19 Year old almost loses his life freediving

[RickI]

This happened in the Keys a few days back. I though the account worth sharing.

"Both are 19 years old with substantial free diving experience. This is a first person account from the diver that did the rescue.

My friend james and I decided to go freedive 70ft just for fun as we are comfortable at this depth. We went, made it to the bottom and everything was going great, we gave each other a high five at the bottom with what we thought plenty of oxygen in our lungs and started to ascend. On our way up when i got to the surface When I got to the surface I realised James had not made it back up, I looked down and James was 20ft below drifting away unconscious with the current. I immediately went back down and saw his face, something I will never forget it, his entire face was blue including his chest, his lips and his eyes where bulging out of the sockets. I wasnt sure if he was going to live... I swam him to the surface and at this point the current had pulled us away from the boat, I shouted as loud as I could for them to come. At this point I am trying to give him cpr while the boat is heading over. I'm not sure how we got james on the boat but we did. We were giving him cpr and he was foaming out of the mouth with blood coming out of his nose. After what seemed like forever he finally coughed a little bit and started to breath very little. We ran him into the nearest marina were the paramedics were waiting. He is in the hospital now conscious and talking. I was puking and almost passed out myself once I got on the boat. I was so happy when I saw james breath I bursted out in tears, I thought he was dead... "

Continued at: 19 Year old almost loses his life freediving - FKA Kiteboarding Forums"
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[Paleface]

Wow, I am glad he is OK. Does he remember what happened? Did he just run out of air and suck in water on the way up?

 

[cmburch]

YouTube - Freediver Blackout

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

RickI, well done. I am sorry this happened but very proud of your actions. Your awareness and quick thinking, saved your friend's life. I hope he recovers fully.

 

[David Wilson]

Zendiver, RickI's public profile states that he started diving in 1971, so he isn't the 19-year-old rescuer in the incident report. This said, RickI has done a valuable service by bringing this story to our attention. Accidents like this could easily have led to a tragic outcome and it was the good sense of somebody older and wiser beyond his years that reversed his buddy's fortunes. I'm also impressed with the realisation that further training was in order. I wince whenever I read bald, unqualified and macho statements, by people who should know better, such as "anybody can freedive", leaving raw beginners to think that they can go to any depth with impunity.

 

[Bogie]

I am glad they both made it.

 

[cmburch]

Yes, it is good that they were together.

Or bad, depending on how you look at it.

How many young males die or get injured by doing things like swimming across a river, riding a bicycle fast down a hill, racing a motorcycle, etc. because they want to see if they can do it or challenge each other?

 

[RickI]

Sorry, just got the update email on subsequent posts. This was posted on my forum, I was not present at the accident. I did think it was worth reposting here however. Blackout is a reality of free diving but the good news is that with proper training, buddying and safety protocols, there is a lot you can do to avoid it. Beyond that should a blackout occur there are rescuing and reviving procedures that are also included in quality training these days. There were many long shots in this accident increasing the odds against a good outcome. Still, it did workout thankfully and the good news is the diver is going to pursue proper free diving training. I started free diving in the early 1970's, studied what little I could find on the subject as far back as that time and since. Despite that, I learned a great deal of valuable information and skills in recent courses. If folks are serious about free diving I think a good pro free diving course is an excellent idea.

 

[DeusVerto]

...in about 4 feet of water. I do not claim to be uniquely knowledgeable about diving physiology, but what happened to me I believe was a direct result of excessive hyperventilating before exceeding my range underwater. I saved myself with a sudden panic attack when I was about to black out, but it was a close one.

I seem to recall an explanation of this phenomenon being that hyperventilation flushes carbon dioxide out of your system at a greater rate than the reciprocal of giving you more oxygen. It is the buildup of CO2 that activates your involuntary breathing response, not a lack of oxygen, so hyperventilating too much means you'll run out of O2 before the buildup of CO2 causes your body to compel you to breathe.

I figured if you hyperventilated to the point of initial light-headed feelings, you were asking for trouble. Other than that, how do you train for this?

 

[Redzepp1011]

I've never taken a freediving class myself, but I know quite a few people who have in order to facilitate spearfishing.

Apparently, most classes focus on taking 2 or 3 slow deep breaths that "fill every section of the lungs" (a buddy's words, not mine), and gradually testing the limits of your breath hold ability. Another important aspect the classes stress is always diving with a buddy, and always having one buddy up while the other is down...from the account, this buddy team was not following this rule at the time of the accident