Two divers critical - Hawaii

[Kay Dee]

First, my sincere condolences to Ashley, her children, family and friends. And thanks to Mike for reposting her words here (as I am no Facebooker either).

From my experience as a CCR instructor and U/W photographer, the key take / point from this tragedy for instructors and students (and u/w photograpers taking CCR courses) is, in Ashleys own words, without doubt the following (my emphasis in bold, and note I intentionally left out emphasising the word 'assumed');

".......From all available evidence it is assumed he was task loaded while making final adjustments to his camera that he failed to notice two very crucial things; 1. His CCR computer was in surface mode as opposed to dive mode and 2. He failed to open his O2 tank prior to jumping in the water. If either of these tasks had been completed (or checked) he would more than likely be here today. He also absolutely should not have had his camera with him during this class. He was already task loaded and still learning his CCR, having his camera without a doubt contributed to his being distracted."

 

[fsardone]

Hello everybody,
this incident will become a learning experience for the whole diving community thanks to Mrs Bugge.
Those who might be interested may want to follow this documentary which will be released on the second anniversary of this tragic event.
I wish to thank Ashley, a fellow diver, for exposing such a personal tragedy for the benefit of everybody and Gareth Lock (whose book I truly recommend) to do a real analysis.
This is just the trailer.

 

[doctormike]

Hello everybody,
this incident will become a learning experience for the whole diving community thanks to Mrs Bugge.
Those who might be interested may want to follow this documentary which will be released on the second anniversary of this tragic event.
I wish to thank Ashley, a fellow diver, for exposing such a personal tragedy for the benefit of everybody and Gareth Lock (whose book I truly recommend) to do a real analysis.
This is just the trailer.

Two incredible people (Ashley and Gareth).

Thanks for sharing... I saw this on FB. Looking forward to seeing this.

 

[fsardone]

Two incredible people (Ashley and Gareth).

Thanks for sharing... I saw this on FB. Looking forward to seeing this.

I also saw it on FB, then I went to the website.
I thought that people that were interested in the thread might not come across the link on FB.

Those who have read a few of my messages might be aware I am a flyer. In my field we believe that the only way to increase safety is understanding that we are bound to make mistakes. Catching those mistakes before become mishaps relies on just culture and understanding human factors. Gareth is doing a great job in this regard for divers and the least I could do is help with exposure. I also believe this is very relevant to the thread.

Cheers

 

[Jack Hammer]

I look forward to watching and learning from it. Special Thanks to those closest to him for being involved. It must still be difficult.

 

[BlueTrin]

It’s being released today

https://www.scubadivermag.com/21577-2/

 

[Steelyeyes]

Wow. That hits close to home. Navy guy, like me. Submariner, like me. Served on the Ohio, like me. Lived in Washington, like me.

 

[rjack321]

Wow. Awful stuff can happen, but should not when participating in a class, that’s why you are paying the instructor serious money instead of just reading a manual and training yourself. Among other things I’m reminded of my instructors insistence to be the first in and last out...

The "instructor" should have had his credentials yanked long before this fatality. He'd been reported many time before (going back ~10yrs) for a laundry list of poor diving, instruction and business practices. The one I recall the most was a 2016/2017 era money/instruction drama which was widely discussed on RBW. The entire concept of the scuba industry "policing" their own through agencies and insurance (so the government won't step in like they do in France and Quebec among other places) is just a complete lie. I don't care about @GLOC 's just culture in cases like this. Brian's instructor should have been in jail for fraud long before a student died.

This accident (at least up until the actual drowning not the recovery/after drama) really isn't all that different than Sortis and the Rob Stewart fatality. Flaky instructor with a long history of questionable card issuing practices to anyone with money along with unethical financial and business practices takes inexperienced or untrained student on a dive with minimal or no direct supervision and student dies from avoidable cause while distracted and diving beyond their (student level) capability.

 

[Marie13]

The one thing I’ve always wondered why was the new camera was taken on a training dive? I definitely understand the “have to get photos” mindset, but he was a local - he would have have been able to do the dive again once he was trained.

 

[fsardone]