Stranded divers 'lucky to be alive'

[DiveGolfSki]

What would be the rescue procedures if the boat crew had noticed the divers surfacing early at a distance? Should the crew go after those divers then return to pick up the remaining divers or notify authorities, recover divers at the dive site first, then go after the lost divers or ....

Thanks,
Vince

This has been discussed in other threads (e.g., do a search for dive operator's responsibility, etc.) but until ALL diver's are on board, the captain can't pull up anchor. That's not to say they should maintain visual contact with the diver's or employ another boat (if they have one and can spare a deck hand) to retrieve those diver's.

I'm curious as to what the Australian authorities have required dive boats after the Lonnergan incident aside from a new head count procedure (one would have thought a roll call would have been SOP even before the Lonnergan incident).

Either way, dive operators should go over dive procedures before divers get in the water (e.g., strong current situations, carrying SMB's, etc.). I guess divers will have to take it upon themselves to ask these questions before hand and not assume anything.

 

[Louie]

Before we get too excited about "head counts" and condemning the crew to eternal torment with fire andmetal tipped whips for not doing a roll call instead, remember that the news was brought to you by "Non Diving Media Corporation inc.", the same people that call B.C's "emergency flotation devices", the same people that also say that you "inflate your wetsuit with oxygen" to help you stay on the surface (one particular news report I saw on TV claimed this is how they stayed afloat). The crew may well have done a roll call, and this has been called a head count by some bonehead reporter.

Z...

Yes. And they've done a very good job at confusing the issues with the almost-obligatory reference to "Open Water" and with lurid descriptions of huge sharks circling underneath (in the "Times", the woman involved admits it was probably just a reef shark).

 

[DiveGolfSki]

The Lonergans' disappearance was not reported for two days, and they were never found.

The incident sparked a tightening of safety regulations for dive boats.

Media inaccuracies aside, what safety regulations were tightened?

 

[charlie78]

As far as I am aware the head count procedures were tightened, how they were recorded and headcount has two be done by two people and all divers are supposed to carry a safety sausage and whistle. Admittedly while you are told to carry this and it is enforced if you hire if you have your own gear this is not always checked.

Most dive company's on the reef were already doing this though so it just forced those who were not to come inline with the rest of the industry in Australia
But i am open to being corrected

As for the shark infested waters.. I think not.. white tips and gray whalers and not that many of them.

How many people will be scared off by that bit of reporting. I have someone at my work that I have refered on for a OW course in October and he almost cancelled. Took all of my powers of persuasion to convince him to still give it a go.

 

[Doc Harry]

The British-made McMurdo Pains-Wessex Fastfind Plus with GPS failed miserably in recent real-world tests. A design flaw of the antenna renders the GPS function useless in the ocean.

There are other PLBs that did much better in real-world tests.

See similar threads elsewhere on this board for details of the real-world tests.

 

[Scubaroo]

I'll be diving in that part of the world in October. This is what I'll be taking, and I expect it will be more than sufficient.

10W HID (apart from the obvious regular use, night signalling)
Princeton-tec strobe
Starflash mirror
Storm whistle
3' oral-inflated yellow SMB (has my whistle ziptied to it)
5' regulator-inflated orange DSMB
Rescue Streamer

My wife carries most of the same items. Thinking of some items like the rescue streamer, mirror & strobe into an "oh-sh!t" pocket on a camband, as these are the items least likely to be used, and I want them on me but out of the way. Might add a buddy leash to that pocket too. The 3' SMB/whistle is always clipped off on my SPG D-ring every dive anyway for quick deployment (have only had to use it once, but when you want it, you want it in a hurry!), and the 5' SMB has it's own pocket on the backplate. Might add a dive-alert.

We dived with Danielle Gibbons from Crystal Divers in Fiji about 6 weeks before she was lost at sea, sort of drove the point home about sufficient signalling equipment.

 

[scuba_katt]

I dive the GBR out of Townsville regularly and can confirm that 9 out of 10 boats the size of the Sea-Esta have a little runabout/dinghy specifically for picking up wayward divers without having to pull anchor.

If the British couple surfaced early due to a problematic dive, my guess is that the look out was not anticipating anyone surfacing so soon, and just wasn't paying enough attention for surfacing divers until the majority of the dive group began surfacing after a "reasonable" length of time....

What would be the rescue procedures if the boat crew had noticed the divers surfacing early at a distance? Should the crew go after those divers then return to pick up the remaining divers or notify authorities, recover divers at the dive site first, then go after the lost divers or ....

Thanks,
Vince

 

[annie]

I dive the GBR out of Townsville regularly and can confirm that 9 out of 10 boats the size of the Sea-Esta have a little runabout/dinghy specifically for picking up wayward divers without having to pull anchor.

If the British couple surfaced early due to a problematic dive, my guess is that the look out was not anticipating anyone surfacing so soon, and just wasn't paying enough attention for surfacing divers until the majority of the dive group began surfacing after a "reasonable" length of time....

The look-out should be looking out for divers surfacing early because of problems.

 

[scuba_katt]

The look-out should be looking out for divers surfacing early because of problems.

I never said that he shouldn't be. I simply said that would be my guess as to WHY he/she didn't see them - he wasn't paying enough attention.

 

[almitywife]

I'll be diving in that part of the world in October. This is what I'll be taking, and I expect it will be more than sufficient.

10W HID (apart from the obvious regular use, night signalling)
Princeton-tec strobe
Starflash mirror
Storm whistle
3' oral-inflated yellow SMB (has my whistle ziptied to it)
5' regulator-inflated orange DSMB
Rescue Streamer

My wife carries most of the same items. Thinking of some items like the rescue streamer, mirror & strobe into an "oh-sh!t" pocket on a camband, as these are the items least likely to be used, and I want them on me but out of the way. Might add a buddy leash to that pocket too. The 3' SMB/whistle is always clipped off on my SPG D-ring every dive anyway for quick deployment (have only had to use it once, but when you want it, you want it in a hurry!), and the 5' SMB has it's own pocket on the backplate. Might add a dive-alert.

We dived with Danielle Gibbons from Crystal Divers in Fiji about 6 weeks before she was lost at sea, sort of drove the point home about sufficient signalling equipment.

Ben, what about the snaplock bag of chocolate, blow-up pool chair, thermas of tequila, emergency beacon and tv remote (so you know that someone at home will be looking for you sooner rather than later).

so this trip is why you're skipping out on Doucap.