Yukon tangent thread

[N2DeepInAz]

My condolences go out to the family of the deceased diver and to the staff and crew on the Humboldt.

I dove the Humboldt about a month ago with Capt Ryan and Anita running the vessel. They were the most attentive crew that I've ever seen. They are also the most consistent and safe crew I've dove with. They performed role calls after each and every dive, no exceptions before the boats engines were even fired up.

The Yukon is a challenging dive depending on the conditions you are used to diving in. I watched two guys go down the mooring line and come right back up complaining about how dark it was and the viz being horrible. Myself, I went anyways as I didn't go all that way to not dive. I dive in cold, dark low viz conditions all the time. This dive was better than what I get most of the time. Was it dark? Yes but I had a light. Was is cold? Well, I normally dive a drysuit in temps below 48 degrees, this day it was 50 degrees on the sand so I went wet and skipped the hood.

I would be greatly saddened to hear that this incident in any way was caused because the crew skipped a crucial step. They cover each dive brief very thoroughly and ALWAYS tell divers to dive within their training and personal limits. I heard that at each dive site, so I don't feel they failed to mention it yesterday.

I trust these guys to the end and will be back on the Humboldt in the very near future. Hang in there guys!

 

[Gunrock]

Regarding solo diving out here in CA, it definitely does happen on boats out here, and not infrequently. As far back as I can recall there seems to be a rule that is consistently enforced, and it was well summarized in the last briefing I got on a local boat, which went more or less something like this: "Solo diving is permitted if you are properly trained and equipped for solo diving. If you have to ask whether you are properly trained and equipped for solo diving, then the answer is, no you are not!"
From everything I've seen in the past, it would be out of the ordinary for a local boat to bless someone's solo dive if they did not have a redundant air supply.

 

[Deep-6]

You're gonna have to let alot of absurd comments go on SB. Otherwise you'll be on aallllllllll day long. But, welcome anyway. Try not to fan too many flames your first day. Be Safe. Enjoy California, you're lucky to live there.

 

[ScubaNurse758]

If you want, I can go edit my post to read "Hello. Are you crazy?". I have a problem with letting absurd comments go uncorrected...it's a weakness.

Photographers are, in fact, notorious for being lax on paying attention to anything not directly involved with their pictures. I'm not saying all of them are bad divers nor am I claiming that photography in itself is reckless. But it is a condition that should be taken into consideration when doing a spot evaluation of a diver you have never met, especially if they are requesting permission to do something outside the normally accepted standards.

As for slamming the dive operation, I'm not. I have actually heard very good things about them in the past. However, this was an avoidable incident. Hopefully they learn from this and make some changes to avoid letting it happen again.

Just out of curiosity, where do your "facts" for photographers being lax come from? Where did you get your documented evidence that people with cameras become blithering idiots that cant read an spg??

 

[TheEngineer]

Regarding solo diving out here in CA, it definitely does happen on boats out here, and not infrequently. As far back as I can recall there seems to be a rule that is consistently enforced, and it was well summarized in the last briefing I got on a local boat, which went more or less something like this: "Solo diving is permitted if you are properly trained and equipped for solo diving. If you have to ask whether you are properly trained and equipped for solo diving, then the answer is, no you are not!"
From everything I've seen in the past, it would be out of the ordinary for a local boat to bless someone's solo dive if they did not have a redundant air supply.

I'm sure it depends on the level of liability the boat staff and owners want to accept. The boats I've dove are not comfortable accepting that liability (rightfully), but I have not dove every boat in California and can't speak for them all. I would have to assume that since this guy is now dead, he was not properly trained or equipped to be solo diving.

Interesting you should mention a redundant air supply as being one of the indicators of proper training and equipment. The one time I had to execute a rescue for a person who ran out of air, they had a backup pony bottle, but were unable to free it and use when they ran out on their primary tank. Had he been diving solo, he would probably be dead today.

 

[TheEngineer]

Just out of curiosity, where do your "facts" for photographers being lax come from? Where did you get your documented evidence that people with cameras become blithering idiots that cant read an spg??

Simple observation of real world events. What they can do and what they actually do are often very different things.

 

[TheEngineer]

You're gonna have to let alot of absurd comments go on SB. Otherwise you'll be on aallllllllll day long. But, welcome anyway. Try not to fan too many flames your first day. Be Safe. Enjoy California, you're lucky to live there.

Thanks! For all it's flaws, I do enjoy living here, particularly because of the diving.

 

[Thalassamania]

Just out of curiosity, where do your "facts" for photographers being lax come from? Where did you get your documented evidence that people with cameras become blithering idiots that cant read an spg??

Simple observation of real world events. What they can do and what they actually do are often very different things.

In my experience photographers (and I've run operations with many of the top pros, as well as amateurs, over the years) are either some of the best buddies that there are, or are completely oblivious to other divers, unless the other divers get in the way or stir up the bottom. It's kinda one or the other without a whole lot in between.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

However, this was an avoidable incident. Hopefully they learn from this and make some changes to avoid letting it happen again.

How do you know this? Your statement reads as fact.

I mean, let's say, for the sake of argument, that the diver should have been prevented from diving without a buddy - by the dive boat. And that there was another diver on the boat, solo, who buddied up with this diver.

And that they went to depth and the diver had a massive heart attack at 100'

How would that have been avoidable? How would it have been the boat's fault?

Now, we don't know what happened; I am just speculating on one possible scenario. But you make it sound like you know for sure what happened, and that it was avoidable, and that it was the fault of the boat operator. I don't understand that from what we "know" here so far.

 

[Thalassamania]

Even a heart attack is not a guaranteed fatality if there is a cognizant and competent buddy.