Ken Kurtis
Contributor
At the suggestion/invitation of Pete (NetDoc), I'm going to start posting my weekly e-mail "This Week at Reef Seekers" (aka TWARS) here each Sunday night. It'll stay as one thread and what I'll likely do is simply edit the post each week to replace last week with this week so the most current one is always the #1 post. If you'd like to get this sent to you directly via e-mail, simply by sending an e-mail to kenkurtis@aol.com and say "Add me to the list."
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(TWARS - 6/7)
Well, I had a good time . . .
SCUBA SHOW 2015 - It was a busy two days at the Long Beach Convention Center, especially Saturday, for Scuba Show 2015. And since we don't have a brick-and-mortar store anymore where you can drop by, it was nice seeing many of you there in person. I thought there was a slightly different feel to show this year in a good way. It seemed to me that there was more travel booths than in previous years and it also seemed that they were grouped together by general destination better this year than I recall in the past. For instance, if you were interested in Fiji, there were numerous Fiji operators you could visit on the same aisle. There were also a number of manufacturers present as well as some dive shops and the point is that if you were looking for gear, you could find it here one way or the other (as well as some of the stores were wheeling and dealing). And if you were a photographer, you were in hog heaven. Not only did you have manufacturers there but you also had the option of browsing through large booths like Samy's, Backscatter and Bluewater Photo to see the latest offerings. Plus it seems like everyone had some sort of a video light to go with your GoPro or accessories for your GoPro. (Not to mention some places selling GoPros as well.) And with all of that going on, there were also dozens of seminars to attend from how to take care of your ears to diving with whale sharks to fatality reports to photo tips. It can be overwhelming at times but that's sort of the point: To show you all the varied possibilities that this sport has to offer and give you ways to maximize your enjoyment. Hopefully, you were able to do just that.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM "WHY DIVERS DIE" - We "only" had three fatalities in L.A. County last year but it's important to note that two of them involved divers running out of air (including a second diver who ran out of air in the first accident but who made it back to the surface). On top of that, over-weighting further complicated the first fatality (the diver ditched his weights - close to 50 pounds of it - but was still negative and sank) and failure to ditch weights likely complicated the second fatality. I know I've harped on this before but I'm going to harp on it again: Running out of air while diving is far more dangerous than we, as an industry, are willing to acknowledge and, if you do run out of air, your chances of surviving the incident are likely slim. So don't run out of air in the first place. During our seminar, I talked about a rule I've always used which is to take your depth times 10 and start your ascent with no less than that amount of air (and never less than 500psi). So at 100 feet (the depth at which both these accidents occurred), you should be starting up with 1,000psi. Of course, this requires you to actually LOOK at your gauge. I'd like you to be on the surface with no less than 300psi. And if you've screwed up and you're running too low, please remember that the safety stop is a great idea BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH AIR. In our first scenario, the diver has roughly 100psi (that's not a misprint) at 100 feet and stopped his ascent at 20 feet for a safety stop - with about 60psi - and that's where he ran out and unsuccessfully tried to make it to the surface. (He had a buddy with him, also extremely low on air, who was not able to help him.) Had he not stopped for the safety stop, we don't know if the outcome would have been different but it's likely he would have made it to the surface. And remember this if you're concerned that missing a safety stop (or deco stop) might cause you to get bent: We can cure the bends but we can't cure dead. I'll take "bent" over "drowned" anytime.
WEIGHT COMPLICATIONS - In both of these fatalities, although over-weighting didn't cause the accident, it may have complicated the possibility of the evetual outcome simply being a close call. In the first case, there was simply waaaaay too much weight plus there was still enough with a steel tank and some non-ditchable weights (and likely water-filled, or at least empty, lungs) to sink the victim. In the second case, a belt presumed to be 10-14 pounds was ditched but never recovered and the guy still had some 22 pounds on him, which was enough to hold him down. On top of this, he was reported to have made it to the surface (people heard him call for help) at least once and perhaps as many as three times. Again, ditching ALL of your weight should provide immediate floatation and even if you go unconscious, the speed in which a floating unconscious diver will be recovered far exceeds the speed in which is position-unknown hidden-on-the-bottom unconscious diver will be recovered. It's a simple thought: Ditch your weights, save your life.
BC INFLATION - It was interesting when we were discussing the second one (we had about 55 people in the room) and when we mentioned lack of BC inflation, a few people were thinking, "Well there wasn't any air in the tank so how could you inflate the BC?" The magic solution is: Orally. A lot of divers either don't know or have forgotten that you can orally inflate your BC rather than using the LP inflator from your tank. And while I would certainly want you to ditch your weights first, orally inflating the BC will give you that much added flotation. If that's something you haven't practiced lately, you should do so. You don't even need to get wet to do it. Just put your BC on in the comfort of your living room and practice inflating it orally. If this is something you don't know how to do or were never shown, feel free to e-mail or call me and I'll be happy to walk you through it.
NEW BOAT IN AVALON - Bob & Tina Kennedy from Catalina Scuba Luv were at the show over the weekend and told me about their new boat, the Scrambler. The name comes from one of the previous owners who was a quarterback at USC and was known for scrambling on plays. Bob says there's a lot of cardinal & gold on boat so if you're a UCLA alum, you might wonder what's going on. But it sounds like a nice ride, about 54 feet long and licensed as a 6-pack so it's not going to be crowded. Bob says they don't have a compressor on it yet but they just bring extra tanks from the shop to work around that for now while they shop for an appropriate-sized compressor. Anyhow, if you're looking for a boat dive out of Avalon, give them a call and see what the availability is.
KELP BED UPDATE - We heard from Debbie Karimoto that the kelp is starting to make a comeback at Anacapa and from Dr. Bill that the south end of the Avalon UW Park is starting to see some new growth. Fingers crossed although the predicted El Nino may complicate things a bit this year. We shall see.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
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(TWARS - 6/7)
Well, I had a good time . . .
SCUBA SHOW 2015 - It was a busy two days at the Long Beach Convention Center, especially Saturday, for Scuba Show 2015. And since we don't have a brick-and-mortar store anymore where you can drop by, it was nice seeing many of you there in person. I thought there was a slightly different feel to show this year in a good way. It seemed to me that there was more travel booths than in previous years and it also seemed that they were grouped together by general destination better this year than I recall in the past. For instance, if you were interested in Fiji, there were numerous Fiji operators you could visit on the same aisle. There were also a number of manufacturers present as well as some dive shops and the point is that if you were looking for gear, you could find it here one way or the other (as well as some of the stores were wheeling and dealing). And if you were a photographer, you were in hog heaven. Not only did you have manufacturers there but you also had the option of browsing through large booths like Samy's, Backscatter and Bluewater Photo to see the latest offerings. Plus it seems like everyone had some sort of a video light to go with your GoPro or accessories for your GoPro. (Not to mention some places selling GoPros as well.) And with all of that going on, there were also dozens of seminars to attend from how to take care of your ears to diving with whale sharks to fatality reports to photo tips. It can be overwhelming at times but that's sort of the point: To show you all the varied possibilities that this sport has to offer and give you ways to maximize your enjoyment. Hopefully, you were able to do just that.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM "WHY DIVERS DIE" - We "only" had three fatalities in L.A. County last year but it's important to note that two of them involved divers running out of air (including a second diver who ran out of air in the first accident but who made it back to the surface). On top of that, over-weighting further complicated the first fatality (the diver ditched his weights - close to 50 pounds of it - but was still negative and sank) and failure to ditch weights likely complicated the second fatality. I know I've harped on this before but I'm going to harp on it again: Running out of air while diving is far more dangerous than we, as an industry, are willing to acknowledge and, if you do run out of air, your chances of surviving the incident are likely slim. So don't run out of air in the first place. During our seminar, I talked about a rule I've always used which is to take your depth times 10 and start your ascent with no less than that amount of air (and never less than 500psi). So at 100 feet (the depth at which both these accidents occurred), you should be starting up with 1,000psi. Of course, this requires you to actually LOOK at your gauge. I'd like you to be on the surface with no less than 300psi. And if you've screwed up and you're running too low, please remember that the safety stop is a great idea BUT ONLY IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH AIR. In our first scenario, the diver has roughly 100psi (that's not a misprint) at 100 feet and stopped his ascent at 20 feet for a safety stop - with about 60psi - and that's where he ran out and unsuccessfully tried to make it to the surface. (He had a buddy with him, also extremely low on air, who was not able to help him.) Had he not stopped for the safety stop, we don't know if the outcome would have been different but it's likely he would have made it to the surface. And remember this if you're concerned that missing a safety stop (or deco stop) might cause you to get bent: We can cure the bends but we can't cure dead. I'll take "bent" over "drowned" anytime.
WEIGHT COMPLICATIONS - In both of these fatalities, although over-weighting didn't cause the accident, it may have complicated the possibility of the evetual outcome simply being a close call. In the first case, there was simply waaaaay too much weight plus there was still enough with a steel tank and some non-ditchable weights (and likely water-filled, or at least empty, lungs) to sink the victim. In the second case, a belt presumed to be 10-14 pounds was ditched but never recovered and the guy still had some 22 pounds on him, which was enough to hold him down. On top of this, he was reported to have made it to the surface (people heard him call for help) at least once and perhaps as many as three times. Again, ditching ALL of your weight should provide immediate floatation and even if you go unconscious, the speed in which a floating unconscious diver will be recovered far exceeds the speed in which is position-unknown hidden-on-the-bottom unconscious diver will be recovered. It's a simple thought: Ditch your weights, save your life.
BC INFLATION - It was interesting when we were discussing the second one (we had about 55 people in the room) and when we mentioned lack of BC inflation, a few people were thinking, "Well there wasn't any air in the tank so how could you inflate the BC?" The magic solution is: Orally. A lot of divers either don't know or have forgotten that you can orally inflate your BC rather than using the LP inflator from your tank. And while I would certainly want you to ditch your weights first, orally inflating the BC will give you that much added flotation. If that's something you haven't practiced lately, you should do so. You don't even need to get wet to do it. Just put your BC on in the comfort of your living room and practice inflating it orally. If this is something you don't know how to do or were never shown, feel free to e-mail or call me and I'll be happy to walk you through it.
NEW BOAT IN AVALON - Bob & Tina Kennedy from Catalina Scuba Luv were at the show over the weekend and told me about their new boat, the Scrambler. The name comes from one of the previous owners who was a quarterback at USC and was known for scrambling on plays. Bob says there's a lot of cardinal & gold on boat so if you're a UCLA alum, you might wonder what's going on. But it sounds like a nice ride, about 54 feet long and licensed as a 6-pack so it's not going to be crowded. Bob says they don't have a compressor on it yet but they just bring extra tanks from the shop to work around that for now while they shop for an appropriate-sized compressor. Anyhow, if you're looking for a boat dive out of Avalon, give them a call and see what the availability is.
KELP BED UPDATE - We heard from Debbie Karimoto that the kelp is starting to make a comeback at Anacapa and from Dr. Bill that the south end of the Avalon UW Park is starting to see some new growth. Fingers crossed although the predicted El Nino may complicate things a bit this year. We shall see.
And that'll do it for now. Have a great week and let's go diving soon!!!
- Ken
