Diver drifts 3 miles

[Scott L]

His second screw up. If he couldn't swim against the current a minute ago, why does he think he can now swim against it?

Unfounded faith that split fins will function in heavy current.

 

[SeaLevelScuba]

It wouldn't have mattered in this case if they'd watched him or not. He did almost everything wrong on entry, including taking an action that would cause the crew to think he was correcting his mistake.

Funny Walter I don't remember you being there to make such a careless statement. His mistake was not having the line in his hand before he jumped in the water, by the time he completed his giant stride and returned to the surface he was already out of reach.

I hate that term. It is not a line for grannys, it is a line for everyone, including big strong men. The proper term is tag line.

I don't think anyone really cares what you like and dislike, the term the boat used on the dive was a granny line, had you been there you would understand where the term came into play here.

He didn't grab the tag line. When diving in current the first thing a diver does is grab the tag line. If the current is really strong, divers should grab the tag line as they enter the water. He missed the tag line, his first screw up.

I think if anyone on the boat had any idea how strong the current was prior to the diver entering the water the dive would have been scrubbed. The miss of the line came because he did not grab it before entering the water.

He grabbed the current line. Exactly as he should have done. If the crew was watching him (I would have been in strong current) they would see the potential emergency was over. He is no longer drifting, he's now attached to the boat. He can now pull himself up the current line to the tag line and continue his dive. If the current is too strong, he can pull himself back to the boat and abort the dive. If the current is too strong for him to make it back to the boat, the crew can use the current line to pull him back to the boat. His second screw up.

Again were you there, where did "he grabbed the current line come from", he drifted & swam into the mooring behind the boat.

If he couldn't swim against the current a minute ago, why does he think he can now swim against it? True, sometimes the current isn't as strong at depth, but often it is. I certainly wouldn't bet my life the current would be significantly weaker at depth. He did.

He never figured he could, he descended down the mooring buoy behind the boat to reunite on the wreck.

His third screw up. He let go of the line in a strong current. His fourth screw up, he didn't immediately ascend to the surface.

When he did ascend, he did exactly as he should, he inflated his BC, dropped his weights and inflated his SMB.

He got blown off the mooring , no let go, nothing more than being blown off, once he realized he wasn't going to meet anyone in the sand he did immediately do his ascent. Where did you hear he dropped his weights?

While the crew may very well have made some mistakes (I wasn't there, so I don't know), the responsibility for him drifting to French Reef lies squarely with the diver, not the crew.

The only part of your fairy tale that is accurate, he accepts his responsibility and blames nobody but himself, why is this too hard for some of you to believe. The crew on the boat ceased allowing divers in the water once they realized the conditions did not favor a dive on that site.

On another note Walter, your careless posts on an event you have no first hand knowledge of really would make one wonder if you take the same approach to diving. As you have weighed in your speculative opinion without regard to facts given to you is just so typical of someone who feels the need to have their finger in everything and determined to have the last word. I see you have some years in diving, you made some accomplishments along the way, unfortunately somewhere along the way you have forgotten that at one point that diver very well could have been you. Like it or not, we all start at the same place in scuba, what we do with our experiences will determine ultimately what type of diver we turn out to be.

 

[ONESPEED]

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Funny Walter I don't remember you being there to make such a careless statement. His mistake was not having the line in his hand before he jumped in the water, by the time he completed his giant stride and returned to the surface he was already out of reach.


I don't think anyone really cares what you like and dislike, the term the boat used on the dive was a granny line, had you been there you would understand where the term came into play here.


I think if anyone on the boat had any idea how strong the current was prior to the diver entering the water the dive would have been scrubbed. The miss of the line came because he did not grab it before entering the water.


Again were you there, where did "he grabbed the current line come from", he drifted & swam into the mooring behind the boat.



He never figured he could, he descended down the mooring buoy behind the boat to reunite on the wreck.



He got blown off the mooring , no let go, nothing more than being blown off, once he realized he wasn't going to meet anyone in the sand he did immediately do his ascent. Where did you hear he dropped his weights?



The only part of your fairy tale that is accurate, he accepts his responsibility and blames nobody but himself, why is this too hard for some of you to believe. The crew on the boat ceased allowing divers in the water once they realized the conditions did not favor a dive on that site.

On another note Walter, your careless posts on an event you have no first hand knowledge of really would make one wonder if you take the same approach to diving. As you have weighed in your speculative opinion without regard to facts given to you is just so typical of someone who feels the need to have their finger in everything and determined to have the last word. I see you have some years in diving, you made some accomplishments along the way, unfortunately somewhere along the way you have forgotten that at one point that diver very well could have been you. Like it or not, we all start at the same place in scuba, what we do with our experiences will determine ultimately what type of diver we turn out to be.

Every statement Walter made was based on a quote from you, the eye witness observer... other than his own statement of not liking it being called the "granny" line.

You painted a picture for everyone on this thread to see, if they have ever been on this dive in the Keys. Every statement made by Walter was clear and logical based on the quotes from your eye witness account.

The only part of your fairy tale that is accurate, he accepts his responsibility and blames nobody but himself, why is this too hard for some of you to believe.

It wasn't a fairy tale. It was based on your account (perhaps you typed a fairy tale for all to read). I pictured the diver grabbing the current line behind the boat based on your statement

he was unable to swim against the current and drifted to the buoy behind the boat

The buoy immediately behind the boat would be at the end of the current line. Since you have offered additional information that clears up the original statement, a different picture has now surfaced.

On another note Walter, your careless posts on an event you have no first hand knowledge of really would make one wonder if you take the same approach to diving.

A second insult to someone who has years of experience on THIS dive site based on your account of the events. Perhaps you should take more care in presenting a first hand account of the event.

You have displayed your very speculative opinion in the last section of your quote. Perhaps you could go back and edit your original account so it will be clear enough for everyone to understand and stop bashing people who are making logical statements based on your account.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

Based on some of the posts it's easy to imagine that some wrecks always have horrific conditions, and that is not the case at all. Sometimes there is current and other times it is dead calm, sometimes there is current on the surface or high in the water column and none below, or sometimes the opposite. We have had some absolutely perfect opportunities for photo sessions on the Duane & Spiegel, where we could swim off in front of the wrecks and photograph our divers on the bow, or way off to the side in the sand and shoot the whole wreck, but of course those days are few and far between.

That's part of the beauty of the ocean and Mother Nature....every day can be a surprise!! Respect that, dive cautiously and with prudence, and live to dive another day!

 

[scubadada]

His mistake was not having the line in his hand before he jumped in the water, by the time he completed his giant stride and returned to the surface he was already out of reach.

I think if anyone on the boat had any idea how strong the current was prior to the diver entering the water the dive would have been scrubbed.

...he drifted & swam into the mooring behind the boat.

...he descended down the mooring buoy behind the boat to reunite on the wreck.

He got blown off the mooring , no let go, nothing more than being blown off, once he realized he wasn't going to meet anyone in the sand he did immediately do his ascent.

Hi Schott,

Thanks again for the accurate information, we all learn things from incidents like this.

Which wreck was this, the Spiegel Grove or the Duane? Were there any other boats on the wreck with you or were you alone? I'm assuming this was the Spiegel as the stern buoy would probalbly be used on the Duane in current and there would be no down current ball.

The descent on the down current mooring ball very well could have worked out, had Jim made it to the wreck. This was not a bad move. There are only three balls on the Duane, bow, stack and stern. On the Spiegel, this would have only required that the mooring buoy in use would have been accurately described in the briefing and "reachable" in the current on the wreck. The well deck affords a lot of protection from current to get back to crane or superstructure buoys. The 8 buoys on the Spiegel can be confusing, especially for divers who have not been on the wreck and visibility can certainly be another challenge

Diving can be a very humbling experience, especially when things go wrong and under challenging conditions. We all make mistakes, hopefully, we make them at most, once, and are able to recover from the incident. I'm glad that was the outcome for Jim. His behavior after being lost was exemplary. I dive with a very good SMB, Dve Alert, and a mirror, just in case I end up in a similar situation. I know that that just may happen to me someday, despite my experience and care.

Good diving, Craig

 

[JRScuba]

Reading the posts sounds like: woulda, shoulda and coulda. Mixed with a lot of personal perception of who to blame and why.

No one was there to see what happened and why it did, especially from the divers point of view which he is entitled to.

Bottom line this this is clearly an unfortunate accident in some rough seas that ended well.

IMHO: Which I an entitled to. The operation of the boat personnel ( all of them ) and the diver should have learned a valuable lesson.

As for me, I could go on, but would rather not "ASSUME" anything. Every situation is different it as gets resolved one way or another.

Again, I am glad to hear that there was a happy ending, as we all know the other side.

 

[SeaLevelScuba]

Reading the posts sounds like: woulda, shoulda and coulda. Mixed with a lot of personal perception of who to blame and why.

No one was there to see what happened and why it did, especially from the divers point of view which he is entitled to.

Bottom line this this is clearly an unfortunate accident in some rough seas that ended well.

IMHO: Which I an entitled to. The operation of the boat personnel ( all of them ) and the diver should have learned a valuable lesson.

As for me, I could go on, but would rather not "ASSUME" anything. Every situation is different it as gets resolved one way or another.

Again, I am glad to hear that there was a happy ending, as we all know the other side.

Your opinion is most welcomed, as everyone involved especially those present did learned something from that day and the events as they unfolded, making them a better diver from the experience.

As for whom to blame, the diver accepted that responsibility right from the start, never blaming anyone and moving forward with a healthier attitude toward diving.

Schott

 

[SeaLevelScuba]

Every statement Walter made was based on a quote from you, the eye witness observer... other than his own statement of not liking it being called the "granny" line.

You painted a picture for everyone on this thread to see, if they have ever been on this dive in the Keys. Every statement made by Walter was clear and logical based on the quotes from your eye witness account.

It wasn't a fairy tale. It was based on your account (perhaps you typed a fairy tale for all to read). I pictured the diver grabbing the current line behind the boat based on your statement
The buoy immediately behind the boat would be at the end of the current line. Since you have offered additional information that clears up the original statement, a different picture has now surfaced.

A second insult to someone who has years of experience on THIS dive site based on your account of the events. Perhaps you should take more care in presenting a first hand account of the event.

You have displayed your very speculative opinion in the last section of your quote. Perhaps you could go back and edit your original account so it will be clear enough for everyone to understand and stop bashing people who are making logical statements based on your account.

You know, I wont get into this BS with you hiding behind a screen name, you know exactly who I am, where I am and where I dive. Walter's experience is not in question, I am sure he is a good diver with whom I've never dived with, my comments were simply from his dialogue based on what he quoted me on. I would welcome a dive with him, you or even the diver in of topic here, the only thing I do know is that the diver of topic here accepted his responsibility to all of those he affected in person when they return from the afternoon of not knowing, not from an inaccurate news report or your sorry butt blaming him.

Schott

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

OK sounds like this thread has run it's useful course. I am "unsubscribing" from it now. Thanks for all the good posts and shared thoughts.