Diver Missing - Aliwal Shoal

[MikeFerrara]

Mike's a scuba god. He's allowed to make such comments.

One doesn't need to be a scuba god to see it...or say it. Every accident I see or read about has the same ingredients. It's like seeing the same one over and over. People aren't going to get it though are they? IMO, the industry is in an extreme state of denial and they use the fact that DAN only report 100 deaths a year as justification.

I can tell you one thing. There isn't any way that any diver in a group that I'm diving in is going to abort a dive and ascend alone.

The ascent and the descent are the two most likely times in a dive to have a problem. You see it every day. Divers descend alone and meet up at the bottom. I see this even in classes. It's been stated in this thread that divers end dives alone all the time on charters all over. What's it going to take for divers to get it? It's so blatantly obvious, it's like a slap right accross the kisser.

You've probably heard the news about John Bennett already. Apparently he got in trouble and got separated from his buddy, essentially solo. There are parallels to be drawn here and it think it's unfair to say that it's all about training or touris divers. A diver having difficulties needs to be escorted. It applies to inexperienced and experienced divers alike.

I agree. The report says that after the dive was called because of John's problem his buddy headed for the line thinking that John was behind him.

One of the first things taught in cave training is that a diver with a problem goes in front. In a three man team the diver with a problem goes in the middle. It doesn't mater what the problem is. It could be a failed primary light, not feeling well or whatever.

It's a shame that cave training is one of the few places to learn simple buddy diving.

 

[ShoalDiverSA]

Mike,

Your post last night got me thinking about what I considered to be safe diving practice with respect to the buddy system. I realised that I have gradually adopted the "standard" practice of allowing my buddy to ascend solo, or to ascend solo myself. It has not been an issue recently because I buddy with the DM most of the time. So I always ascend with my buddy (in these specific circumstances).

I was discussing it with my wife just now and her knee-jerk response was that we always ascend together. After a bit of thinking, we came up with quite a few examples where we did not do so. It is quite astounding to realise how quickly you can learn bad habits and not know it is happening. It is also astounding how easy it is to delude yourself that you are the world's best buddy and a safe diver - yet a bit of introspection and honest analysis proves otherwise.

Thanks for the direct response to this issue. It has certainly given me food for thought and a will to improve.

[I am also going to deploy my SMB on each dive until I am familiar with deploying it.]

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[ShoalDiverSA]

... a couple went missing on the Shoal ...

Correction - the couple went missing on Protea Banks, not the Aliwal Shoal.

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[SA-Diver]

Andrew

Any more news on this ?

Do you know which charter the girl went missing on ?

We are down there tomorrow evening to dive the Shoal Saturday and Sunday.

I agree with you on the SMB.
My wife an I regularly practise this at one of the inland sites.
On all the last trips to the Shoal, Sodwana and Moz we have deployed an SMB before our ascent.
Some skippers don't like it much, but it is my money and my life.

Kobus

 

[Zippsy]

Mike, while my comment was too personal, my point was that I learned the buddy system in my PADI OW class. I don't recall them teaching that the buddy with a problem ascends first but I think I learned that without - the specific link - in Logic 101 in high school. IMHO, the problem is less on the training and more the application by divers. You're right though that too many ignore the teaching.

 

[ShoalDiverSA]

Andrew

Any more news on this ?

Do you know which charter the girl went missing on ?
...

No further news yet. I will make a call today.

I do know the name of the charter involved, but I don't think it would be fair to give their name on a public forum. I would not like them to be sentenced in the court of public opinion (without all the pertinent information).

:hanged:

Based upon the previous incidents at Protea Banks, the charter is guilty until proven innocent. And that held true even when the charter in question has the most rigorous lost diver and group diving procedures along our coast... (due to the conditions on the Banks).

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[SA-Diver]

Andrew

I respect the fact that you are not willing to post the name of the charter. You can PM me if you are willing.
I am merely curious as to which charter it was.
Even if it is the guys I use, I will not change charters as there is no proof as to who was at fault, and we will more than likely never know.
Therefore, unless proven otherwise in time, both the charter and the DM are in the clear in my books.

As far as more info is concerned, it is important for the diver to be found if possible, because it provides some sort of closure for the incident and also for family, friend etc.

Kobus

 

[SA-Diver]

Andrew

Thanks for the info.

Dive safely.

Kobus

 

[MikeFerrara]

Mike, while my comment was too personal, my point was that I learned the buddy system in my PADI OW class. I don't recall them teaching that the buddy with a problem ascends first but I think I learned that without - the specific link - in Logic 101 in high school. IMHO, the problem is less on the training and more the application by divers. You're right though that too many ignore the teaching.

Divers are of course responsible for using common sense but I had a prof who used to say that common sense isn't so common.

I beg to differ, though, unless you really had an uncommon instructor you were not taught the buddy system in your PADI class. They mention it and pay it lip service in the standards but you aren't required to do much to show that you actually get it.

How often do we see buddies ascend or descend at drastically different speeds and seperated?

How often do we hear..."He was with me when I started up and I never saw him again"?

It's a habit that starts on dive 1.

The examples are endless...the lady last year who drowned 5 ft under caught in kelp with a full tank while her buddies waited for her at the bottom...the guy at Gilboa last year who wandered from his group into the deep end.

Most divers who die are alone even if they didn't start out that way.

Buddy or team diving as commonly taught and practiced is a total joke.

It takes practice and thought both in training and in application and ascents and descent are probably the most critical times in a dive.

 

[SA-Diver]

In this particular case there is a lot of speculation about what happened and it might not be as simple as a diver ascending alone.

I have to agree with Mike on the training though.
We are told about buddy diving and that it is important but it usually stops there, unless the instructor does something outside the standards.

On almost every dive I go on on our coast, as well as on inland waters, I see divers (who are paired in buddy pairs), descend and ascend at different rates to meet up at the bottom or on a stop somewhere along the ascent.
I also see partners from buddy pairs ascend solo at the end of almost every dive as they end their dives.