Student decides buoyancy is best & “bolts”

[Shiprekd]

Bummer. Too bad he wouldn't talk ~ at minimum it could give you some insight as to what happened or what was going through his mind at the time.

To reply to everyone else :O]

I had never seen the guy before. He wasn't the most talkative guy but there are people like that. Nothing red flagged him that I could determine. The instructor said he had about 35 dives in his log

I should have been a bit more specific when I said "behind and high" - I was positioned alongside of him slightly hi and about half his torso length back (meaning my head was around his lower BC jacket pocket). When the knife situation happened, I dropped back to his lower thigh, knee area.

Never have been diving (DM'ng) with the instructor before, I always ask/talk to them before going in with them. So no surprises.

Yea, that lil voice got him I'm sure of that. The vis had cleared out a lil because of dropping through the thermocline, available light dropped a good bit for obvious reasons.

I think the thing that scared me the most, was that he was fighting me and thought he might attempt to de-reg me intentionally or by accident. I'm 5ft 10 inches @145lbs. This guy was 6ft at approx 210. No featherweight by any means.

 

[Jimi]

That sounds scary; i would've pulled on the emergency dump at the bottom, and the dump valve on the hose. that way you couldve slowd the acsent more. but if your life is in danger, i would be pretty pissed off at that guy, and i would be getting physical. I mean, im 13 years old, but i spend a lot of time at the gym lifting heavy, and i wouldnt have any second thoughts in violently ripping that guys hand off the inflator hose. Athough i still probably coudnt have done that, according to shiprekd, that guy was pretty big. i probably couldnt do that to anyone older than me.

 

[pilot fish]

Shiprekd, you are to be congratulated. I can't see you doing anything other than what you did. The thought of pulling the reg out is your mind racing to think of something to change the situation and save his life. I would imagine all sorts of things raced into your head under that kind of stress. Could you have reached under the inflator hose to hold open the dump button, or was his hand covering that? Could you reach is vest dump cord?

You did a good job and are a credit to our sport. One thing, I would have MADE this guy talk. I would have said, you almost killed the both of us so tell what happened? You guys let him off to easy, I think.

 

[Michael Freeman]

It is very easy to look back and think, hey I should have done this or that, but that is only because you have had time to think about it and you know the results of the attempt you made.

You don't have a lot of time to decide what will and wont work. You follow your training and do your best. It sounds like you did a pretty good job to me.

 

[Shiprekd]

You did a good job and are a credit to our sport. One thing, I would have MADE this guy talk. I would have said, you almost killed the both of us so tell what happened? You guys let him off to easy, I think.

Thanks for the Kudos.... I definately wasn't a happy pup. Not so sure I could have talked sensibly myself at the time.

While fighting him, I tried to keep my left thumb under my dump/hose so that way I could keep my BCD dumped as well. We popped through 2atm's (60ft it started and I let go at 31) in a hurry and I was getting pretty bouyant at that point as well.

Believe me, I was chatterin away when I got by myself.... lol

 

[ScubaTwo]

During the surface swim back to shore, the instructor asked the guy on two occasions what happened? but the student never answered. He only shrugged his shoulders. We also asked if he wanted to be checked out by the EMT's and again, he just shook his head no.

Never saw or heard from him again.

One thing we noticed before he left, when he was packing up, we noticed a pack a smokes in his bag and threw the idea around that it may have been a contributing factor.

I know smoking is not good and has alot of negative effects on diving but Im not sure how that would contribute to his actions in this case?

 

[DiveGolfSki]

Thanks for the Kudos.... I definately wasn't a happy pup. Not so sure I could have talked sensibly myself at the time.

While fighting him, I tried to keep my left thumb under my dump/hose so that way I could keep my BCD dumped as well. We popped through 2atm's (60ft it started and I let go at 31) in a hurry and I was getting pretty bouyant at that point as well.

Believe me, I was chatterin away when I got by myself.... lol

I'm a bit puzzled. While you should be given the diver's equivalent of the congressional medal of honor, why was the questioning by you and the instructor done with such "kid's gloves"? Shouldn't you have read the riot act to him perhaps intermingling a couple of @@#**** and !!*#@#% just to emphasize your point?

Anyway, I hope you don't dive with that student again.

 

[Kriterian]

I know smoking is not good and has alot of negative effects on diving but Im not sure how that would contribute to his actions in this case?

I took it to mean the diver in question got hit by a nasty nicotine urge and had to have one RIGHT THEN!

 

[H2Andy]

shiprekd, hats off to you. i think you went above and beyond the call of duty here,
and tried your best under difficult circumstances.

way to keep your head and keep yourself safe in the end

 

[ScubaTwo]

I took it to mean the diver in question got hit by a nasty nicotine urge and had to have one RIGHT THEN!

Im a smoker and before, during and after its the last thing on my mind (another positive effect diving has had on my life)