Divers - 2 experienced divers with between 200 and 1200 dives. both 50-ish and fairly fit. Special Operations and Public Safety backgrounds.
1 diver with 50 dives, mid-30's, grew up with a dive instructor dad, 250+ ponds and fairly fit.
Dive Plan - shore dive at Wabasso Beach (florida east coast, vero beach). Swim east to reef, drop down proceed north/east for 30 minutes and 2 experienced divers would hunt alternating watching diver #3. after 30 minutes (depending on air), plan was to go south and west back to entry point.
Incident - 7 minutes after dropping in 20' viz, diver #3 moved off. Divers 1 & 2 immediately went in opposite directions and headed to the surface. On the surface, diver #3 was in distress. The BC valve came out of the BC, causing it to flood and drag the diver under. Diver 3 was in panic and starting to thrash and drown. Diver 1&2 inflated their BCs, grabbed diver # 3 securly and proceeded to swim assist him back to shore while attempting to calm him. Once he had his feet under him in shallow water diver 3 calmed down though had ingested a good amount of salt water. We hydrated him, rested him and returned him home.
Analysis - the gear diver 3 used was recently serviced and checks. examination of the BC seems to indicate that when dumping air, diver 3 rotated the valve to the point that it unscrewed from the BC. When the BC filled with water, diver 3 went into complete panic mode. If diver 3 had remembered his training, all could have been resolved and even the BC fixed without aborting the dive.
This incident happened in 14 feet of water. All diver 3 really had to do was signal diver 1 and/or 2 and stay on the bottom, keep breathing and swim west to shore where within 250 feet he could have stood up.
lesson learned here are:
1) become familiar with borrowed or rental gear before you use it
2) keep your head and remember your training
3) dive with solid dive buddies
1 diver with 50 dives, mid-30's, grew up with a dive instructor dad, 250+ ponds and fairly fit.
Dive Plan - shore dive at Wabasso Beach (florida east coast, vero beach). Swim east to reef, drop down proceed north/east for 30 minutes and 2 experienced divers would hunt alternating watching diver #3. after 30 minutes (depending on air), plan was to go south and west back to entry point.
Incident - 7 minutes after dropping in 20' viz, diver #3 moved off. Divers 1 & 2 immediately went in opposite directions and headed to the surface. On the surface, diver #3 was in distress. The BC valve came out of the BC, causing it to flood and drag the diver under. Diver 3 was in panic and starting to thrash and drown. Diver 1&2 inflated their BCs, grabbed diver # 3 securly and proceeded to swim assist him back to shore while attempting to calm him. Once he had his feet under him in shallow water diver 3 calmed down though had ingested a good amount of salt water. We hydrated him, rested him and returned him home.
Analysis - the gear diver 3 used was recently serviced and checks. examination of the BC seems to indicate that when dumping air, diver 3 rotated the valve to the point that it unscrewed from the BC. When the BC filled with water, diver 3 went into complete panic mode. If diver 3 had remembered his training, all could have been resolved and even the BC fixed without aborting the dive.
This incident happened in 14 feet of water. All diver 3 really had to do was signal diver 1 and/or 2 and stay on the bottom, keep breathing and swim west to shore where within 250 feet he could have stood up.
lesson learned here are:
1) become familiar with borrowed or rental gear before you use it
2) keep your head and remember your training
3) dive with solid dive buddies
