Diver fatality

I read where a diver drowned this weekend of the channel islands. The boat was the Spectre and it was his forth dive. I think the Spectre is a great boat with a great crew and they shoot for 4 dives in one day. I'm not sure what caused the drowning and wonder if the 4th dive played a factor.

My question is whether or not 4 dives in one day is pushing it. I'm in pretty good shape and always try to do the forth dive even though I'm pretty tired by that point.

My question is "Is four dives too many in one day"

Murphdog once bubbled...
I read where a diver drowned this weekend of the channel islands. The boat was the Spectre and it was his forth dive. I think the Spectre is a great boat with a great crew and they shoot for 4 dives in one day. I'm not sure what caused the drowning and wonder if the 4th dive played a factor.

My question is whether or not 4 dives in one day is pushing it. I'm in pretty good shape and always try to do the forth dive even though I'm pretty tired by that point.

My question is "Is four dives too many in one day"

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear...

As for the question, I've done as many as five dives in a day, two days in a row, followed by three the third day. Felt fine for all of them...It was a few months ago on a liveaboard to the channel islands on the Truth.

I think the answer to the question must be answered individually, taking into account the dive profiles and the conditions of the divers at the time of the dives.

4 dives in one day too many? Not if you follow a few simple rules.

a) Deepest dive is the first. (OK so I'm making this a little too simple)

b) Minimum surface interval of 60 minutes, 90 would be better.

c) Make your assents SLOW! This is the one item that will go a long ways towards reducing or even eliminating the "fatigue" you feel. When I mean slow, I'm talking about taking 1 minute to go from 33 feet to 15 feet, and at the end of your safety stop, take 1 minute to go to surface. It may seem like a long time, but if you practice this, you may swear that you've just done a dive on nitrox.

Hope this helps.

Dive Safe and Have fun!

Murphdog once bubbled...
IMy question is whether or not 4 dives in one day is pushing it. I'm in pretty good shape and always try to do the forth dive even though I'm pretty tired by that point.

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This is one of those questions where a lot of factors must come into play.

What you are really getting at is regarding pushing NDL limits, on a cumulative basis, taking into account residual nitrogen levels.

No one should push the NDL limits, whether on a single dive or cumulatively on repetitive dives. Pushing the limits can guarantee a trip to the hyperbaric chamber. And if you do not have a hyperbaric chamber on site, then you are risking your life during the interval from the beginning of a DCS event.

It seems perfectly possible to plan and execute 4 conservative dives and not push the NDL limits. You need:

1) safe conservative depths (shallower than 100 ft);

2) safe long surface intervals;

3) long relaxing safety stops at 20 to 15 ft;

4) nitrox;

5) strict avoidance of reverse profiles or spike dives;

6) excellent hydration.

If you are tired, that is a nonclinical sympton indicative of the possible onset of DCS. You probably should reduce your own number of repetitive dives, if you feel tired afterwards.

More salient would be the question, "For how many days in a row would it be safe to do 4 dives per day?" PADI has spent a lot of research effort, with their own customized dive tables, to try to determine an answer to that. I cannot speak for them. But I have wondered about that myself.

At most, I normally dive no more than 3 dives per day.

Murphdog once bubbled...
I read where a diver drowned this weekend of the channel islands. The boat was the Spectre and it was his forth dive. I think the Spectre is a great boat with a great crew and they shoot for 4 dives in one day. I'm not sure what caused the drowning and wonder if the 4th dive played a factor.

My question is whether or not 4 dives in one day is pushing it. I'm in pretty good shape and always try to do the forth dive even though I'm pretty tired by that point.

My question is "Is four dives too many in one day"

Click to expand...

I've done four dives when spearfishing and bug hunting but that is absoluetly pushing it and I've scolded myself for doing four dives in a day. I'm an excellent diver and great swimmer but four dives in a day is not recomended.

I'm sorry to hear of this death.

I do 3-4 dives per day on most weekend days and up to six dives in a day in temperate kelp forests. If I'm diving the tropics, it isn't unusual to get 5-6 dives in a day. Most dives involve a longer than normal "safety stop" since I come up into the shallows (15-25 ft) for the last 30-50% of the dive (usually included an intermediate "stop" at mid-depths).

Occasionally I'm tired afterwards but not fatigued. On weekends and during the summer I'm usually out on the town at night (although no alcohol... I drink water to keep hydrated. I'm goofy enough sober!).

It depends so much on your physical shape and on your body's metabolism. I'm in my mid-50's but in good shape. I've noticed twenty-somethings exhausted after their first dive. For that reason I never question if a person does one or six dives as long as they appear to be in shape and follow recommended dive methods.

Dr. Bill

Murphdog once bubbled...
I read where a diver drowned this weekend of the channel islands. The boat was the Spectre and it was his forth dive. I think the Spectre is a great boat with a great crew and they shoot for 4 dives in one day. I'm not sure what caused the drowning and wonder if the 4th dive played a factor.

My question is whether or not 4 dives in one day is pushing it. I'm in pretty good shape and always try to do the forth dive even though I'm pretty tired by that point.

My question is "Is four dives too many in one day"

Click to expand...

We don't know what the other factors were involving the unfortunate victim.

That said, 4 or 5 dives a day are not unusual, unreasonable, or unsafe.

The key to this is the ascent rate and stops-especially the deep stops. If you off-gas properly, then everything else falls into place.

detroit diver once bubbled...
That said, 4 or 5 dives a day are not unusual, unreasonable, or unsafe.

The key to this is the ascent rate and stops-especially the deep stops. If you off-gas properly, then everything else falls into place.

Click to expand...

I mostly agree but you question can't be answered in a simple yes or no.

I frequently do 4 or more dives a day, especially while on a dive trip. But alot depends on the conditions and dive profiles. As already suggested the deepest dive is usually done first, but not always. There are deep stops along the way, long surface intervals and all ascents are boringly slow. Of course the more challenging the dive, ie currents, shore entries, cold water, etc. the lesser chance of doing more than 3 to 4 a day. You have to be brutally honest with how you feel and quit when you start feeling fatigue. Nitrox helps me alot.

It depends...

If you use the RDP, as I understand it, it is designed for divers who dive occasionally, not really in mind for repetative and multiday.

So, if you are working and diving regularly, then it's not really advisable to exceed 2 a day as you are slowly building up N2 in your body otherwise.

Would like to know what went wrong that caused the fatality, anyone know yet???

I'm a novice diver and far from an expert on this subject, but I recently did a Flower Gardens trip, where you did 8 dives in about 30 hours, all between 70' and 100' and around 30-35 minutes each, 5 dives on day 1, and 3 dives on day 2. They imposed a minimum 2 hour surface interval between dives, time starts when last diver leaves the water. Day 1 with 5 dives made for an early start and late finish, but at no time did I feel uncomfortable with amount of diving nor did I ever move out of the green on my TLBG. A few divers skipped a dive as they were feeling tired (8 hr over night boat ride preventing many from getting a good nights sleep), but everyone was comfortable with their dive profiles and appreciated the minimum 2 hour SI.

Interestingly, I saw no one apart from myself do more than the minimum 3 minute safety stop, some possibly even less. I aimed for 5 minutes minimum and added a half way 1 minute stop also. The extra air it used and time taken were neglible in comparison to the total dive time.

In my limited experience, I would think that, four dives in a day with the right SI, good stops, and calling it a day if you are tired etc is okay. But I think you really have to look at it on an individual basis.