Missing diver in Tacoma Washington (Les Davis)
- Thread starter wetb4igetinthewater
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Diving as a group of eight. In Puget Sound. And no one realized she was missing . . .
I read this and I want to cry, and I want to hit somebody. Quite simply -- if you are diving as part of a large group, you are, to all intents and purposes, diving alone. No one has taken responsibility for knowing where you are. No one is YOUR buddy. You may not be able to get anyone's attention if you are in trouble, as this woman obviously couldn't.
At the risk of sounding an incredible zealot, I am SO glad I dive in a world where "team" is a central concept. The dive can go hang, if necessary, to make sure the team is okay. The commitment is REAL, and it is honored in the observance.
Please, especially you new divers . . . don't dive in groups. Always insist that one person step up and accept the role of being YOUR buddy. Make sure that person knows you are new, and you may bear watching.
No one should die diving, but by God, no one on earth should die alone in the water, unless they deliberately went there that way.
I read this and I want to cry, and I want to hit somebody. Quite simply -- if you are diving as part of a large group, you are, to all intents and purposes, diving alone. No one has taken responsibility for knowing where you are. No one is YOUR buddy. You may not be able to get anyone's attention if you are in trouble, as this woman obviously couldn't.
At the risk of sounding an incredible zealot, I am SO glad I dive in a world where "team" is a central concept. The dive can go hang, if necessary, to make sure the team is okay. The commitment is REAL, and it is honored in the observance.
Please, especially you new divers . . . don't dive in groups. Always insist that one person step up and accept the role of being YOUR buddy. Make sure that person knows you are new, and you may bear watching.
No one should die diving, but by God, no one on earth should die alone in the water, unless they deliberately went there that way.
K
KeithG
Guest
Agreed.
As a vacation diver I get to witness the start of a large number of group / cluster dives (we swim the other way...). From my casual observation formal buddy pairs are not the norm when group diving in this context. It appears to be a group led by a single dive Jedi. The flock of divers seem to defer to the Jedi. These are often dive club / dive shop trips.
Seems like "trust me" often over powers divebuddy training when new divers are taken out by a Jedi?
When leading or participating in a dive, I get groups to agree to buddy pairs even if they are essentially diving as a larger group. You can go as 4 or 6 divers, but everyone has one exact person that is their buddy and who they must not loose, they are not responsible and do not need to monitor the entire group, but their buddy = yes. It's also agreed that buddy groups can break off at any point so we don't get the communications nightmare and waste of time involved in agreeing what to do or worrying about what other people are doing.
Experienced divers can dive in groups of 3, esp. when the divers are used to being a 3-person group this works just fine. Any larger group is at the base level composed of 2- (or occasionally 3-person) groups, even for tech dives.
BTW newer divers: when diving- with your buddy- as part of a larger group, think in advance about how to be recognizable. A colorful head scarf over your hood? Colored duct tape around your rental tank? Painted initials or (best) reflective tape on your fin bottoms? Think about what you could do.
I might dive in buddy pairs but I have commited the occasional unintended "partner swap".
Experienced divers can dive in groups of 3, esp. when the divers are used to being a 3-person group this works just fine. Any larger group is at the base level composed of 2- (or occasionally 3-person) groups, even for tech dives.
BTW newer divers: when diving- with your buddy- as part of a larger group, think in advance about how to be recognizable. A colorful head scarf over your hood? Colored duct tape around your rental tank? Painted initials or (best) reflective tape on your fin bottoms? Think about what you could do.
I might dive in buddy pairs but I have commited the occasional unintended "partner swap".
Bob DBF
Contributor
Although buddy diving may be taught, I have seen a lot of "follow the instructor" line diving with divers in twos, but each individual focusing on the instructor rather than their buddy. They all believe the instructor is their buddy and will keep them safe. This mindset continues with guided dives until an incident, if lucky it is just a good scare rather than a fatality; then the diver gets better or quits.
Team diving is a good concept , but everyone involved has to understand how to be a part of the team. Buddy diving is simpler. Solo is more interesting as you are all of the team or both buddy's, figuring that out when separated from your mates is not conducive to clear thinking for a new diver.
Bob
-------------------------------
Sad
I note that she made it to the surface. Then went down. Possibly another case were dropping the weights might have made a difference.
I note that she made it to the surface. Then went down. Possibly another case were dropping the weights might have made a difference.
pancakes74
Registered
I was recently certified with the dive shop that was with this group. I have no idea who the dive leader was but I'm very shocked and saddened to hear that they were involved and that a life was lost. Our instructor was amazing and stressed the importance of always knowing where your buddy was. I will definitely be following this story for more details.
A later article with additional details.
Portland woman missing after scuba diving in Tacoma | OregonLive.com
Tragic
River digger
New
I am newly certified from Aquatic Sports with 14 dives, and I was part of the 9 divers in the group yesterday that suffered the tragedy of losing one of our own. I understand the "armchair quarterbacking" that happens in every discussion as we all look for answers as to why. Some terrible comments have been put out there about what happened with a lot of speculation and even recrimination. You have been getting your news from the press, who interviewed a couple of non-divers who were hanging out at
a picnic table. They did see her flail her arms and hear her calls for help, but any conclusions should not be formed completely from non-divers, as their perceptions of the true events may be uninformed, uneducated or reckless.
Please, for the sake of the family of this lovely lady, wait to discuss any opinions and recriminations until the investigation is concluded and the true story is made clear.
Thank you.
a picnic table. They did see her flail her arms and hear her calls for help, but any conclusions should not be formed completely from non-divers, as their perceptions of the true events may be uninformed, uneducated or reckless.
Please, for the sake of the family of this lovely lady, wait to discuss any opinions and recriminations until the investigation is concluded and the true story is made clear.
Thank you.
This is the appropriate forum for discussions of this type. There is another forum for the family (condolences).
There isn't likely to be much news regarding the conclusions of any investigations unless it was a health related event and then more info might come from the coroner's office.
It's legitimate to offer opinions such as it's preferable not to have new divers gaining experience in group settings.
Given the nature of the scuba business these things just happen from time to time.
They are generally preventable but again, given the nature of the business, this type of thing is likely to happen sometimes.
New divers panic and drown sometimes. It's much easier to happen in a group.
The main thing that stands out in this case is just that the divers were new, were in a group and there weren't enough experienced divers involved to prevent one new diver from becoming "missing".
There isn't likely to be much news regarding the conclusions of any investigations unless it was a health related event and then more info might come from the coroner's office.
It's legitimate to offer opinions such as it's preferable not to have new divers gaining experience in group settings.
Given the nature of the scuba business these things just happen from time to time.
They are generally preventable but again, given the nature of the business, this type of thing is likely to happen sometimes.
New divers panic and drown sometimes. It's much easier to happen in a group.
The main thing that stands out in this case is just that the divers were new, were in a group and there weren't enough experienced divers involved to prevent one new diver from becoming "missing".
Last edited:
Similar threads
