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Thanks, ok - so the ration was legal.
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If there were only two or three student divers, it would appear that the ratios conformed to standards, but again, details are sparse. It's not entirely clear what the role of the scoutmaster was during the dive. If he was indeed a student with an emergency of his own that caused him to surface, for example, that might change the way we would analyze the incident.Thanks, ok - so the ration was legal.
Some insight to the location. At the camp the slop is extremely gentle and the bottom composition is mostly sandlike and gravel. As you venture further from shore the sand turns to silt, but you have to go out a ways. The rope mentioned is a 'guideline' or route that is typically used much like a boundry line. There were a few 'attractions' along the route.. I'd like to know just what conditions were at the time of this. If the instructor could not see the two left down at all times from the surface he was definitely not in control of them. If he could not reach out and physicially touch two discover participants in open water at all times "I " would not consider it to be in control of them.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda.Going just by what was posted to do this I'd have wanted a DM or AI with me. Had one had an issue as it SEEMS one did everyone would have come up with me taking control of the diver with the problem and the assistant immediately following with the other two. No one would have been left underwater.
I can not find the news article but one I read reported the diver surfaced and them submerged.Going from the one report that Don posted an exerpt from IF accurate would also indicate another serious lack of judgment in allowing a student to go back to shore alone. Proper procedure if that person surfaced because of a problem is to escort them all the way back onto land. It is conceivable that while the instructor was heading back down the diver on the surface could have panicked, had a heart attack, or other issue and died before reaching shore. Then you'd have two fatalities.
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bold addedDon, I have Instructor Manuals for only two agencies--PADI and SSI. For PADI, in a non-pool environment that is classed as "confined open water," the ratio of students to instructor is 4:1 in the case of a fully-rated instructor or 2:1 in the case of a Divemaster who has been trained to conduct DSDs. For SSI, the ration is 4:1 and only full instructors may conduct the TSD program in open water.