Albany woman dies diving off south jetty in Newport, Oregon on Sunday.

[lavachickie]

I am a diver in Oregon who has heard of this through other divers. I was not there and do not know the divers involved.

Newport: Lady scuba diver drowns off Newport’s south jetty » News Lincoln County

Albany woman drowns off coast of Newport while scuba diving | OregonLive.com

 

[Svidas]

Good grief, the report says they had both surfaced. Why didn't her BC supply enough buoyancy and why not lose some weight if needed? Very sad and I am sorry for her loss. It sounds like they both had experience, my heart goes out to the husband who is probably asking himself why he didn't do what was needed.

 

[tempoffroad]

That's awefull and appears that this could have been avoided with proper air management and at worse oral inflation/drop weights on surface.

 

[DandyDon]

That's awefull and appears that this could have been avoided with proper air management and at worse oral inflation/drop weights on surface.

Two all too common mistakes following OOA triggers. So many fatalities do include both.

 

[TSandM]

One of the instructors we know orally inflates his BC every time he surfaces. He says that will keep the concept of doing so fresh in his mind, for a time when it might be needed. It sounds like orally inflating her BC was not something that occurred to this poor lady.

I won't even get started on the concept of gas management . . .

 

[John C. Ratliff]

The NEWS Lincoln County article had some very bad advise:

A local dive shop owner told News Lincoln County that underwater panic is nothing like anything you can imagine. How to deal with it is taught in scuba classes and students are put through a number of drills. The first directive is to help where you can, but if someone in trouble goes into underwater hysterics, with violent flailing, clutching or grabbing, it’s best to break free and save yourself lest you die as well.

Several above have talked about inflating the BC. That takes time, but is good before panic sets in. After that, it's time to drop weights (either the weight belt or ditchable weights). But get positive.

BCs work, but there is one other thing that wasn't mentioned above. We have become "BC Dependent" for our positive buoyancy on the surface. Obviously, if a diver sinks after completing a dive, the diver was not weighted to be neutral at the surface. Many, many years ago, when we taught scuba, we taught divers to weight themselves to be neutrally buoyant at the surface with a full breath at the beginning of the dive. That way, the diver will be approximately neutrally buoyant at the surface at the end of a dive on empty lungs. But that was when we had the steel 72 cylinder, which was just slightly negative at the end of a dive. Today, we sometimes have very heavy cylinders, and divers are taught to use their BCs to become positively buoyant at the end of the dive.

Use of a snorkel will make holding one's head above the water unnecessary too, but apparently snorkels for scuba diving have been de-emphasized in recent years.

From the Oregon Live article, it is apparent that they had dived several dives on Sunday, so fatigue could have been a factor here too. This is really terrible, and occurred in an area I have dived years ago. My prayers and thoughts go to the family.

SeaRat

 

[Tortuga68]

"underwater panic is nothing like anything you can imagine"

Not only bad advice but terribly written

 

[Diver0001]

"underwater panic is nothing like anything you can imagine"

Not only bad advice but terribly written

Dude does that really matter here?

This is a horrible and easily avoidable accident but to be perfectly honest, I'm not too surprised to read about it.

There have been *so many* accidents where the victim reached the surface and was unable to establish positive buoyancy. I personally think that part of the problem is the training people receive. OW courses are given at high tempo and instructors sometimes gloss over the surface skills. Establishing positive buoyancy in an emergency is often given lip service but there is no standard in which the actual removal of weights in a simulated emergency is practiced. Oral inflation is mandated by standards to be practiced on the surface only once if the instructor doesn't feel like doing it more often, even though there are many opportunities to ingrain this option into the student's mind.

It's also telling that the shop owner focused on the panic element and told the press that divers are taught how to deal with it. Too bad he didn't teach them how to *avoid* getting in that situation to begin with.... for example, with a thorough handling of dive planning so the divers weren't out of air to begin with.

I'm going to print part of that first article and laminate it to add to the collection of real-world scenarios I have. Lately I've started reading little snippets like that to students before I teach certain skills (like oral inflation) to really press home the point *why* they're doing it. Diving is fun until stuff like this happens and it does change how you think about training.

R..

 

[Notso_Ken]

I agree, and this week in the pool my classes are starting to learn out of air and air sharing. So, when I introduce it in class (45 minutes from now), I will start by reading them this incident.


Ken

I'm going to print part of that first article and laminate it to add to the collection of real-world scenarios I have. Lately I've started reading little snippets like that to students before I teach certain skills (like oral inflation) to really press home the point *why* they're doing it. Diving is fun until stuff like this happens and it does change how you think about training.

R..

 

[Bob DBF]

When I was trained, as John was discussing, the end of the dive you were neutral and could snorkle to your exit. I still do that, however sometimes I do need some air in the wing.

If you needed to get positive on the surface as an emergency unfolded the litany was orally inflate, detonate CO2(not seen now), drop weightbelt, and finally ditch rig. If one was not working for you move to the next without delay. Not only was it discussed, you were trained and required to do it, possibly under harrassment if you were too cockey.

On shore dives I drop my weightbelt in the same manner I would in the water, it does reduce the lifespan of the belt, but on the two occations I needed to drop my belt I did, which is why I'm still around annoying folks.

DROP THE F'N WEIGHTS.
On the surface it can save your life, submerged, well I'd rather be bent than dead.



Bob
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"the future is uncertain and the end is always near"
Jim Morrison