Alki Diver Death

coachrenz · Post by **coachrenz** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:20 pm

KOMO is reporting a diver death this evening.

Alki Diver Death

pogiguy05 · Post by **pogiguy05** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:41 am

WOW now that is kinda scary. Definitely wonder what happened as they seem to have found him so close to shore in 6' of water.

jeff98208 · Post by **jeff98208** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 7:51 am

that is brutal! i seen it on fox 13 last night myself.

pogiguy05 · Post by **pogiguy05** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:13 am

Same place same month 1 year apart

BDub · Post by **BDub** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:29 am

pogiguy05 wrote:here is a more detailed report I found

www.cdnn.info/news/safety/s060719.html

That occurred almost a year ago Jeff, in July 06.

pogiguy05 · Post by **pogiguy05** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:30 am

OOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPSSSSS

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:16 am

My best wishes to those that new the victom

I would be intrested in what the investagation comes out like.

so thouse of you that live up that way keep us down here posted HUH?
Sparky

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:24 am

I was just rereading the story about the diver that was killed at Alki
and some thing struck me as out of place I am hopeing the press got it wrong againe

did I see where the friend looked for 20 to 30 minutes
I would only hope this is a miss print I am sure they were told 2 to 3 minutes not knowing any trhing about diving the reporter decided that could not be right and thought the survving diver must have ment to say 20 to 30 minutes

Just strucdk me as ODD but thats just me

Sparky

CaptnJack · Post by **CaptnJack** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:17 pm

Based on the houses on the right and the sunset to the center left that looks to be the Pipeline site. I am baffled to a likely cause in 6ft of water.

Richard

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:36 pm

CaptnJack wrote:Based on the houses on the right and the sunset to the center left that looks to be the Pipeline site. I am baffled to a likely cause in 6ft of water.

Richard

Looks like Pipeline, alright. Pure speculation on my part, but the news story stated that the divers were seperated by a wave- perhaps he was knocked over, lost his reg, and drowned in the shallows?

dsteding · Post by **dsteding** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:54 pm

Nailer99 wrote: Looks like Pipeline, alright. Pure speculation on my part, but the news story stated that the divers were seperated by a wave- perhaps he was knocked over, lost his reg, and drowned in the shallows?

That is my guess.

One thing I noted is the 45 minutes of air left in the diver's tank. If at the end of the dive, sounds like doubles.

Conditions yesterday were pretty calm, I'm wondering if it was a ship's wake?

drock · Post by **drock** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:06 pm

It did happen at the pipeline. According to the Medical Examiner's office, the victim was a 48 year old man from Kent. His name has not been released yet, since his family had not been notified as of about noon today. The ME said the family is not from this area. They should have more information about the cause of death after they do the autopsy on Monday, and that is probably when they'll release the name. The ME also said that the buddy searched for about 40 minutes before calling 911. I don't know for an absolute fact that that's accurate, but that's what they told us.

News video shot at the scene last night showed a set of doubles sitting on the sidewalk, I don't know if they belonged to the victim or the buddy.

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:55 am

Another thought I had was a large wave/wake from a ship knocking him over in the shallows while putting fins on. No gas in the BC and back gas turned off, he "turtled" in the shallows and couldn't right himself.

Sad stuff. Horrible to hear about this on the news while at Hood Canal and worry about who it might be.

BASSMAN · Post by **BASSMAN** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:09 am

6 feet of water!
knocked over by a wave and reg got knocked out seems logical.
So sad, my heart goes out to the family, and I hope they can find the answers that are needed.

Tangfish · Post by **Tangfish** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:10 am

I've been knocked over pretty hard at that site by a rogue wave (probably wake), I remember being amazed that I got a large bruise from hitting a rock with my shin *though* my kneepad and drysuit and undergarment.

Very sad.

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:06 am

Newspaper report this morning says the diver was 48, and they were surface swimming when they got separated. I just can't imagine how you could get into significant diving trouble while surface swimming -- I wonder if this will truly turn out to have been a heart attack or other health issue.

dsteding · Post by **dsteding** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:15 am

LCF wrote:Newspaper report this morning says the diver was 48, and they were surface swimming when they got separated. I just can't imagine how you could get into significant diving trouble while surface swimming -- I wonder if this will truly turn out to have been a heart attack or other health issue.

Just doesn't make sense as reported. Surface swimming (buoyant) and ending up on the bottom in six feet of water with no reg in mouth.

Tragic.

Even if it was a health issue, one would think the diver would have stayed afloat.

Tom Nic · Post by **Tom Nic** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:16 am

News on channel 2 said that they were in some way affected by a passing freighter? This could underline that they were hit by some kind of wake, possibly while surface swimming, being "knocked for a loop" and separated as a result...

My apologies for speculating, I know it does no good, but I did want to mention that.

More than anything I wanted to express my condolences to the family... and to all of us... everytime something happens to another diver it affects me in some way, and no doubt each one of us.

Safe diving to each of you...

Joshua Smith · Post by **Joshua Smith** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 9:45 am

From the report I heard on the radio, it sounded pretty clear that the victim got knocked down by a wake from a freighter as they were exiting- all too easy to picture how the accident took place. Sobering thought; I can see this happening to anyone, really- especially if he hit his head or something like that. The dive ain't over 'till you're cleaning your gear off.

lamont · Post by **lamont** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 12:07 pm

I was taking a newbie with me out at redondo and we got pummelled by a wake that was far worse than anything i've encountered so far (containership?) when we were just at the right depth to catch the waves breaking on us and i was in my double-130s. it sucked very badly, we did get some separation between us and i was actually not in much of a position to help her out if she got into trouble.

i'm torn between wanting to have doubles when diving with newbies and wanting to more mobile when diving with newbies... i am getting a pair of hp100s now to setup a smaller set of doubles and that'll definitely become the preferred tanks for taking out newbies...

but, anyway, i can definitely see how containership wake could lead to a fatality, particularly if a diver had their air off.

i also had a stupid diver maneuver the other night when i dropped a fin and went after it with no reg, after grabbing it noticed that i was face down in the water with no reg in my mouth with double-130s on my back... i still had lots of exits and in that case i just rolled around my long axis to get face up (i also had three regs i could have used) -- but there are ways you can somersault yourself in doubles where you can wind up nearly head-down and its difficult to right yourself... with your gas off in that situation you'd be getting pretty far down in the accident chain to where a fatality becomes a possibility...

peo · Post by **peo** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 1:14 pm

Such a wake has almost caused me to have a fatal separation too. Not in a scuba diving context though.

When sailing single handed off shore, with my boat under autopilot, and me falling overboard in the middle of the Baltic Sea with no land in sight due to such a wake. Not a pretty story, I tell you. But I somehow survived. Had the boat and I separated, I wouldn't be here today.

lamont · Post by **lamont** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 2:05 pm

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... ge02m.html

Scuba diver who died is identified

A scuba diver who was pronounced dead Saturday off Alki Beach has been identified as 48-year-old Granite Garver.

He had disappeared Saturday evening about 50 feet from shore. A fellow diver called 911 at 9 p.m. Rescuers found Garver unconscious about 15 minutes later in 6 feet of water, said a Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman.

pogiguy05 · Post by **pogiguy05** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:06 pm

OK newbie has a question....... When you say AIR OFF is that something you do with doubles?? For me when I gear up air is ON until I come out of water to take gear off. Just wondering what air off means really.

dsteding · Post by **dsteding** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:49 pm

pogiguy05 wrote:OK newbie has a question....... When you say AIR OFF is that something you do with doubles?? For me when I gear up air is ON until I come out of water to take gear off. Just wondering what air off means really.

A reasonable question.

No, not something you do with doubles. In fact, a valve drill or at the minimum a "flow check" should be done before you enter the water. This would ensure all your valves are on before entering . . .

Someone may have a post shut down if they had a failure on the dive, that necessitated them shutting down a reg. But, all the valves being off during a dive is pretty unlikely as an intentional exercise.

lamont · Post by **lamont** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:26 pm

pogiguy05 wrote:OK newbie has a question....... When you say AIR OFF is that something you do with doubles?? For me when I gear up air is ON until I come out of water to take gear off. Just wondering what air off means really.

"having your air off" generally means having a valve turned off when you are in or entering the water. it is not something that you would typically ever want to do.