Almost made it to the Darwin list

[ctsibos]

I have been a member of this forum for a while now, im fairly new to scuba diving although I ve been freediving/spearfishing since I was young. I do feel I should share my experience on what probably would have been the stupidest accident ever.

The following happened to me during my last dive of OW training.
All my dives were on the same beach and all involved walking up to a flat rock which was pretty level with the water and diving in/out from there. the first 2 dives were on really calm seas. On the thrid dive the sea was rough plenty of waves/surf. upon exiting the 3rd dive I saw my DM do something really cool. He let the surf take him to the rock, he pulled his legs up and sort of jumped up on the rock. when the surf retreated he was standing on the rock.... Glorious. I thought I'ld do the same and did so successfully. Strong surf got me to the rock, I pull my feet up, when surf left I was standing there, pretty cool. On the 4th dive seas were even rougher and the dive was pretty bad since low vis and current. I couldnt wait to get out of the water. upon exiting the dive I saw my DM do the same cool trick so not to be outdone, I copied.

this time though things didnt went to plan. i got up to the rock alright but the exiting surf draged my feet back in the water.that had as an immediate effect of slamming my head/hips/elbows/knees and anything else that stuck out on the rock. needless to say I was in sheer agony but that was the least of my problems. soon realised that reg wasnt in my mouth and I was one fin short. Chocked and caughed a bit. Mind went to overdrive (thankfully didnt panic, I was probably too embarassed to allow myself to panic) and was ready to dump weights but to my rescue came the next surf which took me again close to the rock and I got hold of DMs hand who pulled me out like a pile of dead weight.


moral... dont copy other peoples actions..... aerobatics have no place at sea.


I hope that my story will help people avoid doing the same mistake I did.

[REII]

Ouch! I'll bet you won't do that again.

I am glad you are ok.

TOM

[smokey braden]

ctsibos,
welcome to this board.
don't beat yourself up.
you have plenty of time.

[Darnold9999]

Reminds me of something my last instructor said.

"Most accidents happen on entry and exit."

I find that I am most vulnerable on exit - the dive is over, my attention is on other things. I now keep my reg in my mouth if there is any possibilty of falling back into the water no matter how remote. Just becomes a habit - mask can come off, but reg stays in. I can deal with just about anything with no mask, but no air is a little trickier;)

[rookers]

Rock landings are something that needs practice. I practiced them a ton in Monterrey in the mid-70s, mostly with just snorkeling gear on. One eventually gets pretty good at them.

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

Billy Crystal, in his character "Fernando" (an old Saturday Night Live bit), used to say "It is better to look good than to feel good":crafty: ...sometimes we have to make sacrifices to look cool, just so long as it doesn't kill someone. Along the same line:

You know you're a redneck when... you have at least one relative who died after yelling "hey everybody, watch this!" (Jeff Foxworthy):D

You survived to dive another day; like flying, diving is a pass/fail course.

[Fuzzmutton]

Along the same line:

You know you're a redneck when... you have at least one relative who died after yelling "hey everybody, watch this!" (Jeff Foxworthy):D



Umm....actually Shakey, my cousin went that way and resent what you're inferring by quoting Mr. Foxworthy:no (hee hee)

BUT, I digress...ctsibos, stories like this are wonderful because if you have a sense of humor you are able to laugh at them someday. And they make great stories for the g-children. If you survive the experience, that is:D

[lifeisfullofgooddives]

hey al least you did it once succesfully!

But seriously, I always try an avoid these types of things...as far as I am concerned there are enough non-messing around ways for me to die/get hurt diving....I don't need to up the odds against myself anymore!

Glad you are ok...

[Scuba Jerm]

that had to suck! glad to hear you're ok.

[The Kraken]

ctsibos . . .
. . . a hearty "Welcome" to the ScubaBoard.

Well, I'm happy to hear that you aren't too much worse for wear.

I guess I need not belabor the point that surf and rocks don't mix for divers.

Most people are very unaware of the dynamics that occur in the surf in the presence of rock outcroppings.

One can get very hurt very quickly.

Want to hear some good stories about water and rocks, chat with one of our advisors, OE2X, about what it's like to flush through a class 5 whitewater rapid without benefit of kayak!!!

Glad you made it out.

Safe dives . . . . . .
. . . safer ascents !

the K

[dumpsterDiver]

Glad you are ok.

This reminds me of some snorkeling I did with my wife on our honeymoon in Nova Scotia. The seas were too rough to think about entering or existing with scuba gear so we went snorkeling. We had fun snorkeling and even played with the tourists at this scenic light house point by opening a lost lobster trap at 30 feet and throwing two live cod fish up on the rocks (I was telling that there were so many fish swimming around down there that I could just catch them with my 7 mm mittens).

When it was time to exist, I had trouble finding a good exit. It is much easier to jump off a rock into a receding wave than to make an exit without getting bashed into the rocks, especially when the visibility is about zero due to the foam and bubbles. I found a decent rock, timed a swell and hoped up on a rock which was about 4-5 feet above sea level between waves. (The seaward face of this rock was nearly vertical).

I stood up and told my new bride to wait for a wave and do the same thing I did, sorta like a belly slide and then a leap which needs to be timed perectly with the wave sets. What I hadn't noticed from my rocky perch, was that behind me, on the landward side of the flat rock I was standing on, the edge just fell away about 4 feet down into a giant crack about 8 feet long and 2-2.5 feet wide.

Within less than a minute she selected a big wave and attempted the exist manuever. However the wave she rode (sorta like a body surf) was larger than the one I had used and she washed up on the rock, but before I could grab her, the wave (which was about 18 inches deep on top of the rock) just carried her right over the rock and washed her head first into the large crack that was on the landward side of the "platform" rock upon which I stood. She completely disappeared! Not even her fins were sticking out and the crack was completely filled with foam and bubbles and surging water.

I had no idea how deep the crack was, but it was obviously not shallow. I'll never forget that my immediate thoughts were directed at how pissed her mom would be for killing her on the honeymoon. My next thoughts were about how I feared that she had smashed her face and might now be very forcibly wedged headfirst deep into this crevice and might be really stuck. Remember this is 44 degree water and she was holding her breath.

I thought about jumping into the swirling, foam covered crevice and try to feel around for her body, but decided that I should try to use my training to think before I acted. I waited about 10 or 15 seconds for the bubbles to clear a little and then she miraculously popped up, head first and laughing! I grabbed her arm and practically threw her up on the rock with me. All she could say was "did you see that?"

Apparently she never became completely disoriented and the crack opened up enough for her to completely turn around and just swim up when the wave stopped rushing over the rock and into the "crack".

[1_T_Submariner]

ctsibos...Thanks for sharing the story....I'll remember not to try something like that.

[smatterchu]

Glad you are ok.

This reminds me of some snorkeling I did with my wife on our honeymoon in Nova Scotia. (snip)

I thought about jumping into the swirling, foam covered crevice and try to feel around for her body, but decided that I should try to use my training to think before I acted. I waited about 10 or 15 seconds for the bubbles to clear a little and then she miraculously popped up, head first and laughing! I grabbed her arm and practically threw her up on the rock with me. All she could say was "did you see that?"

Apparently she never became completely disoriented and the crack opened up enough for her to completely turn around and just swim up when the wave stopped rushing over the rock and into the "crack".

:eek: Wow, what a honeymoon....so glad it turned out just a great story....whew!

[smatterchu]

ctsibos, love your description of what happened.... Just curious, did your DM say anything?? :popcorn:

[adza]

I hope that my story will help people avoid doing the same mistake I did.
Avoid?!!? I haven't even thought of exiting that way - cool... I'll have to go try it out. Thanks for the idea! ;)

[Geoff_H]

I can share something pretty embarrassing I did in Truk... most people do a giant stride entry off the back of the boat. One of the local DM's did a pretty cool forward diving jump, bent in mid air and kind of dived in.

First principle of diving is to look cool, so I thought I'd copy. Unfortunately the execution was a little lacking, so I smashed face first into the water, ripped my mask off and separated my regulator from it's little rubber mouthpiece.

The mouthpiece remained in my mouth, so when I surfaced I was sucking on it while my regulator floated behind me.... needless to say this caused no end of amusement to the assembled dive crew and my diving buddies.

One day I will attempt this again, but only when nobody is looking...... :eyebrow:

[ShakaZulu]

I had a buddy who got really hurt at a rock entry point. Didn't put his fins on when he jumped in and then the waves proceeded to beat him up. This could have ended very differently, be safe.....

[ctsibos]

Hi everyone,

thanks for your warm "welcome". I hope the story has been both entertaining and educational :)


Smatterchu
DM didnt really say much he just offered a smile for the predicament I found myself in. Probably he wanted to burst out laughing but couldnt bring himself to do so since I was there too :)


take care

[Hemlon]

Wow...I'm glad you're ok!

[rawls]

You know you're a redneck when... you have at least one relative who died after yelling "hey everybody, watch this!" (Jeff Foxworthy)

:rofl3:

Like another poster said...don't beat yourself up too bad. Your willingness to write about that experience and put yourself out there like that tells me you will be a great diver...

[pupdiver]

Wow! Glad you came out ok.

I am surprised the DM did something like that. He should know that students will try to copy him.

[sEANx32]

Wow! Glad you came out ok.

I am surprised the DM did something like that. He should know that students will try to copy him.

I was just about to say the same thing.

This story reminds me of the entry/exit over at Casino Point on Catalina Island. It's a set of steps which are awesome at high tide, but the rocks at the bottom SUCK at low tide. I started to get a cool sitting entry figured out. But it but me in the bum on the next to the last dive when I got stuck on the last step.

Anyway, I've learned that others watch your every move, and that entry's/exits are part of the dive too.

Thanks for sharing.

[TrickyRicky]

One day I will attempt this again, but only when nobody is looking...... :eyebrow:

I like your style!

[WarrenZ]

I will have to try that if the opportunity presents itself.

Just remember what doesn’t kill you makes a great story

[jeffrey-c]

Hey, each recreational activity has those little "cool" tricks to do. Golfers bouncing the ball repeatedly off the clubface, spinning rackets in tennis, baseball players bouncing the bat off home plate, basketball players spinning balls on their fingers.....these are all the little things that separate us from the primates. But the key is to learn them AFTER you become proficient in the sport. Glad you're OK!

[spcoun]

That reminds me of the time I dove Monastery Beach, North end, in Carmel CA. It turned ugly one day after dive #2. While doing the Monastery crawl out, thinking I was out of the surf zone, (NOT). Then all of the sudden I was Picked up by a large wave, to keep from tumbling over I piked my butt into the air , use my elbows as sand skids and elbow surfed up out of the surf zone (kept reg in mouth) and then crawled like crazy to dry sand. After I thought about the day and the close call during that exit, came up with 2 new rules to dive Monastery.

Rule #1 Don't dive here if your the only car in the parking area.
Rule #2 Strongest diver should be the last in and first out to help out other divers as they enter or exit the surfzone, if needed. (conditions change quickly)

[Cacia]

oh yea...and #3 Bungeed reg.

When you are being tossed about and upside down, nothing beats knowing the air is right there.

[ianw2]

This story reminds me of the entry/exit over at Casino Point on Catalina Island. It's a set of steps which are awesome at high tide, but the rocks at the bottom SUCK at low tide.

Roger that, Sean!

A few weeks ago, I somehow managed to get tossed up on the northerly of the two rocks by a wave. It didn't take me over the rock, it just left me smack on top like a beached whale. :D

I had to wait for the next wave to wash me off. All the time, I was thinking, "OK. This next wave is going to plant me face first into the bottom step!":no

Fortunately, I managed to swim right up on the step, flip around, stand up and get hold of the rail before going back in.

The guy behind me just about died laughing, though.