Diver in Distress

Tonight I had a kindof scary experience. I went out for an evening club dive and buddied up with a diver that I certified with & his newly certified wife. As we entered I decided to abort because my drysuit was leaking & I didn't feel like the long surface swim were about to embark on would be worth it becuase viz was 5-10' at best and I didn't want to be the third diver. My buddies carried on without me. I played in the shallow end with my suit trying to find the leak for about 10 minutes then I dismanteled my rig and waited for the divers to return.

After about 15 minutes I saw a diver break the surface alone and do a surface dive, complete with split-fins in the air. I signalled an OK, but he was gone before he could see it. After another minute or so the diver was back at the surface waving frantically and yelling for help. 911 was called and the rescue boats & aid cars came within 5 minutes. At about the same time the distressed diver's buddy surfaced. It seems that the couple was seperated. The husband surfaced immediately after he realized he was alone. The wife decided that she had to do her 3 minute safety stop, hence her delay in surfacing. I think we can agree on the problem with that .

MY question is... What are you supposed to do if you are on the beach? I was already out of my gear, though I would have put it back on & swam out to help if I was the only person on the beach. There were three other divers who had just exited who did swim out. I haven't completed a rescue class yet, though I will. I fealt like I should have been doing something.

-kate

Question: did you call 911? If so, you did do something. Even if you are not trained to do a rescue, you can do something that is invaluable: get to a high place that is in view of the subject and stay there watching. This is called "spotting," an invaluable person in a rescue situation. You'll be able to keep an eye on what is going an and offer an eagle eye if the need should arise. Furthermore, I want to emphasize that the Rescue course that you'll take is a great introduction and shows you how to control a scene, take action, and effect a rescue. However, if the scenario is beyond your personal capabilities, it's best left to professionals who have hundreds, if not thousands, of hours training for just that one thing: search and rescue.

I would highly recommend taking the Rescue course; you'll be a better buddy and better diver after doing so. You'll learn how to prevent problems from happening and "cleaning up" after they do happen.

Safe diving....

what jms said

no matter how much you prepare you cant control things 100%


jms- is that u leakyfin boy?

Hi Scubakat:

My perspective comes from being an emergency services professional.

You can be of great service to the casualty(s) & responding emerg. personnel by remaining on the line with the 911 operator as events unfold & give updates as necessary.

You can retrieve your club's 1st aid & O2 kits & have them standing by.

You can use a signaling device (flashlight/whistle) to assist rescuers to your location upon their arrival.

You can "not rush in". Too many good-intentioned people end up casualties themselves when they act first-think later.

You can offer your assistance to emerg. personnel on their arrival. Often there are a multitude of tasks to be done very quickly & you may be asked to assist, if necessary.

Regards,
D.S.D.

In a situation like that, you have to first stop & think - you didn't panic, but weighed up the situation, made an assessment and acted on it.

What you did right:

1. Didn't panic
2. Kept an eye on those who were still in the water
3. Decided not to kit up (with faulty gear!) and become another victim.

It's natural to feel that there was something else you could have done but you did exactly what you should have. Well done!!

And get on the Rescue course ASAP - its the best course you'll ever do.

Bang on Heads Up. Kate you did what you could have and should have. Helped the situation from becoming something worse.

Pat yourself on the back, and when you're ready, do take the Rescue course. With that, you'll know you did the right actions.

Hi all, thanks for your feedback. I didn't call 911 myself, but instructed someone who had a phone to do it. I decided I was not getting in the water. Then I went to make sure that the ferry staff (the underwater park is 150' from a ferry landing) was aware of the situation and tried to help id divers from the ferry dock. It's good to know that I did the right thing by not getting in the water. I will be taking the rescue course (YMCA SLAM) the next time it's offered (July or August I think).

-kate

Someone has to write an incident report,recording what happened,who was involved and what action was taken.This can be invaluable to rescue services and also the investigating services if it gets more serious.The truth is that we,by nature,rarely react to stressful situations like we think we should and sometimes feel inadequate and guilty for not acting like a 'television professional'.True rescue professionals train,train,train because the 'flight or flight' reaction which you should have had mentioned to you when you did your training is difficult to overcome.That's why they train over and over again to make their reactions second nature.Many peoples minds go blank.The key thing is that you didn't panic and you did the appropriate thing by calling the rescue professionals,who,I know would prefer to go to a situation like yours then a injured or missing diver
scenario.If your concerned then get an action plan with your regular divers and practice what to do.
I will be in Vancouver in late September.What's the diving like in your area?
Regards Gasman

If it's Vancouver BC you are in for a treat. I am going on a live-aboard up there (Port Hardy) the first week of October. I'm told that 100+ feet of visibility wouldn't be unusual. Take a look at these photos to get an idea of the life we have here in "the cold, dark, northwest" . Anyway, the short version is that the diving here most of the time is great. I don't think we have quite as much cool stuff here in the puget sound as there is in BC. I'm still new at it, but I'm told that winter is the best for visibility.

Let me know when you are coming & I'll put together a few dives if you have time! (and your kiwi hide can handle the cold water)

-kate

well I have ONE dive left before I can enter the Rescue Diver (PADI) and after reading the replies I, when the shop opens in the morning, am going to bug the heck out of my instructor to get my AOW finished now.