What's with the deaths?

[GQMedic]

I'll tell you what happened. It's ALWAYS easier to blame someone else! As we ALL read this, one of us want to think WE'VE become careless, complacient or even strapped into tombstone courage where common sense dictates otherwise. No one wants to think "Gee, if I don't keep my head in the right spot today, I could get whacked down there". just as well noone wants to think it can happen to him/her.. in short...

Finger pointing starts with individual denial.

Charlie99 once bubbled...
*SNIP*

One thing that does bother me is all these posts that keep pointing fingers at instructors, agencies, and DMs. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Whatever happened to the concept of active LEARNING as opposed to passively BEING TAUGHT.

*UNSNIP*

 

[GQMedic]

Ok, I understand that adequate use of the buddy system could have/should have/ would have/whatever made a difference in SOME of these fatalities... I have one burning question... Why were MANY (Litterally) these divers STILL wearing their ditchable weight?? HELLO?? Does this scream in anyone elses face?? *tilt*

Too many "Dead diver articles" state that the S&R divers found "Diver X" on the "bottom". *frown* Ummm.....Weights?? I don't know about the dead guys, but, when I drop my weights, I float like a cork!

Personally, if I get in the stew and I'm at the bottom of the 9th with no time outs, I'm dropping lead, I'd rather be bent than dead.

 

[MikeFerrara]

GQMedic once bubbled...
Ok, I understand that adequate use of the buddy system could have/should have/ would have/whatever made a difference in SOME of these fatalities... I have one burning question... Why were MANY (Litterally) these divers STILL wearing their ditchable weight?? HELLO?? Does this scream in anyone elses face?? *tilt*

Too many "Dead diver articles" state that the S&R divers found "Diver X" on the "bottom". *frown* Ummm.....Weights?? I don't know about the dead guys, but, when I drop my weights, I float like a cork!

Personally, if I get in the stew and I'm at the bottom of the 9th with no time outs, I'm dropping lead, I'd rather be bent than dead.

Well...Most of those divers were also found with their fins, bc and tank.

If you look at the DAN report you'll also see that rapid ascents figure into accidents in a pretty large percentage. That goes along with what I've seen being that many of the injured divers are recovered at the surface and all too often the actual injury was caused by the ascent. i. e. Diver freaks and bolts for the surface injuring themself.

In cold water wearing heavy (buoyant) exposure protection dropping weights is pretty bad. The danger isn't in getting bent (that can often ge fixed) but in spitting out your lungs on the way up (often can't be fixed).

There isn't any reason for a recreational diver to be so negative that they can't make the surface without dropping weight. Even if dropping were appropriate it would be best to not drop it all. Again we have something that most divers aren't taught. That being the concept of splitting the weight into ditchable and nonditchable so one can drop enough to start up without having a totally out of control ascent.

 

[hantzu701]

Somehow I think we're missing the point here. I think there is a strong fundamental bias in scuba for self-sufficiency. One of the principal rules of rescue is not to put your life in danger for someone else. Solo diving is considered an "advanced" form of scuba diving. We invest a lot of training and money with backup systems and procedures.

As a result, I think this breeds a specific mindset with advanced divers. 1) If you didn't have the skills, then you wouldn't be here. and 2) If things do go wrong, you're expected to solve it on your own. I'm not trying to peg it as right or wrong, but I think this mindset lends specific issues to the sport.

Hantzu

 

[Nique]

What did you read about a missing diving in the FLA. Keys?? I am planning a dive at the end of December in the Keys. Boy, talk about scary!!

Nique