Sundiver Woes Continue

[Wookie]

I think the question is about the protocol vs the person.

In other words, can another human use wookie's protocol and achieve the same results?

I'd love to take credit for the protocol, but it was invented long before I was but a wee junior Captain running dive trips to the Flower Gardens. The man who built the Fling and the Spree beat into his captain's heads that we were responsible to bring everyone home safely, and if an evacuation or chamber ride was warranted, it was best to catch it earlier than later.

Every Captain since 1988 on the Flower Gardens boats used this protocol. I am the only of perhaps 40 Captains who left a diver behind, and it wasn't because I didn't know he was missing. I figured out he was missing before all of the divers had come up, because I had learned when he came back in the herd, and he was overdue, while divers were still coming back. We had the Coast Guard called long before all divers were on the boat.

So yes, I can't say that it works in every situation, but it has worked in every situation SO FAR.

 

[Cali_diver]

Well it sounds like the Captain has assumed responsibility in this instance.. no? I am sure she thinks about it everyday. What she could have done differently, what she should have done differently.

I am curious though... Capt. Wookie, do you do roll call for the crew when you do roll call for the pax.? I have been on a boat that almost left a crew member so I was wondering how you handle this? I understand the importance of the post dive roll call, but is there someone who keeps track of every diver who enters the water too?

I have dove with the So Cal divers a couple times and they are all a bit crazy and dive primarily solo.

 

[The Chairman]

The Wookster can answer this better than me, but the only staff I've seen dive on the MV Spree has been Mel and only to set or retrieve the hook. When I was on the Nautilus Belle Amie, when a staff went diving, they were added to the diver roll call. That is another incredibly safe, safe ship. Every RIB captain accounts for all of his charges and then they do another roll call on the mother ship. Captain Gordon, aka Captain Waterboy, is monitoring all channels (every diver has a life line), making sure each soul is accounted for. That's actually a triple check and I feel just as safe on their boat as I do on Wookie's. Rainbow Reef in Key Largo only allows the Captain to do their roll call. You do NOT want to converse with someone when @Capt Jim Wyatt is doing roll call. Just wait a bit and Capt Jimmie will be all smiles again. I know they have staff diving all the time and they've never had this problem with six boats running almost daily. DJ (the owner) wouldn't allow the culture that would accept such a thing as being reasonable. I know they've fired captains for bending the rules and I like that. So no, it's not just Wookie that has this down. He's probably in the overkill department, but I'm way OK with that. Well, maybe that's the "under leave" department.

 

[Wookie]

Well it sounds like the Captain has assumed responsibility in this instance.. no? I am sure she thinks about it everyday. What she could have done differently, what she should have done differently.

I am curious though... Capt. Wookie, do you do roll call for the crew when you do roll call for the pax.? I have been on a boat that almost left a crew member so I was wondering how you handle this? I understand the importance of the post dive roll call, but is there someone who keeps track of every diver who enters the water too?

I have dove with the So Cal divers a couple times and they are all a bit crazy and dive primarily solo.

The crew must be on the bow to get underway, so I am looking at them when we cast off the mooring.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Doing the role call can be challenging at times, indeed often times. Passengers sometimes do not understand the gravity of the role call. Frequently when starting the role call passengers continue to chatter and go about their personal business and their names sometimes have to be called two or more times before they answer. Sometimes one passenger will answer for another by saying things like "Oh she is up on the bow" Or "he is in the head", or "he is topside". I do not allow anyone to account for anyone else.

Believe it or not sometimes a passenger seems "put out" and "bothered" that we ask them to quit what they are doing and listen to the role call.

Sometimes passengers answer in such a low voice so I cannot even hear them and then when I call their name again they seem bothered to have to answer twice.

Sometimes the names as written on the manifest are difficult for me to pronounce. I am all good with :Bobby Sue" or "Billy Joe", but I am challenged by names such as "Xi" or "Lejuaon" and once again I get the "attitude" when I mispronounce, although most often I am met with grins as people deal with my Southern Twang.

Passengers could help by sitting through the role call, listening and answering loudly and clearly when they hear their name called.

I never pass the responsibility of the role call to anyone else on the boat, and if I am not 100% certain that all passengers are accounted for - I start over.

As Pete stated, sometimes you have to be a Dick, asking everyone to STFU and listen and then explain to them this is how I ensure they won't be floating all alone in the ocean all day and all night, or for eternity.

The captain cannot be afraid of being in charge.

 

[The Chairman]

The captain cannot be afraid of being in charge.

Where's a double amen and a hallelujah when you need one? Well put.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

When someone answered for another diver and said they were in the bunkroom/head/bow I always had the same remark. I would tell everyone that if we didn't get everyone on deck for roll call I would wait for as long as it took, even if it meant everyone had to miss the third dive. I never had to say that twice on a trip.

 

[undrwater]

The face to face quick assessment seems like a really powerful tool. Not just to assure you are on board, but on board and within normal limits.

 

[Divebum Don]

Welcome aboard, I'll be your Captain, please remember we'll be entering quicksand and anything or person you love should know you could be gone at any second. Enjoy the ocean! There's NOTHING I take more serious then passengers on my own boat. Scary ****...

 

[KevinNM]

Did not discount Captain Wookies' reputation here, I do not know the man or been on his boats. But he did sound like those experts walking around claiming that nothing bad ever happens to them because they are perfect and not do only do a diver roll call, but also check if their crew did not jump in the water in the meantime... Things do happen on dive boats and a lot of times against the best plans and procedures. This is what happened on that boat, that day and we all know it can happen again on other boats. Nobody is perfect and I am just being realistic (or dumb according to Captain Wookie).

If you are the ships captain you are legally and morally responsible for everything the boat does. If the boat leaves someone behind it's your ass. This is how it works according to federal law. You cannot delegate responsibility, it ends with the captain. I suspect that the lawsuit, if it isn't settled out of court, will show a culture of laxness towards the rules and one infected with normalization of deviance.

If you choose to negligently allow other people to perform the duty that you are solely responsible for then I hope you have other employable skills that don't involve being a ships captain, or look really good in paper hats.

And bad things have happened on the Spree, both when Frank owned it and before. He didn't lose his license or his livelihood because he understood his responsibilities and carried them out according to the legal requirements.

I've only once dove on the sundiver and they were nowhere near a methodical in the initial boat checkin/c-card process or the after dive headcount. I didn't feel unsafe, but they were noticeably more relaxed about it.