Walchensee (Germany) - Diver panics at 30m dies, buddies surface too quickly

[InselAffe]

I was here on Saturday but we used a Pedalo to do Urfeld Mountain. Steinbruch is in south of the lake and is a fairly nice Gradient underwater. For those who don't understand german, it seems on Sunday, there were 2 divers (male & female) with a leader, part of a Group of 12. The man panicked at 30m & was found at 36m, the claim is he had an equipment defect of some sort...
The other 2 also surfaced too quickly and ended up in the local deco-chamber.

Jachenau – Taucher im Walchensee tödlich verunglückt

Ok reading further, the claim is his regulator set was not suitable for cold water & he had on wet gloves. We had a temperature gradient of 21oC until 7m and then 6oC thereafter. I always dive dry but wear wet gloves.

MfG
Andy
This was saturday

 

[Storker]

It seems from the article that the victim was found dead at 36m by the rescuers, so I'm a little confused here. Did he succumb at depth, or did he surface and sink again?

 

[InselAffe]

Sorry my bad he panicked and went down the others shot to the surface.
They Claim 4oC and bad vis but below 12m is was easy 20m vis, between 3-10m was about 1m.

 

[Storker]

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

The article more than implies that the fatality was caused by a regulator unsuitable for cold water diving. That suggests a 1st stage freeflow at depth as the triggering factor. Up here, you really have to work to find a reg set with an unsealed 1st. Are those commonly sold in Austria?

 

[wgw04024]

Can you go into a bit more detail about the 'unsealed regset'. I'm not sure what that means? I'm assuming a first stage that won't work in cold water, and if so, cold is generally what in temp?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[Agility]

Ok, thanks for the clarification.
Up here, you really have to work to find a reg set with an unsealed 1st. Are those commonly sold in Austria?

You can get an assortment of piston regulators in Austria, the Scubapro MK 25 is very popular
My Poseidons are not drysealed either
The article does not state whether tecnical problems or the cold environment was culprit.
The dive was done with an organization that provides adventure outings, so although he was certified (so the article states), he may never have dived cold water in poor visibility before.

 

[Storker]

Can you go into a bit more detail about the 'unsealed regset'. I'm not sure what that means? I'm assuming a first stage that won't work in cold water, and if so, cold is generally what in temp?

Thanks,
Bill

I might well have used wrong terminology here. What I meant was cold-water compatible. Like e.g. the Apeks 40 and up, or Scubapro mk17 or mk25

 

[outofofficebrb]

Can you go into a bit more detail about the 'unsealed regset'. I'm not sure what that means? I'm assuming a first stage that won't work in cold water, and if so, cold is generally what in temp?

Thanks,
Bill

Hi, Bill. In short, when a first stage is "environmentally sealed", water and debris usually cannot enter. It's good for water with a lot of sediment in it and is better to prevent corrosion or buildup which then affects performance. This is applicable to cold water diving because these parts can freeze. Having moisture present will make that more likely. In the case of regs, frozen regs will free flow. Diaphragm regs tend to be better than piston regs for this purpose due to the design. You can actually environmentally seal a piston reg but I'm still a fan of the diaphragm reg -- it works fine in warm water and performs excellent in cold. Piston regs perform better in lab testings at deeper depths. Not to say diaphragm regs don't perform well, just in comparison, not as well but it's negligible when you aren't told what it is and you breathe it. You won't be heaving and struggling with a diaphragm reg at the same depth...regs are pretty amazing these days and scuba gear has come a long way to when they were first invented.

I'm by no means an expert and am giving the average Jane explanation. Please, someone, feel free to chime in, elaborate, or correct me.

 

[wgw04024]

Thank you. I was curious since we dive alot of cold water here (Maine, USA). In summer 50-65F on the top, as low as 40F at the bottom when we go where we can reach the 80-90' range. I use an MK25.

Bill

 

[InselAffe]

Mad world, we were diving with a new buddy in Starnberg lake last night, he was there at the accident and was the one who called for help. He was basically with another group (DCP) who had started grilling and 2 divers pop to the surface about 100m from shore, screaming for help. A couple of their guys brought them in and they put them on 100% O2 ASAP, a few minutes later come the boats, helicopters, et al.
He reckons the divers were about 15 minutes into the dive, but his comment was the whole group were diving single tank/single first stages and outside the 'leaders' in the group he feels the divers were inexperienced (admittedly this is purely subjective).
The luck being he carries 2 80cb.ft 100% O2 with him in his car.