Seattle Water Taxi crew rescues scuba diver

[DandyDon]

Water Taxi crew rescues scuba diver | Seattle 911 — A Police and Crime Blog - seattlepi.com

King County Water Taxi crew members rescued a scuba diver in distress Tuesday shortly after pulling away from the Seacrest Dock in West Seattle, the county’s transportation department reports.

The Rachel Marie had just embarked on its 11 a.m. sailing for downtown Seattle when the crew spotted the diver in trouble.

The diver was taken to a hospital. His condition is unknown. A county news release explains how the rescue unfolded:

The boat captain, Neal Amaral, maneuvered the vessel close to the diver as he called for assistance over the radio. Crew member Aaron Barnett, quickly dressed in an onboard rescue suit, jumped into the water, and assisted the diver. Barnett was in the water for about 10 minutes while the diver was maneuvered into a sling.

“We knew what we had to do when we saw him. There was no other option,” said Barnett, the deckhand who dove into the water to assist the diver. “We all worked together as a team. I just happened to be the one who went in the water, but the whole crew pulled together to help him. I’m just glad we saw him, and we hope he’s okay.”

The Seattle Port Police responded to the radio call in their vessel, and they, along with the Coast Guard, were able to get the diver to land and to the hospital for medical care. His condition is unknown at this time.
​

“This rescue is yet another example of our county employees’ deep commitment to public service and their instinct to go beyond the call of duty,” county Executive Dow Constantine said in a statement. “I thank the crew of the Rachel Marie for their good work, and I wish the diver a speedy recovery.”

 

[TSandM]

The diver is still in critical condition, although he improved enough to be recompressed. His computer showed a max depth of 213 feet, and he omitted 46 minutes of decompression. We don't know why.

 

[fjpatrum]

Was he found alone? I didn't see any mention of a buddy anywhere. Anyone have other links?

 

[dlndavid]

More on it here if you can get by the stench.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/pu...out-bashing-unionized-government-workers.html

 

[mselenaous]

More on it here if you get get by the stench.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/pu...out-bashing-unionized-government-workers.html

That is a private un-moderated opt-in forum.

 

[Peter Guy]

As of last report he is alive and still in an induced coma.

He is a long-time solo diver and was diving solo.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Some details ... since this diver is someone I know, I've been following his situation.

The diver's name is Kirby. He's a retired fire fighter who took up diving about seven years ago and has developed a passion for deep solo diving. Kirby is a very experienced diver ... although his approach to diving is not what most would consider conventional from a risk perspective. He dives air ... sometimes in excess of 300 feet. He often dives below 200 feet without a dive buddy. Kirby uses double steel 100's and deco gasses that I have a hard time understanding. I've known Kirby almost since he started diving, and although I don't agree with his diving choices, he's an easy person to like. A lot of us were aware of the dives he was doing, and worried that sooner or later it would catch up to him.

I saw Kirby about a week ago at the dive site where the accident occurred. He was excited about something he'd spotted down at about 215 fsw ... I think he said it was a ship's bell. Given the similarity in depth, I suspect he was down there looking to find it again when the accident occurred. What we know is that his tanks were empty ... and from the profile on his dive computer it appears he ran out of air coming back up at around 165 feet. From there he made a rapid ascent to about 30 feet, where he stopped to deploy a deco bottle. Shortly thereafter he surfaced ... with about 45 minutes of deco obligation remaining.

Kirby is in a coma ... he had no dive buddy ... so there's no one to fill in the gaps. Running out of air that deep is extremely serious ... particularly for a solo diver. Blowing off that much deco is extremely serious. No one knows why he didn't deploy his deeper mix sooner, and make a slower ascent. Kirby was not uneducated. He did these dives often ... usually alone ... and he had the knowledge to do them much differently than this one was apparently conducted.

As Lynne said, he looks to be improving. We're all pulling for him. With any luck he'll eventually be able to fill us in on what happened and why ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

More on it here if you can get by the stench.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/pu...out-bashing-unionized-government-workers.html

What stench? ... I showered this morning ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Crush]

If he was trying to pry loose a ship's bell at 215 fsw on air I can see how: (1) his surface estimate of how long it would take to free it would in no way reflect the actual time to complete the task when narc'd; and (2) while narc'd and occupied by the task at hand he might have lost track of time. I hope he gets better.

Was Kirby boastful about his dive behaviour, or did he just do things his own way?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

If he was trying to pry loose a ship's bell at 215 fsw on air I can see how: (1) his surface estimate of how long it would take to free it would in no way reflect the actual time to complete the task when narc'd; and (2) while narc'd and occupied by the task at hand he might have lost track of time. I hope he gets better.

Was Kirby boastful about his dive behaviour, or did he just do things his own way?

I've never known Kirby to boast about anything ... he just loves to dive, and has his own way of going about it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)