Free diving, tank sharing fatality - Australia

[Dan]

His last selfies swimming with hammerheads a month before the accident, captured from the 9News video in post #1

Tributes for music producer killed in free-diving accident

Freediving with snorkel on his mouth.

Here’s how Freediver HD does it, with snorkel out of his mouth:

 

[Wingy]

I've refrained from posting for a while on this thread. I was out with the hammerheads a couple of days before this young man passed away and saw him and his mates having a fantastic time. RIP. SWBO seems possible. In no other source have I read he was sharing her air, diving with a friend on scuba yes, sharing air no. I will wait for the coroners report before speculating but I do want to address the pretty informal free diving culture here in W.A

We're water babies, we have compulsory swimming lessons from 5'yo,but most kids can swim well before that. We are legally not allowed to spearfish on scuba so breath holding after ducking down to snare a crayfish is pretty close to free diving isn't it? We have a lot of surfers, they're not fans of sharks but will often cruise around with dolphins holding their breath...and call it free diving with dolphins. AFAIK none of the free diving spearo's I've met has ever taken a free diving course here. I've done a basic one in Thailand. I don't know a lot of spearo's but had a great time playing with seals and asked about static apnea, none knew what I meant, but all seemed to have a good knowledge of lung injuries. Not saying it's right, just how a lot of free divers here are, taught by an older brother or uncle - however, again, this is not in any way a speculation on this death. Just a cultural thing I've noticed.

 

[chris kippax]

Just a quick look at his gear from my opinion is that he was a not highly experienced /trained free diver. No low profile mask, poorly designed snorkel. Also his exposure protection seems a bit lacking for Rockingham in late Autumn.

 

[Bob DBF]

We are legally not allowed to spearfish on scuba so breath holding after ducking down to snare a crayfish is pretty close to free diving isn't it?

It's freediving alright, not the record setting type, but just a dangerous if one screws up.


Bob

 

[Wingy]

Just a quick look at his gear from my opinion is that he was a not highly experienced /trained free diver. No low profile mask, poorly designed snorkel. Also his exposure protection seems a bit lacking for Rockingham in late Autumn.

I had my 5mm on and IIRC the weather was pretty much the same on the day of the accident.

 

[Dan]

I had my 5mm on and IIRC the weather was pretty much the same on the day of the accident.

His looked like a Lycra or < 1mm wetsuit.

How do you freedive with 5mm? Do you put on a dive weight on belt? I'll be bobbing like a cork without dive weight when wearing 5mm wetsuit.

 

[chris kippax]

Yep you use a weight belt, just enough to compensate for the buoyancy of you & your suit but not that much that staying on the surface is a great effort.

 

[Wingy]

I wasn't free diving at all - I was staying on the surface. When I do free dive I use weight and am generally in a 3mm. I was also Swimming too not snorkelling because that is the one bit of scuba gear I am useless at using and dislike greatly.

The reason I and very few others were on scuba was appeals from dive clubs and fisheries dept to interact with them on snorkel not scuba and not mob them so they hung around for a while.

5mm cos I don't like water under 26 and my 3mm has two big bum baring holes and Rockingham is not the most secluded spot.

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

His looked like a Lycra or < 1mm wetsuit.

How do you freedive with 5mm? Do you put on a dive weight on belt? I'll be bobbing like a cork without dive weight when wearing 5mm wetsuit.

 

[tommy tiger]

He's described as an experienced diver (I speculate experienced free diver, whether he ever did scuba or not?), and apparently was known/influential enough to get sufficient press attention that his actives with hammerheads (not something I'd expect a newbie to be involved in) were able to generate 'headlines.'



I didn't know their formal training options were that elaborate. Does anyone know whether free divers are routinely taught about the dangerous of breathing compressed air off a scuba diver's reg. at depth, then ascending?

Years ago I read about a guy doing just that, and dying; later when I went back hunting the reference, I never could find it. But as I recall, this particular dynamic is more than just a theoretical danger.

No way to know if that's what killed Mr. Young. Sympathies to the family for their loss.

DAN article link below. After all of the explanation of the physics and the physiology, the article concludes with "It is important to note that a breathhold ascent from a depth as shallow as 4 feet of sea water (fsw)/1.2 meters (msw) may be sufficient to tear alveoli sacs, causing lung tear and one of these three ailments"

I believe you will find that statement repeated multiple times in various DAN articles, this is just the 1st one I pulled up.
Scuba Diving Pulmonary Over-Inflation Syndrome — Medical Dive Article — DAN | Divers Alert Network

Yes! i've heard that a scuba diver was working & died from embolism caused when a large wave passed over and reduced pressure of the trough caused it. I myself free diving when scuba diver offered air I stupidly took it when i surfaced my lungs told me they didn't like it scared me! Do Not mix Scuba and free diving

Keep in mind 0.3 bar is about 40 psi. That's 40 pounds of force on every square inch. This is typical pressure for a kid's bike tire (or a car tire, but car tires have more structure.)

If you can imagine the strength of a rubber tube in a kid's bike tire, inflated to 40 psi... and then replace that rubber with lung tissue. Would the lung tissue withstand that pressure?

Lung tissue is fragile and water pressure is much greater than people intuitively recognize. Dangerous combination, even from a depth of less than 10 feet.