Wilton, Maine, USA.Lake diving fatality

[dannobee]

Radio Flyer:
Good questions, and I can't answer them. I'm told (by a rescuer) her weights were in gear pockets (not droppable), and that the tank valve was indeed closed. I may have the "swimming out on surface" part wrong. It doesn't all quite add up in my mind either. Maybe the BC was not inflated much, and she tired quickly from trying to stay up?

Sad to hear of a tragedy like this and my sympathy goes out the family.

Not to say that this is what happened, but one way that things like this can happen is when you get rigged up and turn on the valve to check your SPG, then get sidetracked and take your rig off, then turn the valve off for one reason or another. I've seen people do it.

Get into the habit of doing this: Just before you get in, give the inflator a couple of bursts while watching your SPG. If the valve is off, you'll notice the gauge drop immediately. If it's just barely cracked, the gauge will quickly drop down, then come back up. If you're diving dry, hit the drysuit inflator, too. Confirms that your gas is turned on and that your inflator(s) are connected. I do it every time, and this final check has saved me a few times.

 

[radio flyer]

Fine suggestions, dannobee. I learned something today. Wish it didn't have to be at someone else's expense.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This terrible accident seems to provide ample evidence as to why it is important to have ditchable weight. If her tank was really off, it sounds as if she could have used up most of the air trapped in the regulator when inflating her BC, then swam out maybe using a snorkel or on her back, then rolled over, dumped the BC and descended with maybe less than a breath of air left in her reg. Under this situation she could have found herself sinking with no air to breath and no ability to inflate the BC. She could easily have descended to a depth of 20 or so feet without even realizing that she had no air. At that depth, she could have experienced significant wetsuit compression or dry suit squeeze and might have found herself too negative to make it safely to the surface with nothing to breath.

Obviously, she should have had her tank on, but I could see myself doing something very similar, especially for a seemingly trivial dive in a shallow calm lake. I've jumped in with the air off or partially off, way too many times. What a shame.