TSandM: Missing Diver in Clallam County, WA

[KenGordon]

The concept of a Buddy Line does exist. it can range from a line held, wrist loops or even clipped to the BCDs. While some see it as extra security it ultimately comes to be seen as more risk than assistance. Unless it's tightly managed it will be drifting at a different depth potentially snagging and/or doing eco damage. In a dive such as this the divers had an excursion in depth from the down current. Ultimately one would have been pulled by the other and from there getting wound up in the line is easy to imagine. After that is gets ugly.

If it has any value it's something like a parent and child situation in very stable conditions and even that is sketchy.

The answer is buddy skills and in this case we are talking about a class act and unknown contributing factors.

Pete

In the UK it is common to do drift dives in poor vis. These are typically the second dive of the day and in less than 20m. Often the bottom is pretty flat, maybe the odd low wall.

A common approach is to have one diver hold the SMB real and another the line up a little towards the SMB. Another is to put a buddy line between the two divers through the handle of the reel. That is more comfortable. Putting a float of some sort (eg cork) on a buddy line may be helpful, the slack is then removed and the chance of snagging the bottom reduced.

An alternative is to hold hands. You still can't see them but you can be sure they are there.

I am not suggesting this is relevant to the original incident, just commenting that buddy lines have their place.

Ken

 

[descent]

I am aware of one double fatality and one near miss involving tethered Navy divers. They cause more problems than they solve.

Diving in a roped buddy team (two divers tied together by a 12'-15' rope) is challenging. Diving roped to three other divers is barely workable, and significantly unpleasant. Past that, it turns into farce.

I think GUE divers of average ability could probably pair up and do it safely in low viz after a short class, but only in calmer water.

For a couple of days now, I have been trying to decide what an ideal rope length would have been in this case, with current plus surge. At the end of most of these reveries, I conclude that I would not have wanted a rope on that dive at all.

 

[gcbryan]

I'm confused by the amount of current discussed at this site on that day. When I was there current wasn't a big factor. If there was a lot of current I don't see how anyone was staying at the site to do the dive in the first place.

I'm also unclear how one could search for 1 minute effectively and then come up while someone else was "blown away".

I'm just trying to picture the scenario. I'm unclear if the current was enough of a surprise that everyone just cancelled or cut short their planned dive or did others conduct their dive as planned.

Something was said about the others coming up and calling it a "wild ride" so I guess current must have greatly limited the planned dive?

 

[Akimbo]

It takes a lot of skill to manage being tethered. Just ask any commercial or military diver how long it took to manage their umbilical well. A buddy-line would be an especially bad idea if you only use it on challenging dives since they can cause a lot of entanglement problems that you would not be familiar with.

The only options for Scuba divers are to go up or go solo when separated. Their plan was to go up and something prevented her from doing that. When a well trained and disciplined buddy does not soon surface under this dive plan, it is already too late in the great majority of accidents I recall.

 

[dgfishy]

I was absolutely crushed to hear about this. Lynne was the mentor that got me back into diving after a disastrous introduction to Puget Sound. She was an amazing diver, and a wonderful human being.

Peter, my heart goes out to you—I cannot imagine your loss. I cried like a baby, and I only knew her six months; 28 years is beyond anything I can comprehend.

Moreover, I commend your fortitude in addressing this so soon. It can't be easy.

Whatever happened, it happened quickly enough that there was either no time to signal any sort of problem, or Lynne was incapable of doing so. Considering her level of preparedness, I'm strongly inclined to believe that something medical incapacitated her—I think she lost consciousness.

She was thrown off her horse three days before the accident, right? I know she didn't land on her head, but she certainly mentioned that shoes hit her helmet. Perhaps a string of complications from a minor concussion resulted in an underwater blackout?

Otherwise, my best guess is a stroke or aneurysm. Nothing else seems to fit.

 

[Akimbo]

I'm confused by the amount of current discussed at this site on that day. When I was there current wasn't a big factor…

Tidal currents, let alone open sea conditions that far north, are highly variable and change quickly. It sounds like you were very fortunate to hit the day and time you did.

… I'm also unclear how one could search for 1 minute effectively and then come up while someone else was "blown away"…

Their agreed-to dive plan was to surface if separated. It could be said that the minute was spent making sure they were separated rather than her being in part of his sphere of visibility that was not scanned. You would want to be sure in this scenario because it would be a dive-ender at a place where the opportunity to access is limited. It wasn't their first rodeo.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

.... The only options for Scuba divers are to go up or go solo when separated. Their plan was to go up and something prevented her from doing that. When a well trained and disciplined buddy does not soon surface under this dive plan, it is already too late in the great majority of accidents I recall.

^This.^

Thinking about how Peter described the conditions (only about 20' lateral viz) and the fact that they had already experienced a strong down draft that rapidly pushed them into deeper water than they had planned for, plus the fact that Lynne was out of visible range after Peter looked away briefly leads me to think that the ONLY safe course was to surface and wait.

Re-descending to search would not seem wise unless you could spot bubbles or otherwise had a really good idea where the missing diver was.

Best wishes.

 

[Farback]

I've done search/recovery harnessed, tethered and alone. Redundant air and tools are carried. That's the way it's done. The backup diver is dressed and ready to follow the line if the primary gets snagged. Not enjoyable, and I wouldn't see tethering in any fashion as practical for sport diving. I can't fault anything Peter has described, and I think second guessing is not going to help anybody. I can't imagine the pain he's going through.

 

[flyin01]

Any chance of organizing some Scuba Board members in the area to search the areas shorelines?

 

[Storker]

Putting a float of some sort (eg cork) on a buddy line may be helpful, the slack is then removed and the chance of snagging the bottom reduced.

My club has a couple of buddy lines stored next to the dive flag and the O2 case. I can't remember them ever having been used in my time, but according to the old-timers it wasn't uncommon back in the days, and apparently they still can have their use when viz is crap.

The lines are equipped with wide, flexible rings to stick your hand through at each end, so you're not tethered to your buddy if they have an uncontrolled ascent, and a small float at the middle. I wasn't aware that anyone would use a buddy line without a float, that would be both awkward and an entanglement hazard.


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