Training fatality claims Utah woman in Florida

[LilMermaid1]

I'm not sure what you learn at 60 feet that you can't learn at 30-40 feet. Actually diving at 60 feet is easier because of buoyancy stability. In Monterey people get their OW cert in the 20 40 range. Unless you dive from a boat most dives are 30-50 feet. You can dive the trench from shore at Monastery Beach and dive 100's of feet if you want. The deeper you go the darker and colder it gets. Visibility is an issue and the shallow dive is the safer dive if there is a problem and new divers have problems.

With all the extra equipment (full 7mm, hood, gloves, more weight) and the conditions (cold, poor visibility, surge, current,waves, kelp) the multitasking that a new diver faces in Monterey at 30-40 dive is plenty of challenge.

It seems the training and support this new diver received was excellent and it looks like a unpredictable heath related occurrence.

My condolences to the boat crew, instructor, family and friends.

Thank you very much. Her training was extensively reviewed after the incident and I KNOW she was proficiently trained and more than ready for that dive. For the record, there is no finger pointing that can be done in this, the boat crew did everything PERFECTLY-NOT ONE MISTAKE. They performed a rescue that could have been video taped for training others. It was done that well. It was impossible to do more than they did to help her.

She passed instantly at 42 feet, not 60 in my arms and nothing anyone could have done short of Jesus Christ performing a miracle would have made it so she would be here today. It repeats in my head and in my heart every moment since that moment. I know.

I personally feel if we do not include at least one dive to approximately 60 feet we are cheating a student in their training. If you say when they graduate they can dive to 60 feet then you need to train them to go that deep or close enough to be able to do it without you later with confidence. I know when a diver leaves my class with their card they are confident divers and I don't worry about them going to 60 feet because I know they are well trained for it and ocean is completely different than springs. I think ocean diving should be a requirement standard where available. I hope daily for all divers sakes, that every other instructor can say the same. There is a difference at 40 feet vs. 60 feet if nothing more than the feeling in breathing from a regulator. It is important to let the students experience ocean diving while your there to help them through it if it is practical for you to do so.

The reason I decided to become an instructor is because I was a dive master on many a dive leading freshly graduated OW divers from all over the world who did not know what the heck they were doing in the ocean. I saw some scary stuff these certified divers did all the time, from filling BCD's to go up from the bottom instead of kicking gently to breath holding on ascent while shooting up like superman from 50 feet. I promised myself then and keep that promise still that any diver I trained would feel confident and be proficient in their skills when it came time to do the real dives. I have never broken that promise.

Please fellow instructors, don't let your graduates be anything less than ready and confident to go into the ocean and dive to 60 feet. It is only fair to them.

 

[openmindOW]

Duplicate..

 

[Reef_Haven]

I have dived with Tina and Sandy many times. They are always very safe and professional. I have no doubt this was an unfortunate medical event. I have and will continue to recommend both the dive op and instructor to anyone.

 

[daniel1948]

The dive was on the south side of the flower garden. <...snip...>

Thank you for posting this. I hope you will not quit diving or instructing. Diving needs instructors like you. Again, my condolences to all Mrs. Ballard's family and friends.

 

[Splitlip]

Lilmermaid,

Thank you for the post from this ol' vintage diver, and ex-NAUI Instructor (#2710, 1973). When I went through the NAUI ITC, they emphasized to us to treat every student as if he or she was your loved one, because that student is someone else's loved one. John (SeaRat)

Hi John. (Sorry for the hijack All.) I saw your NAUI instructor number and pulled out my NAUI Openwater I Scuba Diver card. Not an instructor, but I was certed in 1973. My instructor's number was 1375. He, Frank, started diving in the late '40's early '50's. Sooo..I'm doing the math, LOL.

Thanks for the post.

 

[Moonglow]

NAUI Instructor #1375 would have been certified at an ITC in 1969. One of my NAUI instructors has a mid-300 NAUI number.

 

[Splitlip]

NAUI Instructor #1375 would have been certified at an ITC in 1969. One of my NAUI instructors has a mid-300 NAUI number.

Likely. Sounds about right. Thanks. (so John is not that old, LOL)

This story is 20 years old. Frank was my instructor and mentor. (until I went back to school)This particular dive occured earlier I believe.

Dan Volker wrote the story.

The South Florida Dive Journal

Frank's health is ok. He is the father of "modern" drift diving.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Okay, you got me on the year for my NAUI ITC--it was 1972. I looked it up in the bio in the NAUI publication, Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Underwater Education (IQ6), where I had two papers published. One was titled "The Life Vest," and the other was titled "Comments on Buoyancy Control and Emergency Procedures" (Copyright NAUI, 1975, pages 317-332). The course director was Dennis Graver, and it was held in San Diego. I really remember doing one of the tests, swimming through about 200 yards of surf doing actual, in-water mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on my buddy. We all had to do actual, live in-water mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to graduate.

I am hoping within the next year to again become a NAUI Instructor in active standing. I would like to teach some new concepts in underwater swimming to Wounded Warriors, our servicemen and women who have suffered greatly from these latest wars.

Lilmermaid, I was not kidding that we have a real, buoyant force in our Love of people and of God, and that can get us through a great deal. It got me through the Vietnam War. Give it some time, but remember that there are much, much worse ways to go than what Mrs. Ballard experienced. My wife is a hospital pharmacist, and she has seen a lot. You gave her great joy in her last hours.

John (SeaRat)

PS: Splitlip, if you're still doing the math, I was twenty-seven when I got my NAUI Instructor #2710, and am a December birthday. Enjoy!

 

[LilMermaid1]

Kevin,

You are so kind. Thank you for your comments.. I really do appreciate your confidence in me.
________________________

All those on this thread who have posted your concerns and statements,

I have taught my first class since this incident with lots of help at my side for obvious reasons (Thank you so much Dan and Chris) and although we had to do mask clearing way more than necessary to hide some tears I made it through Day 1 class with all students doing superb through every skill on my check list.

Thank you all for having the tact and heart to stop with the finger pointing and start with the constructive comments and kind words to the wonderful people who are her family and love her so much and to the boat captain and co-captain and deck hand who bravely, professionally and swiftly worked hard to do extensive rescue efforts on Julie's behalf and to me.

Her wonderful family have been on here and saw what was written too. Out of respect for them, lets keep this about Julie.

All instructors (hopefully) go through tons of training and know what they are doing. Although they have different styles with which I may not always agree I must respect the agency standards and regulation that govern that rank and my certification. That is the choice I made when I chose this agency to train with and certify me. I know what it took me to earn it and there were no shortcuts. Both Dive-master and Instructor training were long internships with real pros. I was blessed with great training from Dayo in Winter Park and Teri in Edgewater who I would highly recommend. After being in this for a while now, I must say they did not leave anything out and none of it was easy.

I am sure that most instructors than not today would probably agree they got just as good as training as I and that they too took no short cuts and earned their wings. I believe NAUI and PADI and even SSI do a great job at regulating and standard governing.

To be honest we all know this is naturally a high risk extreme sport. Although when your staring at a beautiful reef and just floating in a drift dive it is hard to think of it as dangerous, but it is. We choose this knowing the danger. NO ONE EVER really believes it will happen this way to them.

The only firm advice I will leave this thread with is this: Be such a good instructor that if someone dies on your watch (GOD FORBID) that you don't have to question at all your training of that student. Be THAT good ALL THE TIME.

I am not so naive that I would believe no instructor or dive boat is never at "FAULT" in diving fatalities. I just choose to not immediately start trying to figure out who was at fault when I hear of a diving related accident. Our curiosities get the best of us when we hear of such things wanting to know more. On here though I saw allot of statements that were completely erroneous about this incident just sort of spit out. Not pointing any fingers, nor stating any names but this is a PUBLIC forum people. You never know who reads what you write. Think about that before you hit POST. You could really end up embarrassing yourself, or much much worse, hurting someone.

I am a big girl and am responsible for my actions. If I thought really for one second I was actually responsible for my friends death I would never and could never teach again. That is just not the case. I have made a mistake and learned from it during my tenure but safety has always been in the front of my mind in every class where I teach someone else this "extreme sport"

The trauma of the experience really hit me hard, really hard. I am strong and have wonderful friends and family and advisors who have kindly helped me continue to live on and the most amazing family of Julie's who have so touched my heart and warmed my hope in this world. True light has shown from each of Julie's sisters, her mother and her wonderful husband who I have been so graced by the presence of in my life. I am so grateful for their clear love of Jesus Christ in showing me his love and kindness despite their profound personal suffering they are enduring now at her loss.

These words here on this board are real lives being so very changed. The shuffling of the topic to a debate on how or what "extras" to throw into a class or how your standards are better than others left my heart heavy and sad. It just seemed so wrong and dishonoring to Julie. Frankly I think the information belongs to no one but her family and close friends, however, I shared the details for this reason.

I will work harder, be better, learn more, teach better and better every day. Her life and this experience will be a constant reminder to never grow tired in that goal to never stop the effort to improve myself, my training and my training of others. I am trusting you my fellow instructors to make your training the absolute best you are physically able to offer. Extras are great.. the more training the better, the safer the better too. Let's work together to make diving as safe as an extreme sport as it is possible to do. Teach every student as though they were your daughter or son, mother or sister, brother or father. Love what you do or quit. This job for most is NEVER about money. I personally would like to encourage each of you to let kind Julie's death remind you of the terrible possibilities that could await slack training, regardless of the fact that her death was not a diving accident.

In the mean time lets continue to respect each other and Julie, and be wonderful professional examples to new OW students and even non-divers of what good instructors and people dive instructors really are and treat each other well. After all; you commented on here because you cared about her loss. That tells me allot about who you are. Thank you for caring.

I am sure angels get to scuba dive, it is too great for them not too. Julie wanted to dive. I believe she has the freedom to do any dive anywhere now. She worked so hard to give to others, even strangers, I hope she gets her heavenly vacation time to scuba dive some more. Who knows maybe she will be down there on the reef with you some day. I will not presume to know exactly what heaven is like. I just know I want to be there some day, I want to see my friend again.

With Love, Respect, and Gratitude,
Tina