Teen fatality - Skaneateles Lake, New York

[rhwestfall]

Was this a training dive? "Experienced" buddies is not the same as an instructor....
At low dive counts....

 

[FM1520]

the point is that 60' on dive #10 is not in itself unreasonable, especially if he was with experienced divers.

 

[rhwestfall]

Apparently not....

 

[mdb]

In training dives have often done 3's, one astride the new diver and one hovering above.
We did this many times. Sometimes the new diver had a flooded mask or a mouthful
of salt water. Taking care of the issue U/W usually resulted in a nice "Sea story" and
a more experienced diver-on both sides.

 

[rhwestfall]

Again, was this a training dive? What were the qualifications of the divers? I'll keep asking....

 

[keller34]

This is a quote from my link. That is why I was wondering if it was a training dive myself:

Sharon, Hoyt and Brandon went to a meeting Sunday of the Onondaga County Underwater Search & Rescue Team. Later that morning Brandon, Hoyt and another man went to the south end of Skaneateles Lake for a training dive.

At some point something went wrong and Brandon began swimming toward the surface from 60 feet down. He was unresponsive before he reached the surface.

 

[RochesterUE]

This is a quote from my link. That is why I was wondering if it was a training dive myself:

Both of the experienced divers are members of the local public safety diving team, but this was NOT a training dive, and was not associated with the team. This was purely a recreational dive.

In time, more details will be released about the accident. The investigation into it is ongoing.

 

[rhwestfall]

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[Steve_C]

We do not even know from that short news story, if the buddy system failed.
Or if the 3 member team failed.
There is simply not enough information available and anyone who has followed these accidents will do well to remember that the news media seems to be wrong, a lot of the time. Sometimes extremely wrong, depending on who they interviewed.

Over the years I have had several occasions where I either had first hand knowledge or was part of the event reported on. The news has never gotten it completely right even when they were on my side. Heck, there were even two errors in my wedding announcement in the local paper.

 

[gypsyjim]

Over the years I have had several occasions where I either had first hand knowledge or was part of the event reported on. The news has never gotten it completely right even when they were on my side. Heck, there were even two errors in my wedding announcement in the local paper.

Are you sure they WERE errors, and not something the wife wanted them to say?

Yes, news media does not usually seem particularly focused on accuracy as much as on drama, and on being the first with the story. So much of the 'information' that we get early on in these accident stories, later turns out to have been either erroneous, or at best, purely speculation on the part of a "witness".