Fatality in Tobermory

[danielle]

divebuddydale once bubbled...


The cold could have been an issue (even though he had experienced it before). It could have added to the factors. Kinda like food allergies (i.e Peanuts) you can eat them for years, then all of a sudden you have an anaphalctic (sp?) episode with peanuts. It could be a build up effect.

Just some musings

Dale

dale has a point

this probably has nothing to do with what happened... but sometimes equipment fails too ....i mean you could do the same dive locataion 20 times but during dive 21 something could go wrong with your equipment .... anything can happen under the water.

 

[snuggle]

you are so right on that..it doesnt matter how experinaced you are anything can happen when you dip below the water..

 

[Boogie711]

Equipment malfunctions do not kill people.

Peoples reaction to their equipment malfunctioning is what kills them.

God bless the guy, but there's no way a diver with 30 dives should be doing a 100 foot dive in the cold water of Tobermory for his first dive of the year. Only he and God know what really happened, but any equipment 'boo - boo' can add an exponential amount of stress.

I was diving tonight with Groundhog246 (and his lovely wife) in a local quarry. Max depth, 25 feet - perfect for skills training, etc. Halfway through the dive, his mouthpiece falls off. He calmly reached for his octo and kept going. I didn't even realize anything happened until later when I noticed he was breathing off his octo.

My point is - say that happens at 75 feet. Groundhog246 didn't worry about it because hey - it's 25 feet. Worst case scenario, he's doing an ESA. No big deal. He was in warm, familiar waters, and he totally didn't panic. But he KNOWS now that he needs to repair his mouthpiece - and it's not likely to happen again.

If Groundhog had gotten into 110 feet of freezing water and felt his mouthpiece fall off because he had a bad zip tie or whatever, he's facing a lot more stress. A lot more stress leads to increased respiration, your heart is working harder, your panic level starts to rise - BAM.

(Sorry Kent - I hope that NEVER happens! )

That being said - hey, I don't know. Maybe it was something that could have happened at that exact moment, whether he was in 100 feet, 10 feet or asleep in his bed. We don't know, and I'm not making assumptions in this particular case.

I do take offense to the notion that equipment failure is somehow 'accepted' as a reason to have a dive accident.

 

[danielle]

Boogie711 once bubbled...
Equipment malfunctions do not kill people.

Peoples reaction to their equipment malfunctioning is what kills them.

I do take offense to the notion that equipment failure is somehow 'accepted' as a reason to have a dive accident.

i never said that all dive accidents happen because of equipment malfunction .... all i was saying is that since the girl said that this guy had done the dive a year before and nothing bad happend she was really doubting it was the cold water... and all i was saying is that you could do the same dive 20 times... but all it takes is that one time and something goes wrong... be it a health condition... or equipment failure and yes how one reacts to their equipment failing could kill them. thats all i was saying.. i wasnt blaming equipment malfunction... was stating unpredictabillity while under the water.

 

[Groundhog246]

I'm with Aquabella on the "medical issue" as opposed to a dive accident. However, I gotta respond to he comment that he did it at the same time last year. Spring is running a lot later than last year and the water temps in
Tobermory (and elsewhere) are much colder than the same time last year. So in effect he dove 3 weeks earlier this year, temp wise, even if close to the same calendar date.

Boogie, I'd "hope" that my response in 75 feet to something so minor as the mouthpiece popping off would be the same except I would end of the dive. I'll also note, before someone critics Boogie's buddy skills. We were diving a threesome and at the time it happened he was on the right, me on the left and my wife in the center, so he didn't have a close up view of me. My wife did see the problem, almost before I realized it and had her octo out and ready almost faster as I had my hand on my own.

 

[crispos]

Why is the Arabia perhaps more dangerous than that Port Dalhousie Sparky mentions? Both are same depth, same cold temperature, same low viz most of the time, and both are smaller wooden ships (barques?).

Having done both wrecks recently, I think the Arabia has an additional dangerous quirk of having very high sides with the deck planking caved in and the wreck sitting straight up on what looks like a rock bottom.

If the viz is low that day, it is very easy to lose sight of your buddy, even if you turn away just for a minute. If you lose your buddy, then it adds to the other stress and hazards well documented by others on this thread.

The buddy may have gone down the outside of the side, down the inside, along the gunwhale (which way?) or maybe even over to the other side, or under the bow section). Or maybe they went to the line? The problem is you won't know unless you have good buddy procedures, communication and a solid dive plan. Of course, getting set up with a new buddy (or buddies!) on the boat often exacerbates this problem.

The Port Dalhousie wreck has intact planking and sits in the silt so it is lower. The lines of sight make it perhaps just abit easier to see things.
I plan to dive it again soon to test my theory. It is a great little wreck.

 

[DeepScuba]

Sparky30 is a friend of mine, and he and I have done over a dozen dives on the "Tiller" as we call it, in Port Dalhousie. I have also done the Arabia a couple of times, (the most recent being 5 days after this last fatality).

My first thoughts are that the two are similar in depth only. Sure the temps are close, but the Tiller has never had any current to speak of, as is suprisingly clear and bright usually. The Arabia is generally fairly dark, and can go from mild to quite a brisk current from one dive to the next. My first time on it, I saw one side only, it was so dark and turbulent, we spent what seemed like 10 minutes swimming into the current, and 3 seconds coming back!!!! My dive buddy (Wife) called the dive a little early for me, but it was just as well. Live to dive another day.

Spark is right about calling a dive if you feel you have to. He also know no-one he dives with would say a word to the negative, either.

WOW Spark-a-licous, 80 dive in 12 months!!!! I WOULD call that a frequent diver, especially from someone that doesn't work in the industry.
Shoot, I'd better hurry up or you're gonna pass me

Not that we're competing, of course

Now get that boat in the water!!!!!