Diver Missing At Cove 2 (11am Today 2/19)

[fnerg]

Considering we don't know exactly what happened and the diver is the only one who does, most likely not. We don't like to speculate on things like this and its best just to take the lesson that things can go wrong and sometimes do. Drive around when not diving and mull things over in your head. "What would I do if?" "How would I handle something like this....?"
Proactivily make the unavoidable, avoidable.

Going over possible situations in gour head is one of the best thongs you can do, I think. I've had times when my reg was taken out of my mouth, had a feet-first ascent, had my buddy panic and thumb the dive from 100 feet, had my buddy lose control of their buoyancy, meaning I had to grab them, deal with buoyancy for the both of us, ascend and do a safety stop, all of which I had thought about and planned a reaction to in my head long before the situation happened.

At the moment, I'm thinking about what to do about a free-flowing regulator at 100 feet. I'm actually planning on getting a pony bottle today for contingencies like that.

[Penopolypants]

*MOD POST*

Just a friendly reminder that speculation about dive accidents and incidents is forbidden by the TOS. Feel free to discuss it with your buddies/partners/spouses/priests/baristas, but not here.

*END MOD POST*

Also, a general "what can I do to be a safer diver?" thread would be best served in a separate discussion. Please keep in mind that passions about that topic are varied and often flammable, please don't smoke or use hairspray in their vicinity.

[fmerkel]

Johanna was in the dive shop this morning getting the regulator that free-flowed on her examined/repaired. She's o.k. and expresses gratitude for those who are concerned about her.
-Curt

If it's not breaking some kind of policy I'd be curious to know if an issue with the reg is found. I did 2 dives with Johanna and her buddy a couple weeks ago and there was no problem then. Obviously she would not be in the water with a suspect reg.

In 17+ years of diving I've never had a reg go free flow on me in the water. Scarey thought.

Fritz

[eliseaboo]

It's likely we'll never know exactly what happened, and even so there may not be any big, glaring lesson. Sometimes accidents happen. There will always be people who are quick to assign blame - the instructor should have, the buddy should have, the authorities should have...but in the end the only truly safe way to dive is to never get in the water. Risks have been managed to a more than acceptable level, but they're always there.

We'll see what the coming days bring, but so far it seems the best advice to glean from this is to keep diving, and keep learning. Being comfortable in the water goes a long way toward solving any problem.

(I wasn't quite sure where to put this response, as it isn't really a "what if" answer. If it fits best in another thread, please feel free to move it.)

[Penopolypants]

Johanna was in the dive shop this morning getting the regulator that free-flowed on her examined/repaired. She's o.k. and expresses gratitude for those who are concerned about her.
-Curt

If it's not breaking some kind of policy I'd be curious to know if an issue with the reg is found. I did 2 dives with Johanna and her buddy a couple weeks ago and there was no problem then. Obviously she would not be in the water with a suspect reg.

In 17+ years of diving I've never had a reg go free flow on me in the water. Scarey thought.

Fritz

I've had my backup reg freeflow at the I Beams. Fortunately I was with a buddy that was much smarter than me so it turned out okay, but there was a lot of bubbles and confusion for a bit on my part, and free ascents from the I Beams are interesting. It was a learning experience, for sure.

To answer your question.... statements of fact are fine, it's random speculation we dislike.

[Grateful Diver]

Johanna was in the dive shop this morning getting the regulator that free-flowed on her examined/repaired. She's o.k. and expresses gratitude for those who are concerned about her.
-Curt

If it's not breaking some kind of policy I'd be curious to know if an issue with the reg is found. I did 2 dives with Johanna and her buddy a couple weeks ago and there was no problem then. Obviously she would not be in the water with a suspect reg.

In 17+ years of diving I've never had a reg go free flow on me in the water. Scarey thought.

Fritz

I've had my backup reg freeflow at the I Beams. Fortunately I was with a buddy that was much smarter than me so it turned out okay, but there was a lot of bubbles and confusion for a bit on my part, and free ascents from the I Beams are interesting. It was a learning experience, for sure.

I remember that ... I'm only sorry we didn't think to video a textbook response in how to deal with it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Magoi]

I was at the Muk Satellite dish (about 110 ft) with a buddy (also was my instructor, but we dive together regularly) when his backup started to free flow and he could not stop it. It was his first dive with the reg after having annual service. He made sure I knew what his situation was, and we started swimming back to shore side by side. He kept using his tank and checking pressure until it ran out of air, then he used my backup till we got back to shore. If I remember correctly we did a safety stop too.

He had the backup checked at the shop and they found a bad seal that is not normally replaced at an annual service. He has 30 years of diving and it had never happened to him before. I have only 3 - this happened about a year and a half ago. It was a great lesson.

Larry

[CaptnJack]

So the deceased name was Tareq?
Does anyone know the instructor and other student who were on the dive he died on? (I don't really need to know their names, just hoping someone is supporting them. Although I also imagine they have been instructed to only talk to the police and their lawyers.)

[ljjames]

Two teams recovered Johanna's weight pouches tonight (just in case anyone else was planning on going to look for them).

[Dusty2]

I have been through this myself and I can say even if they are literally at arms length it requires very quick reactions to stop them before they get out of reach. It's a knee jerk type of thing. Your thinking whats going on, is this really happening what do I do now and in what order. Trying to get a hold of them while your venting every bit of air you can and assessing what's wrong all at once and then trying to calm them and get their trust so they will follow your instructions. All of this in mere seconds. It's not something you can really practice but it sure helps to have thought it through in calmer times when it wasn't a life and death situation.

[ljjames]

Very good description, and a good thing to read and think through for anyone considering going into leadership training. Its not all hearts and flowers and smiling faces.

I have been through this myself and I can say even if they are literally at arms length it requires very quick reactions to stop them before they get out of reach. It's a knee jerk type of thing. Your thinking whats going on, is this really happening what do I do now and in what order. Trying to get a hold of them while your venting every bit of air you can and assessing what's wrong all at once and then trying to calm them and get their trust so they will follow your instructions. All of this in mere seconds. It's not something you can really practice but it sure helps to have thought it through in calmer times when it wasn't a life and death situation.