Teenage diver search called off

[sabbath999]

The obvious to be is Get Positive! Drop the weights if needed. How many ever practice that after OW? So many bodies are found with weights on.

That's one thing my OW instructor kept drilling into us, repeating it over and over... most people who drown while diving don't drop their weights... never, EVER hesitate to drop your weights when on the surface if you are needing to stay buoyant and are having ANY difficulty (his teaching, not mine).

We practiced weight removal on 3 different dives in the pool (both our weights and our buddies) and on a 3 dives in OW (we practiced all of our basic skills on those three dives, and practiced our surface skill sets during the required surface intervals).

Every dive we have done (5 so far in OW and 8 pool sessions) we go through a full basic skill set including dumping weights, mask clearing, mask removal, mask recovery, don/doff at surface and at depth, OOA ascents from depth by both people and air sharing. We have also implemented a "surprise" drill for the pool, where we reach out and grab the primary regulator out of our buddies mouth by surprise and use it (to simulate a surprise emergency OOA situation)... man that drill is a good one, the first few times we both really botched our reactions but now we go right to our backup air source as a matter of muscle memory. So far, all of our dives have been strictly training dives working on buoyancy and water skills, but we intend to continue working on this stuff every time we go out (except when on vacation... we will have enough to do learning about how to dive from a boat, learning about surge, etc.)

I am a NOOB so I only know what I have been told and the drills I have practiced, but I am hoping that if I get into a similar situation my training will kick in... I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

[Rick Murchison]

... why didnt the boy lose his weights ...

Most fatalities don't. If they did, they wouldn't be fatalities, most likely.
Rick

We don't have any statistics on how many dropped weights and didn't drown. Nor do we know how many had trouble and did not drop weights and did not drown. All we know is that over 80% who do drown never drop their weights.
Why?
Maybe they weren't trained to.
Maybe they were trained but didn't follow their training because they forgot about it in the moment.
One thing's for sure... it wasn't drilled into them to the extent that dropping weights is an automatic response to extremis on the surface - and a testament to a need to make it so in every student.
Rick

 

[imasinker]

First of all My condolences to the family, Being divers they may be reading this thread. My heart goes out to you all.

I am a new diver myself and since May of this year I have read three separate stories of divers being lost at sea. My post is just a opinion I am not taking a stab at the dive training or individuals or instructors of any certifying agencies. I guess i am just hoping after all this sadness we can find better ways to help divers in distress.

A young man diving not likely to have much experience, could have panicked, not dropped weights or many things could have happened. One thing that strikes me hard is that losing a visual on a surfaced diver shouldn't have to happen. Something so simple as a safety sausage could have helped the boat and other boats to see him. Would he have remembered to use one had he had it, we don't know. We don’t know if he was conscious so dumping weights or inflating a safety sausage wouldn’t have been done anyways. We just don’t know. Personally I think when your diving the oceans fresh water lakes, a surface marker should be standard gear and taught how to be used, drilled into everyone’s head just as dropping weights or never holding your breath. The harsh reality of it is that it is tragic stories like these that bring a close nit community like the dive community together to discuss future changes and upgrades to the way we train and dive. Maybe this is something that needs to be looked at. Possibility of diver dyes, strobes, beacons. If your a new diver perhaps these things should be thought about before diving in the ocean during rough swells. There has to be some way to get to these divers a hell of alot faster when they become separated. It just sounds like so many thing went wrong and alot of people just didn't have the experience to deal with a unfortunate situation.

 

[String]

Im still sticking with my original observations - physical separation on the surface is unforgivable. A moored boat is unforgivable. Not having a VHF radio is unforgivable.

Very many things "not per the book" there and sadly when you start cutting corners these things can happen.

 

[String]

The official 2008 incident report is out now but little detail there:

Two divers ascended at the end of a dive. At 10m they exchanged OK signals but then became separated. There were problems starting the engine of their boat. One of the pair was recovered into another boat and the other was seen at the surface with his BCD inflated. Contact was then lost with this diver. The Coastguard was alerted and an extensive search was conducted involving five lifeboats, four helicopters and other craft. Twenty days later the body of the missing diver was seen by a member of the public floating at the surface; it was recovered.

 

[I Dive]

If any family or friends of this victim are reading this thread, I would suggest you don't search the Internet for stories about this tragedy. I'm not going to say where I found it or what it said, but I just came across a so-called "news story" that listed the most ridicilous excuse of an "Expert opinion" that I have ever seen. I know people who have never laid eyes on a set of SCUBA gear that could have come up with a more substantive conclusion than what I just read. I think it is horrible that family members of victims of tragedy have to hear or read some of the garbage stories and theories that come out in the media. My thoughts and prayers are with the family.

 

[rleslie]

That's one thing my OW instructor kept drilling into us, repeating it over and over... most people who drown while diving don't drop their weights... never, EVER hesitate to drop your weights when on the surface if you are needing to stay buoyant and are having ANY difficulty (his teaching, not mine).

We practiced weight removal on 3 different dives in the pool (both our weights and our buddies) and on a 3 dives in OW (we practiced all of our basic skills on those three dives, and practiced our surface skill sets during the required surface intervals).

We covered weight removal ONE time during our OW training. The instructor was more concerned with impressing us with his knowledge and getting us certified than he was with training us properly. Looking back, I don't think that I had any business being certified and I know that wife wasn't.

After read this thread and other accident accounts, I feel receiving a OW cert. in no way truly prepares you for anything other than a perfect dive scenario and is WAY too easy to receive. IMHO the pool time should be doubled/tripled and the students should practice, practice, practice different accident scenarios. Honestly, how many of you feel that new divers are in any way prepared for an emergency situation?

Several posters in this thread (and others) say that they don't understand why the victim didn't take certain actions. I've seen divers with over 100 dives panic. Take someone with 15 dives who received marginal training and you have a receipt for disaster when something goes wrong.

Just my 2 cents

 

[imasinker]

We covered weight removal ONE time during our OW training. The instructor was more concerned with impressing us with his knowledge and getting us certified than he was with training us properly. Looking back, I don't think that I had any business being certified and I know that wife wasn't.

After read this thread and other accident accounts, I feel receiving a OW cert. in no way truly prepares you for anything other than a perfect dive scenario and is WAY too easy to receive. IMHO the pool time should be doubled/tripled and the students should practice, practice, practice different accident scenarios. Honestly, how many of you feel that new divers are in any way prepared for an emergency situation?

Several posters in this thread (and others) say that they don't understand why the victim didn't take certain actions. I've seen divers with over 100 dives panic. Take someone with 15 dives who received marginal training and you have a receipt for disaster when something goes wrong.

Just my 2 cents

Althought I agree with a few things you say as in practice and more practice, but how many new drivers do you know that can handle a spin out or blown tire. Your point is clear some people train better than others but the outcome is new divers are NEW. The only way we could step up the open water training and try to avoid these mishaps/ accidents IMHO would be to put all three certifications together, Basic, advanced and rescue. Big problem I see with that is money and time. I think more people would tend to sway away from diving if they had to face such a rigorous training program with a cost much higher. Maybe this a good thing in some views but on the view of agencies not. In any sport day to day life there are situations where people not prepared suffer. It is sad, but one thing remains true. No matter how hard you try, train pound into peoples head, in some situations people just panic, forget and thats it.

 

[iamsharky]

some people that dive in strong currents with back problems have attached their weights to their steel back plates to reduce the pull caused by wearing weight belts on the waist. in that case it would be impossible to drop weights. i wonder about his gear set up......

 

[String]

I use a similar setup. Its fantastic and far from rare.
Although this was NOT the case in this incident. Standard BC was used.