Alki Diver Death

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:57 pm

Interesting information, and went along with about the only way this made sense.

It was a good reminder for me that my wing should be inflated before my toes go into the water, and that, although in very hot weather we may do some of the equipment check standing in the water, at the very least, we should have ascertained that our regs are working and our inflators are hooked up before we get wet at all.

And I love the bungied backup -- When I've gotten rolled in the surf getting out, it's been a great comfort to know that that regulator is RIGHT there under my chin -- no searching or sweeping required.

It's so easy to start to regard shallow water as safe, and forget that you can drown in a bucket, if you can't get your head out of it.

gcbryan · Post by **gcbryan** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:46 pm

I agree, I think the bungied backup is the most useful thing I've learned about/incorporated since my original OW training.

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:23 pm

Nailer99 wrote:I got seperated from my buddy last night, actually- there were 4 of us dropping on the boat at Muk- we all dropped down the buoy into +/- 120 fsw with kind of snotty surface conditions- lots of chop- and when we got to the bottom, it took me a couple minutes to realize that Burntchef wasn't with us- when I turned to Calvin and Maverick, and made the "where the hell is my buddy?" sign language to them, they looked around and pointed behind me, and there he was....he had trouble equalizing, went back up, and then joined us, but I had a horrible minute or so, wondering if I'd screwed up.....I'm gonna work on staying really close on my descents; I just assumed that the light I was seeing over my shoulder was Burntchef, but it wasn't. Lessons learned from that dive: Stay with your primary buddy like glue, and don't assume anything.

Face to face descents, Nailer ... especially when dropping deep. It's too easy to lose your buddy otherwise. When you're facing each other, you know right away if your buddy's having an issue and you can arrest your descent till either he takes care of it, asks for help, or thumbs the dive.

I'm sure you figured that out after your experience ... I know that Burntchef does.

Glad you guys found each other ... it's an awful feeling to look around at that depth and not see your buddy ... even if it's just for a few seconds.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Smoke Diver · Post by **Smoke Diver** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:37 pm

In my last post I failed to mention that all his gear was hooked up properly (with exception of lack of donned fins and too much weight). Even his BC inflator. It only took the rescuer three short bursts on the victims power inflator to bring the victim to the surface. It was also metioned that there may have been an inexperience issue though not confirmed.

Make It Safe!

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:58 am

Sounds like possible panic being submerged minus the regulator. Paniced = overfocused on finding the reg vs. ditching the weight or even the BC inflator. Once panic takes over you aren't thinking and even the simplest solutions can be missed in plain sight.
Richard

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:48 pm

Grateful Diver wrote: Face to face descents, Nailer ... especially when dropping deep. It's too easy to lose your buddy otherwise. When you're facing each other, you know right away if your buddy's having an issue and you can arrest your descent till either he takes care of it, asks for help, or thumbs the dive.

I'm sure you figured that out after your experience ... I know that Burntchef does.

Glad you guys found each other ... it's an awful feeling to look around at that depth and not see your buddy ... even if it's just for a few seconds.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Yep. I knew this, of course, but this was a good reminder. I was focused on getting under and avoiding the rough conditions at the surface, and just forgot....I kept seeing a light over my shoulder that I assumed was Chef, but it wasn't. Should have been facing him the whole time, of course.

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:54 pm

Nailer99 wrote: Yep. I knew this, of course, but this was a good reminder. I was focused on getting under and avoiding the rough conditions at the surface, and just forgot....I kept seeing a light over my shoulder that I assumed was Chef, but it wasn't. Should have been facing him the whole time, of course.

Alternatively you can split up the 2 teams of 2 so that there are no cross-team buddy mixups. If I had a non-buddy follow me closely and give me buddy-like passive light signals I'd get confused too.

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:24 pm

Yeah- we actually were in 2 teams of 2- I just screwed up- my fault, and I won't do it again. I don't like diving in 4s, as a rule- 3 is OK, but with 4, it just makes sense to do 2 teams of 2, IMO.

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:05 pm

That's what I meant. Its ok to descend other than face to face, but its not ok if non-buddys follow you and you mix them up. Just seperating the teams in time or space a little works too.

Grateful Diver · Post by **Grateful Diver** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:30 pm

We had five divers doing a drop down a line in Lake Washington last night ... three facing each other and two coming down a few feet above us. Worked out pretty well.

Only problem in the lake is that it's so damn dark it's tough keeping track of who is who ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Northwest Dive Club

Alki Diver Death

Additional Alki info.