Write Up of Near Death in Monterey

[danr5160]

There does seem a lot of questions about SSI actions on this thread. I was trained SSI, and the instructor and DMs were extremely professional and I felt as safe as could be with them. While I agree these particular instructors should be suspended and disallowed from instructing until a complete and thorough investigation of their actions (and lack thereof) has been concluded, after which if the facts are borne out they should lose their certifications and not be allowed to ever instruct again, I truly hope SSI will do the right thing. Investigate fully, and hold accountable those involved. Given they seem to be expecting a lawsuit, they can't exactly defend themselves in the court of public opinion, but they can do the right thing. My personal experience with SSI was that safety was their top concern every step of the way.

I've read many of you calling into question many of the facts as outlined by Scott in his article. I've personally had sand in my regulator allow water with inhales. As an experienced diver it did not create anxiety with me, but I can certainly understand how it could be a major problem on a check out dive. I can see how the instructor may have been unaware of the problem being experienced, and hurried to attempt to put the primary back in Kerry's mouth, and in doing so both knocked away the secondary and struck her on the cheek. What I cannot understand is the apparent lack of focus on complete safety for ALL the students during the time prior to the incident taking place. If the instructors were unfamiliar with the gear Kerry was using, would it not have been his/their responsibility to completely check it out and become familiar? I can tell you my instructor would never have allowed me in the water with gear he was not completely familiar with, and which he had not watched me properly verify was working before getting in the water. If the story as written is true, and all that happened was a comment asking when the reg had last been in the water, that is hardly ensuring the student's gear was in working order. I am appalled at the account of these instructors, and the incident has undermined my confidence in the diving industry that such apparently callous instructors were ever certified. While I believe SSI is a great organization, I would question not only these two instructors but those who allowed them to be in positions to teach such a potentially dangerous sport, and I would call on SSI to tighten their procedures that allowed these two men to become instructors in the first place.

 

[InTheDrink]

I think we all agree that if Scott's account is accurate then these guys are a-holes and should be banned. The problem is that he undermines the accuracy angle when making speculation (sand in reg) sound like fact. If that 'fact' is actually speculation then what other, if any, facts are also speculation or conjecture. I appreciate there must be a lot of emotion brewing with him given events but I don't think he did himself any favours by labelling speculation as fact.

 

[letterboy]

I think we all agree that if Scott's account is accurate then these guys are a-holes and should be banned. The problem is that he undermines the accuracy angle when making speculation (sand in reg) sound like fact. If that 'fact' is actually speculation then what other, if any, facts are also speculation or conjecture. I appreciate there must be a lot of emotion brewing with him given events but I don't think he did himself any favours by labelling speculation as fact.

he is a "famous" diver, he would never use conjecture to make people see things his way.

 

[debajo agua]

I keep seeing references to both instructors being involved. OP was clear that there were two instructors, but not that both were involved in the behavior.

Read it again:

"At 7:15am Saturday, we arrived at the Breakwater and settled in next to the SCUBA Instructors’ three-pointed tent where my girlfriend’s class was staging. We immediately noticed that both instructors were not acting friendly towards us, were stand-off-ish and seemed irritated at us for no apparent reason. My girlfriend and I thought this may have been due to the two instructors being under stress from having to organize such a large class (I think between 11 to 13 students). It also crossed my mind that, contrary to their earlier approvals, perhaps neither instructor wanted me there."

GEARING UP FOR THE DIVE

"My girlfriend and I decided to finish getting prepared for the first dive, and she politely asked one of the instructors where the weights were for her to use. Answering sharply and sarcastically, he said “use your own.” Lucky for us, I always bring enough for two divers just in case… so we were covered. We later heard that another dive student had to go purchase weights at a nearby dive shop for their dive. Curiously, looking towards the parking lot, we saw that the instructor’s truck had two plastic crates full weights, ready to use…"


"Weights in hand, my girlfriend and I finished assembling our dive gear. I looked over her set-up, satisfied it was done safely and properly, then left for the restroom. While away, the young SSI Instructor came over to my girlfriend and stared at her SCUBA gear, followed by saying “When was the last time THAT regulator saw water?” Apparently uninterested in her response, he walked away as she offered an answer, and her confidence was clearly shaken. Later, wondering why he would say this, it occurred to me that the regulator she was using was one of mine, and not rented from their dive store."

---------- Post added March 26th, 2013 at 11:53 AM ----------

I think that Scott's writing led you to believe that the hostility came from the fact that he was going to be in the water with his girlfriend as they warned him repeatedly to stay away from her.

Scott's story offered three possible reason for the instructors behavior: 1. He wasn't renting their equipment (comments were made about weights and the regulator beforehand) 2. Scott's presences at his girlfriend's checkout dive (he was told several times to keep away) 3. Overcrowding of a class (12 to 13 students for two instructors).

I don't think that Scott was saying that their intention right from the outset was to torture and deliberately drown his girlfriend. But the fact that Kelly was held down and nearly drowned had an outcome of feeling tortured. I don't blame her for feeling that she was tortured and having nightmares over this incident. I am so happy that she survived and she is able to tell us what happened from her point of view. So many times we don't have that opportunity.

Kerry and Scott observed hostility from these instructors, prior to entering the water. I totally understand Kerry's desire to try and ignore the behavior, get her certification, and never see these two a-holes again. I for one, appreciate their sharing this story to prevent future incidents; however, something set these instructors off, so what was the cause e.g. were they making a commission on gear rental, did Scott make any unsolicited comments about their methods of training, etc.

If gear rental was the cause of there hostility, perhaps someone who finds themselves in a similar situation might find it wise to go ahead and rent a little something, whether it be weights, a reg., or whatever, so their instructors are happy. If it was me, I might have taken the time to find out "why the hostility?" prior to getting in the water with someone who's aggravated with me. In hindsight, it would have been worthwhile to find out.

Kerry and Scott might have adverted this whole incident with a little tactic and recognition of what's ailing these instructors. Let me be clear here: That's No Excuse For The Instructors' Behavior and I'm not placing blame on Kerry or Scott.

What makes good sense, is not to ever get in the water with anyone who's showing signs of aggravation, no matter who it is. Only bad things can happen.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Actually pacification of the instructor/shop is never a reason to rent gear if you have your own.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[danr5160]

Being objective, and realizing we've read the subjective perspectives of the student and her boyfriend, we can't really speculate why these instructors came across as hostile to them. However, much of the account of these events is not subjective. Did the instructors fail to ensure Kerry's gear was working properly before having her descend? Did they ask the students to gear up and then give them a 45 minute session on logging dives, causing them to become uncomfortable and potentially increasing anxiety? Did the instructors fail to check in with each student to ensure the level of anxiety was not high, or if it was either call the dive or take action to reduce anxiety? Most importantly, did Kerry take a full breath of water while the instructor was RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER???

At best, this was a terrible, terrible accident from which the instructor should thoughtfully and carefully understand what he did wrong with a non-certified student, and become much more careful and assertive in avoiding a re-occurence. At worst, this was callous and reckless negligence that should result in both instructors being banned for life. A thorough and objective investigation (by SSI!!) should be able to determine which it is. But based on the fact that the instructors completed the class while one of their students was being rushed to the hospital, did not personally go to the hospital to check on her, took the gear back to the shop and allegedly did not come forth to assist in the investigation or even reach out to attempt to return the gear, and finally allegedly posted celebratory pictures with the rest of the class on Facebook while Kerry was fighting for her life, I lean toward the latter.

 

[scorpiofish]

I'm not sure why the instructors would be irritated because she did not have shop gear. What difference does it make to them unless they get commission on gear rental, which is highly unlikely.

Why would they withhold two tubs of weights and force people to buy weights on site? Were these personal weights rather than shop weights? Doesn't the shop provide a written program for the lake weekend or other documentation to indicate what each student should have? If they were providing their own gear, why wouldn't they provide their own weights? Why wouldn't they pose the question during pre-weekend class? Our shop would require students to pick up their weights when they picked up their rental gear. This changed to instructors bringing all weights and signing them out at the site.

Sand causing the wet breathing is an assumption of facts not in evidence. It makes for a better case, but we don't know much about the regulator, other than the instructor questioning it.

Assuming guilt on the part of the instructor based on outcome (intubation and hospitalization) cannot be assumed, since Scott's interference effected the outcome. Whether his interference saved her from death becomes an argument to be made, not an absolute.

She began to panic from not getting a breath, so she reached for her octopus. Her instructor grabbed her hand to prevent this, and forced her to retry the exercise with her primary regulator. With no regulator in her mouth, my girlfriend’s stress skyrocketed, and panic was just moments away.

Did she have the wet-breathing primary in her mouth or did she have no regulator in her mouth?

Obviously, the whole story sounds like lousy, incompetent instructors, but I have all sorts of questions that will not be answered without the other side of the story, which we will likely never get without it coming out in court.

Incredibly, her Instructor surfaced and shoved me away from her, then began to yell at her to get her attention so he can continue her training!!!

What exactly was he yelling? "Get your reg in your mouth and get back down there!" That would seem rather odd. Seems like the first words would be, "Are you OK?"

While I lean heavily toward the "incompetent instructor" theory, some things bother me, like the fact that SSI is disputing the factual assertion that: 1) they are not investigation 2) they have not communicated to them. SSI claims they even have a response from Scott to their communication. Is SSI lying about this or was the claims by Scott embellished?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Which is where two problem would be spotted 1 if he fixed for her, what has she learned? She doesn't need to do anything he will fix it for me 2 if he did see it and not say hey, you need to be careful because that is bad then he is also one piece of the problems in this accident.


Sent from my pasture using Tabableet 2

Regarding a sand filled regulator... your comments are ridiculous. If I saw anyones reg get ground into dry beach sand I would say something. If it were a student, or someone I cared about, I would probably make a big deal out of it and show them how to rinse it out check it etc. Your assertion that nothing should be done is ridiculous. Do you let your 16 yr old pull out of the driveway with one front tire half flat?

 

[debajo agua]

After reading Scott's story again tonight, I found it to be a little comical and full of holes. Stereotypical Californians, out-of-touch with the rest of the world. Listen, if your girl gulped down "cups full of water", when she got to the surface, she wouldn't say Sh#t. "Save me Scott, save me", I don't think so. Dude, you tell the Doctor you're "familiar with medicine" and you don't even know IV lines are administered via venous... I suggest you look up the word "coma" and find out what it means too. I take it from your story the whole E.R. staff was incompetent, if your girl was able to pull at intubation tubes, they're not doing their job right. When the "miracle girl" recovered, the nurse hugged and cried with her... come on man...Did she quit the next day because she's too sensitive for this line of work??? Here's one, how in the heck do you punch someone with low intensity... twice? You've got to be the most sensitive straight guy in all of California!

One of the hospital nurses told you to "beat-it" as well? Come on man...That's twice in one day that you were asked to leave people to do their work.

 

[cascas]

I found this on the net... (not trying to stir the pot)

A Note From Doug McNeese - SSI President/CEO