Diver missing on Oriskany 10/22/11

[Hetland]

Yes, some people thought they saw an SMB. We were on another dive boat and headed in that direction to search immediately. I also thought I saw something but it ended up being the sun reflecting off of some white water on the surface and nothing more. There were over 1/2 dozen fishing boats in the area within 10 minutes of the call going out to the coast guard.

SMB's can be dynamic, especially with a diver underneath them. It may have surfaced, and then the diver dumped air from his suit or BC, and taken the bag down a few feet with him. If the diver had an hour of deco, the current would have moved him East (iirc) until he surfaced, at which time, he would have been pushed North by the wind-driven waves, and the 10-15kt winds.

I'm not saying the diver made it out of the Oriskany, I'm just saying that based on the report of a lift-bag being seen, it's reasonable to believe that a diver in a drysuit could still be alive.

 

[rigdiver]

I have to admit in these days of GPS, radio, satellites, etc... I'm beginning to wonder if some type of electronic signal device should not be as standard as the buddy system. I've held off on buying a PLB waiting for the Nautilus but I'll have 1 before my next open ocean dive trip. How long until they are simply built into Dive Computers?

Was there a buddy involved/present, or separated from?

 

[Dive-aholic]

SMB's can be dynamic, especially with a diver underneath them. It may have surfaced, and then the diver dumped air from his suit or BC, and taken the bag down a few feet with him. If the diver had an hour of deco, the current would have moved him East (iirc) until he surfaced, at which time, he would have been pushed North by the wind-driven waves, and the 10-15kt winds.

I'm not saying the diver made it out of the Oriskany, I'm just saying that based on the report of a lift-bag being seen, it's reasonable to believe that a diver in a drysuit could still be alive.

True, but we were in the area of the sighting within a minute and stayed in that area for about 15 minutes after. I also thought I saw an SMB but it just ended up being reflection of the sun off the water.

We also did a complete 360 in the area looking for him. We spent about an hour and a half looking for any signs of the diver and did not see any.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Was there a buddy involved/present, or separated from?

No.
..

 

[ucfdiver]

Was there a buddy involved/present, or separated from?

I was told it was a solo death.

 

[Hetland]

True, but we were in the area of the sighting within a minute and stayed in that area for about 15 minutes after. I also thought I saw an SMB but it just ended up being reflection of the sun off the water.

We also did a complete 360 in the area looking for him. We spent about an hour and a half looking for any signs of the diver and did not see any.

Ja, we were North of the wreck but headed East before turning and backtracking NW to the O. About the time we hit the Chevron the search plane arrived.

 

[hddiver]

No.
..

I don't understand why an experienced, cautious diver (based solely on reports of 3-tanks, rebreather, drysuit, torch) would make a solo deep dive....especially when recreational diving with family and friends. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but diving is a buddy activity even when we are each fully self-sufficient. Even the very best divers sometimes run into trouble. My heart goes out to his family yet I hope we all have an opportunity to learn. I plan to dive the Oriskany next month.

 

[ahava]

I was told it was a solo death.

You were told this diver has passed? Is this verified? Where is this info??

 

[Dive-aholic]

I don't understand why an experienced, cautious diver (based solely on reports of 3-tanks, rebreather, drysuit, torch) would make a solo deep dive....especially when recreational diving with family and friends. Maybe I am old-fashioned, but diving is a buddy activity even when we are each fully self-sufficient. Even the very best divers sometimes run into trouble. My heart goes out to his family yet I hope we all have an opportunity to learn. I plan to dive the Oriskany next month.

Please don't blame this on the diver being solo. Also, I don't know how experienced he was but 3 tanks, rebreather, dry suit, etc, mean nothing. I know of divers with less than 100 dives who are rebreather trained and cave trained. Some divers do their OW checkout dives in dry suits. As for solo deep dives, I've done them. When properly planned and executed they are no more dangerous than most other dives. We don't know what happened at this point, and likely won't ever know what happened. Speculating that it was due to him being solo doesn't help anything though.

You were told this diver has passed? Is this verified? Where is this info??

Neither the diver nor a body have been found. However at this point it can pretty much be concluded that this is a fatality. Even if he made it to the surface after completing a decompression obligation, the temperatures in this area right now would make it unlikely that he would survive over night out in the gulf.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I'm not about to tell anyone not to dive solo.
- I dive solo.
- We have no idea whether being solo had any bearing on this mishap at all.

But, divers who choose to dive solo must accept that they are adding risk to the dive; the diver must be aware that solo diving always carries additional risk over the same dive with a buddy. That additional risk is that should a debilitating event (stroke, CVA, entrapment, debilitating narcosis, undetected hypoxia, convulsion, serious injury, bad gas, etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum) occur, the solo diver will almost certainly drown and die. If the diver has a buddy there's at least a chance of being hauled to the surface where life-saving first aid or treatment may be possible.
As a prime example, I lost a friend on a solo dive in six feet of water. Six feet! He was cleaning his pond alone and just drowned. We don't know why he couldn't make it to the surface... all his gear was ok and he had plenty of air. What he didn't have was a buddy.
The solo diver must realize and accept that solo dives are not just as safe as buddy dives (all other things being equal... a well planned and equipped solo diver is often far safer than a poorly equipped buddy team on an unplanned or poorly planned dive).
Only if the diver accepts the additional risk should he give himself the "OK" for a solo dive.
Rick

...When properly planned and executed they (solo dives) are no more dangerous than most other dives...

"(solo dives)" added for clarity...