I have made some horrible mistake, but did the diver feel that he should have taken 20 minutes to ascend, or is it the case that he really should have taken 20 minutes to ascend? I am confused. If it was a no-deco dive, and if he were to ascend from 135 to 20 feet at 30 ft/min, the ascent would require 3 min 50 sec. Add on a three minute safety stop (which was not done), plus (for an extra margin of safety) ascend at 15 ft/min for the last 20 feet (1 min 20 sec) and you are still at 8 min 10 sec. Am I missing something?

It does sound like he was outside the NDL. If you're out of air at that depth I would suspect you're SAC is high or it's (maybe inadvertandly) a deco-dive? I don't have my tables on me, what is the NDL for 135fsw?

 

[DESIGNERDIVER]

was he diving nitrox? or air. nitrox im thinking

 

[Becca_007]

According to the first article he was on oxygen! No way to really know what happened unless someone who was actually there speaks up with some details .

 

[ptyx]

It does sound like he was outside the NDL. If you're out of air at that depth I would suspect you're SAC is high or it's (maybe inadvertandly) a deco-dive? I don't have my tables on me, what is the NDL for 135fsw?

About 15 minutes with IANTD tables (@140ft). And it's not really NDL, there is a 2 min mandatory stop at 10ft.

With software (Buhlman), for 15' @ 135ft I have a 12 minutes ascent...
Gas use (with the same software):

• 60cuft of air used with .6 cfm (which is pretty low) - that's dive + ascent
• 80cuft with .8 cfm - that's dive + ascent as well
• Ascent gas with .8 cfm is 19cuft (that's the 12 minutes with all the deep stops)

It would be interesting to know what kind of tanks they dove with.

Do whatever you want with those numbers, but I'd recommend anyone considering that kind of dive to read this excellent article (at the very least).