Write Up of Near Death in Monterey

[Beanbag1]

One thing that surprises me, is that instructor's insurance policies allow the student to use their own equipment (regardless of the age of it). In the UK one of the main providers prohibit such use, reasoning that it's not possible to prove a maintenance history.

IMO equipment failure is a contributing factor on that dive which lessens blame. Whether the student was ready to be there, class control, duty of care before/during/after the event are other issues.

This is not so as far as I am aware. Have double checked my insurance and this is not the case. Can't find it in my instructor manual either, which is a relief as I nearly **** myself when I saw this post...

 

[bergersau]

One thing nags at me in all these accounts.

The instructors and the rest of the class apparently went back the the water and continued the planned dives for the day?
Surely they had good and ample reason to abort the remainder of that days program.

They had a student needing rescue, ambulance and hospital care.
They had students who had presumably seen the incident and would presumably be upset and stressed by the incident - especially as they were not even OW certified at that time. Re-entering the water with these trainees would be imprudent at best I would think.
They presumably had a duty to record the details of the incident to mitigate the damage to themselves, their employer and their agency from any potential legal issues. Did This occur?
They had gear to recover, record the condition of at time of the recovery and secure for storage and possible forensic examination.

All this and yet from what I understand neither they nor their students aborted the remainder of the days schedule.

Sorry, but something here isn't making sense to me.
No instructor, shop, charter boat or club I've had anything to do with with would continue with a class under these circumstances.

 

[crabbyfiddler]

Thank you for posting this touching and terrifying account. I hope and pray that your girlfriend continues healing, and finds her way clear of the effects of trauma. I also hope and pray that the two instructors involved never hurt another diver.

 

[raftingtigger]

One thing nags at me in all these accounts.

The instructors and the rest of the class apparently went back the the water and continued the planned dives for the day?
Surely they had good and ample reason to abort the remainder of that days program.

They had a student needing rescue, ambulance and hospital care.
They had students who had presumably seen the incident and would presumably be upset and stressed by the incident - especially as they were not even OW certified at that time. Re-entering the water with these trainees would be imprudent at best I would think.
They presumably had a duty to record the details of the incident to mitigate the damage to themselves, their employer and their agency from any potential legal issues. Did This occur?
They had gear to recover, record the condition of at time of the recovery and secure for storage and possible forensic examination.

All this and yet from what I understand neither they nor their students aborted the remainder of the days schedule.

Sorry, but something here isn't making sense to me.
No instructor, shop, charter boat or club I've had anything to do with with would continue with a class under these circumstances.

begrersau's comments echo my own serious questions. As a local I did hear about the incident shortly after it happened and have seen the FB post that shows one of the students celebrating their completion of the OW course. I can't imagine anyone being so callus to continue after such an incident (student sent to hospital regardless of the condition) without some sort of review. For this alone I want nothing EVER to do with the shop and/or instructors involved. I will also steer anyone who asks for a shop recommendation away from this shop.

However, since I'm not personally involved and my knowledge of which shop is involved was pieced together, I don't feel I can name the shop here. If you really need to know the shop then the clues are available on the internet. This isn't the only thread here on SB about this shop and apparent lack of safety awareness in OW training.

 

[frontiernurse]

At this point I am AOW diver and still learning. Only 120 dives over 3 years, so not a lot but a lot for a short time. I only made it through about 8 pages of this thread so forgive if I missed something important. I did my class/pool training in a "venerable" Bay Area shop in 20101, spent 16 hours in a pool with 12 other people and one instructor, with a lot of kneeling and waiting and cramping. I felt fine with the skills, breathing underwater, buoyancy. Not fine with the bullying, or the clearly overfull class. When it came to doing actual dives at Breakwater (which in spite of people saying it is easy, I totally disagree due to the cold, vis, surge, and excessive amounts of gear and weight), I backed out when I got there. If I felt uncomfortable in a pool with 11 other people and an ******* instructor, there was NO WAY I was going into the ocean with them. Everyone did fine, but I'm so glad I made that decision. It wasn't my skills that stressed me out. It was the attitutde of the instructors and the size of the class. When I hear a story like this I guess I just encourage people to trust their guts and walk. We are not conquering the universe here, saving the world. Just trying to learn a skill that is fun. I blew off Monterey and got my skills elsewhere, and I'm forever grateful. after 100 dives, while in the Solomons, I tried to thumb a night dive where the current felt too strong and the DM waved me off. At that point I was experienced enough to be able to decide whether to listen to him or not, as I knew where I was, how to navigate, ascend safely, and get back to safety. (He happened to be right, the current stopped and the dive became AWESOME). Hennyhoo, if it is a first dive, or even an early dive, if something doesn't feel right, Don't go. Sorry if someone already said this.

 

[sipadiver]

If the story is true - it is not surprising to me that the instructors behaved like that. If they were incompetent or plain stupid it is no surprise that they just acted like it was Scott who was over reacting and at fault.

As for the other students - they would have been otherwise pretty clueless as to what was happening.

One thing nags at me in all these accounts.

The instructors and the rest of the class apparently went back the the water and continued the planned dives for the day?
Surely they had good and ample reason to abort the remainder of that days program.

They had a student needing rescue, ambulance and hospital care.
They had students who had presumably seen the incident and would presumably be upset and stressed by the incident - especially as they were not even OW certified at that time. Re-entering the water with these trainees would be imprudent at best I would think.
They presumably had a duty to record the details of the incident to mitigate the damage to themselves, their employer and their agency from any potential legal issues. Did This occur?
They had gear to recover, record the condition of at time of the recovery and secure for storage and possible forensic examination.

All this and yet from what I understand neither they nor their students aborted the remainder of the days schedule.

Sorry, but something here isn't making sense to me.

 

[iamdro]

Can someone post a mirror to the article? It seems it has been removed.

---------- Post added May 21st, 2013 at 11:56 PM ----------

I found it in Yahoo's cache (it wasn't on googles) I've posted it here for future reading.

My Girlfriend started SCUBA school in September 2012, largely due her newly developed interest in the undersea world after coming with me, Scott Cassell, on several expeditions. My girlfriend asked me to accompany her to her pool training, and after arriving, I met her two bay-area SCUBA instructors during the first training session at their dive shop. During our initial meeting, the instructors seemed somewhat distant from me, but verbalized many times that they would openly accept my presence during my girlfriend’s open-water (ocean) training dives. I was excited to be a part of her first dive experience and seeing her earn her certification, and she was both comforted and more confident knowing that I would be present.
Living several hours away, we decided to drive to Monterey the night before the open water training began (Friday, December 14th) so we could get a solid start with the SCUBA class at 7:30am and not be rushed in the morning. We checked in to our hotel and looked forward to the checkout dives the next day.
—————————————————————————————–
Story submitted by Scott Cassell, independent contributor
—————————————————————————————–
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 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 divestore.
As soon as I returned from the restroom, my girlfriend asked me to ‘Just be nice so I can get my certification.’ I promised her I would, and decided that I would shadow her from a distance. I hoped the instructors would take her under their wing and that giving distance would relieve whatever stress my presence was apparently bringing to them. After waiting about 30 minutes, it was noticed by us and other students that no directions were issued on what was happening next… or at all for that matter. After 45 minutes, one of the instructors told everyone to gear up and get ready for the firstdive. Everyone in the class complied, including my girlfriend and I. All of the students were very eager to get in the water and see explore the Breakwater.
A SURPRISING NEW LESSON
After everyone was suited, the instructor returned and told everyone to get into the tent for a class on dive logging. The class was (in my opinion) unnecessary and untimely. Why did they not teach this during the classroom sessions, or at least before everyone had geared up? Being fully suited, my girlfriend began overheating and felt choked during the 45 minute session, which generated more pre-dive stress. No doubt, others in the class felt the same.
After the dive log class, an instructor told everyone to again completely suit up with all of their dive equipment for the first SCUBA dive. Everyone suited up (including my girlfriend and I), and marched down the concrete steps to the beach and then halted. The older instructor announced another training session was to commence. This surprise new class: Beach Entry. He told the class to ‘take a seat on the steps’. My girlfriend nearly fell down when trying to sit in all of her heavy SCUBA gear and landed very heavily on the sand-covered steps next to the beach. Other divers endangered themselves as they walked between the studentsblocking the entire stair landing. During the class (and unknown to her or I) her primary second stage regulator was ground into the sand behind her SCUBA tank, packing sand in it.
Finally, the order to stand up and enter the water was issued by the older instructor. After giving the order to the group, he turned to me, in front of the entire class, and loudly orders me, in no uncertain terms, that I am to stay away from my girlfriend and stick with one of his Assistant Instructors. I complied. A look over at her showed that she was beginning to experience an ever-increasing amount of stress. I could see and feel how she felt alone and vulnerable.
Following through with my agreement to keep my distance, I held off from making my entry in order to watch her enter the water. With her full wetsuit on (for the first time) she had the new experience of greatly reduced dexterity, and noticeably struggled to put her fins on in the water. The older instructor seemed to become inpatient with her very quickly, and within seconds began shouting at her at close range “FOUR!” “FOUR!” “FOUR!” “MAKE A NUMBER FOUR!!!” After 3 attempts, she was able to get her fins on. She later revealed to me that this experience caused her a tremendous amount of stress and embarrassment in front of her class. By this time, the anticipation and excitement of going on her first dive was replaced with stress and fear, but she was committed to completing her dives and earning her certification as an open water diver. While swimming out, I swam closer to her to give her some assurance. I could clearly see in her face that she was stressed and no that joy was present. Moments later, the older instructor very loudly and sarcastically issued a ‘laughing challenge’ and demanded that I “Stay away from HER!!!”
I swam over to my assigned buddy and stayed close to him, as ordered. The entire SCUBA class swam out towards the older instructor, and once past the surf zone he announced yet another surprise class: ‘Kelp Crawling.’ One at a time, each student was told to swim-crawl over a raft of kelp. My girlfriend and the other students did this exercise well. Just then a beautiful sea otter crawled onto an inner-tube diver float and began to groom. Knowing my girlfriend had never seen this (and seeing that the instructors were focused on the students still performing Kelp Crawls) I called her attention to the Sea Otter. My girlfriend finally smiled again and showed interest not fear. Just then the older instructor shouted “HEY! The class is over here. Stop watching the Sea Otter and look at me!” He then turned his back on the class and went back to watching the students doing the Kelp Crawl exercise. Shortly after this, my ‘buddy’ dove to bottom of the float line to prep for the descent-arrival ofstudents. I told my girlfriend I loved her and followed ‘my buddy’ down the line.
On the surface, my girlfriend was approached by the older instructor and asked if she was ready to descend the line to the bottom. She said ‘yes’ and, as asked, began her descent. She raised her BCD exhaust valve with her left hand and dumped air as instructed until she descended freely and slowly. When her left hand was about two-to-three feet underwater (placing her lungs at a depth of five-or-six feet deep), the older instructor grabbed her left hand and dragged her quickly back to the surface and reinflated her BCD. In a raised voice, he told her she was “doing it wrong” and that she has depressing her AIR-2 purge valve instead of her BCD exhaust valve. She asked to verify which button to push and he showed her… the exact same button she was pushing (hence the fact she descended in the first place). She was told to try again. The exact same thing happened again.

Then again a third time.
After the third interaction, she asked more precisely what she was doing wrong exactly and he responded with “This is what happens when SOMEBODY “HELPS” you!” It was then my girlfriend realized this was probably a form of disciplinary harassment because I was with her. It appeared that my girlfriend was being punished when I could not see it. Her fourth descent was identical to the previous three and the older instructor gives her an ‘OK’ sign that she did it right. She then descended on to the bottom.
(IMPORTANT NOTE: My girlfriend’s lungs were at approximately 5 to 6 feet each time the older instructor grabbed her left hand and ‘yanked’ her to the surface (three times). This is within one foot of the danger zone for potentially lethal A.G.E. of seven feet and is a serious safety risk.)
THE STAGE IS SET FOR FAILURE
My girlfriend later explained to me that as she descended to the sea floor, she felt she was not wanted by the instructors, and that she was being punished by them rather than supported and trained. The applied stress and mindset she experienced is obviously not a safe emotional substrate for life-support skills testing in any environment. The water the student were training in was less than ideal, at approximately 57 degrees in temperature with less than 2 meters visibility at a depth of 26-27 fsw. After she arrived at the bottom of the instruction line at 26-27 fsw, I saw her once again. She moved to the training line, and patiently waited for the younger instructor to arrive. So I would not distract her, I stayed behind her, out of her direct sight, at about 1.5 meters. During her hazing at the surface with the older instructor, My Girlfriend’s regulator (which unknown to anyone was laden with sand) became increasingly flooded with the suspended sand. As she arrived on the bottom, the sand began to collect under the exhaust diaphragm, allowing a small amount of water to enter her regulator during inspiration, adding to her already high level stress. She was not taught the (easy) maneuver of how to clear her sandy regulator by flooding and purging.
PANIC SETS IN
Even with a leaking regulator, my girlfriend successfully performed the partially flooded mask clearing for the younger instructor. I maintained my position behind her, where I could partially observe the exercises without interfering and without distracting her. During full mask flood & clear exercise, she experienced difficulty when she felt like she could not get a water-free breath. This was due to the combination of her mask being half-full of seawater and the sand in the regulator exhaust valve allowing a spray of seawater with each inhalation. The younger instructor did not offer his regulator to avert her obvious stress of clearing. 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.
Seeing the problem from a distance, I moved in closer in case I needed to help. Upon my approach, the instructor pushed me away. I thought to myself, “I will allow five more seconds for the instructor to resolve this, then I’m taking over.”
TIME TO INTERVENE
At this time, my girlfriend began to choke and panic, pushed off the bottom and, with her regulator out of her mouth, screamed (blowing huge bubbles) and clawed for the surface. Unexpectedly, her instructor grabbed her left shoulder harness and held her on the bottom while forcefully shoving her primary regulator hard at her mouth. This motion resulted in striking her hard on her right cheek, missing her mouth completely. This shocked her further, and completely out of breath, caused my girlfriend to literally inhale water on her next ‘breath’. I actually saw her suck-inhale water when the tiny suspended debris in the water (around all of us) sharply moved into her mouth. The horrifying reality was she may have just experienced her death blow that instant.
Seeing that the instructor had completely lost control and that my girlfriend had just inhaled a ‘breath’ of water, I quickly moved in and shoved the instructor off my girlfriend, grabbed her, and attempted to ascend. Not making progress towards the surface, I thought I must have had kelp wrapped on my SCUBA tank, so I kicked harder. Then my heel touched something solid and I realized the instructor was holding ME DOWN by grabbing my SCUBA tank! I kicked him off and rushed her to the surface.
The second we broke the surface I heard her gurgle and throw-up. She then made the effort to breathe, but all I heard was a horrible and distinct gurgle upon inhaling. Her first breath was used to beg me in a tiny pathetic but heart-wrenching plea “please save me Scott, “please save me,
“please save me”. Each syllable was joined by horrible deadly gurgles.
The woman I loved was begging for her life.

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!!! I realize he is oblivious to the grave nature of the situation due to inexperience, bad judgment, impatience or just ego and machismo. At this point, my experience in this exact injury (multiple times) over the years tells me that my girlfriend will die within minutes if she does not get advanced medical help… every second is precious to her survival. She was throwing up and coughing up seawater with a horrible and distinct gurgle upon inhaling. Her yells for me to save her were reduced to a feeble whispering gurgle I will never forget. The woman I love, was going to die within a few minutes if she did not get to shore and a hospital NOW. My two seconds of disbelief dissipated and I clicked into action. With my wetsuit-gloved hand, I slapped the Instructor upside the head to get his attention, then as he turned his head to see what happened, I pulled off his mask and punched him (with low-intensity) in the nose twice to shock him off my girlfriend so I could save her life.
To further stop the young Instructor’s ignorant and deadly actions, I yelled at him “You assaulted her you Son of a Bitch and I will shut you down if you touch her!!! … I will shut you down if you do ANYTHING more!” The second he released her, I instantly grabbed her, rolled her on her back, then to her side to let her drain & throw up seawater without letting her face hit the water again. I madly swam and towed her towards shore.
Nearing shore, I yelled at the top of my lungs (several times) for someone to “call 911” and that this was a “Diver Emergency”. Thank God I heard someone yell back “OK!”. As I pulled her to shore, my emotions surfaced for a second and I told her “PLEASE BREATHE BABY!!! PLEASE DONT DIE BABY! BREATHE BABY, C’MOM BABY BREATHE”. Almost instantly I heard her Instructor rudely and sarcastically say “She is NOT going to die” followed but under-the-breath “dip-****” .
Not only was he following me against my wishes, and even though he could easily hear her pleas and gurgles with each horribly labored breath, he was still oblivious that she was facing death and continued to taunt me. I ignored him and began to shed her weights. The instructor approached us yet again (I think to help release her gear or weights), but based on his previous actions I simply yelled “NO!” As she and I reached the surf-line, about seven wonderful people jumped in and grabbed her to strip the remaining gear off her, then help take her through the surf to shore. They performed perfectly as I struggled to ditch all of my gear and join her, but found my right arm stuck in my straps. This just doesn’t happen to me… I never get stuck in my own gear but it had to happen right then! A diver happened to move up next to me and I asked him for help. He instantly pulled the strap off my trapped right elbow and my gear flung-off. Within 30-40 seconds I was back at her side.
STRANGERS BECOME HEROES
To my tentative relief, there was already oxygen being administered to my girlfriend by a USCG PO3! As my focus broadened, I noticed six other divers were there helping her as well – none were her instructors, none were from her class. They were all perfect strangers. A diver (in full wetsuit) arrived who identified himself as a physician. Then, within a few seconds, a paramedic arrived (also in full wetsuit). Everyone helping my girlfriend on the beach commented on the gurgling and showed the appropriate fear for her life. Less than three minutes later the ambulance arrived, the paramedics asked me her name, loaded her and were off in just moments.