California Diver found trapped in kelp dies

[DandyDon]

Diver found trapped in kelp dies | beach, kelp, laguna - News - The Orange County Register

LAGUNA BEACH – A San Clemente diver was declared dead Thursday night shortly after rescuers found him tangled in kelp and without a pulse in the ocean off Laguna Beach.

Authorities have not identified the man, who is believed to be in his 40s. He had gotten off work early on Thursday and told a friend that he was going to spearfish in Divers Cove, Laguna Beach Chief of Marine Safety Kevin Snow said.

The man's family grew worried when he hadn't returned by 5:30 p.m. Family members went searching for him and found his car parked at Divers Cove with his free-diving equipment missing, Orange County Sheriff's Department Lt. Lloyd Downing said.

Night-diving experts from Laguna Beach lifeguards searched the water, aided by Harbor Patrol vessels and a Sheriff's Department helicopter. A Harbor Patrol boat found the man tangled in kelp about 200 yards from shore just before 10:30 p.m., Snow said.

The man was in cardiac arrest when he was found. Rescuers performed CPR in the boat and on land before taking him to Mission Hospital, where he was declared dead.

 

[Teamcasa]

From:Diver found trapped in kelp dies | beach, kelp, laguna - News - The Orange County Register

The man's family grew worried when he hadn't returned by 5:30 p.m. Family members went searching for him and found his car parked at Divers Cove with his free-diving equipment missing, Orange County Sheriff's Department Lt. Lloyd Downing said.

Sad.

 

[Dack]

Free diving + found by a boat, I'm assuming this implies he was tangled in kelp relatively close to the surface.

 

[freewillie]

An email from my local dive club indicates he was found tangled in the kelp. I have not been able to talk to anyone yet regarding the specifics, although I bet it will dominate the talk in the morning when we meet tomorrow.

Local news channel ABC apparently reported it as a scuba diver, but our e mail stated it was a free diver.

We dove this site about two weeks ago. It is a relatively shallow dive, generally not more than 25 feet. Due to the cold water we have had quite a bit of kelp growing and can be quite thick in places. I also noted when I was diving last time around tide change there was a significant amount of surge during my last dive.

condolneces to the family, always sad to hear.

 

[Whitewatermike]

Dove Heisler a few weeks ago. The kelp was so thick in places that a direct ascent to the surface could have been difficult. I'm not speculating that this was the case here, nor am I speculating on his experience, however, divers (scuba and free) should consider the thickness of the canopy when diving the kelp here. I've been diving kelp for 27 year and I thought twice about entering some spots of the forest there.

 

[DandyDon]

Some more info in followup story...

Local Diver Dies in Kelp Bed | Laguna Beach Independent Newspaper, The "Indy" - Laguna Beach News

An experienced diver, determined to spear a fish while free diving alone after working half-day, was discovered underwater in kelp off one of Laguna Beach’s most popular dive spots on Thursday, May 26, according to authorities and the diver’s wife.

Andrew Brislen, 40, of San Clemente, either became entangled in kelp or blacked out holding his breath underwater, figures his wife, Michelle, who along with her husband was certified for scuba diving in Australia in 2003. She was Brislen’s usual dive buddy.

The exact cause of death is still pending, the coroner’s office said Friday.

Mrs. Brislen reported her husband missing about 9 p.m. after returning home from a school open house and finding dive weights set out and a mask and wetsuit gone. Her own dive gear, including the knife that she routinely carried when the couple dove together, was already packed away in preparation for a weekend dive trip out-of-town with her brother. “If I had had it all out, he probably would have taken it,” she said, of the knife that could be used to cut kelp.

Her husband worked in Laguna Beach as an architectural draftsman for Gregg Abel. From a co-worker, she learned her husband had left work Thursday at 1 p.m. heading for the water either to swim or dive. “That’s totally him,” she said of her husband, who swam frequently, including the Emerald Bay-to-Ritz-Carlton ocean Aquathon last October. He planned to compete in another ocean swim race next weekend, she said.

In the last two years, her husband made dozens of dives and was very familiar with the resurgent kelp beds at Crescent Bay and Shaw’s Cove and had mapped out areas where fishing is restricted around Heisler Park. He made a free dive recently from a kayak at Dana Point’s Strands Beach and last dived in Heisler Park during the April 22 kelp festival, where the couple volunteered for a nonprofit that collects fish surveys compiled by divers.

After reporting her husband’s absence to sheriff’s deputies, Mrs. Brislen started hunting on her own for his car at several of his favorite dive spots before learning that Laguna police spotted the white early 1990s Volvo parked near Diver’s Cove. Inside was the empty container for a Hawaiian sling spear gun and an ice-filled cooler ready for the catch. “He was determined to get a fish,” Mrs. Brislen guessed. “He got skunked on lobster season.”

By the time she arrived, rescue personnel had swarmed the area and a helicopter’s spolight was illuminating the kelp beds. “I just knew that’s where he was,” she said.

The diver, found at Picnic Beach, had no pulse and CPR was performed from the point of rescue, lifeguards said. Laguna Beach firefighter-paramedics continued to try to revive him as he was transported to the beach and to Mission Hospital. “He’d been deceased for awhile,” Mrs. Brislen said she was told.

“Any cause of death is speculation at this point,” said Marine Safety Chief Kevin Snow.

A sheriff’s department fireboat, which responded from Newport Harbor, spotted the body about 200 yards off Picnic Beach in water 30 feet deep. Divers with Laguna Beach lifeguards recovered the body, which was only a few feet below the surface, tangled in kelp, according to Snow. Seven lifeguards were on scene, in addition to firefighters and police, searching the water with divers, paddlers, a boat and a sheriff’s helicopter.

Lifeguards, who were in the water within eight minutes of the call to Laguna Beach dispatch, deployed a dive team in an in-line search, said Snow. “We were going to go from the rocks at the north side of Diver’s Cove all the way to Bird Rock. We had people on land, swimmers in the surf line, paddlers outside the surfline, boats beyond that and a helicopter above,” said Snow.

In addition to water sports, Brislen’s wife said he intended to pursue his architectural license once she found another permanent teaching position. The couple have two girls.

Brislen’s mother, Dee, a longtime teacher at Laguna Beach High School who became a cancer-research advocate in retirement, died last October. His father, Andrew Jackson Brislen III, resides in Laguna Niguel.

 

[fisheater]

Can't imagine the horror of breath hold diving and being trapped a few inches from the surface.

 

[DandyDon]

Can't imagine the horror of breath hold diving and being trapped a few inches from the surface.

First, don't fall for panic. Work your way out. Kelp is easy to break. Yeah, all that is easy to say, and easy enough to do with scuba, but on the end of a free dive - maybe not so easy.

Shallow water blackout would also be a significant risk and possibility here, and we will never know I guess.

 

[khblair]

very very sad. my condolences to his family and friends

 

[Mayki]

What a sad news. *