Boat Dive Incident in Monterey 1/19/13
- Thread starter Hoofrx
- Start date
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Mr. Willoughby
Contributor
It's wonderful to see that diver that is the subject of an A&I post have a happy outcome for a change...
Glad to hear that she is doing well.
Glad to hear that she is doing well.
Bhtmec2
Contributor
Great news. I am tired of the bad news.
Hope she is back diving soon.......
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Hope she is back diving soon.......
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Jan Kruger
Contributor
This is the first time i have heard of the boat alarm - normally we discuss emergency procedures in our pre dive safety briefing such as lost buddy procedures , or if a buddy feels unwell under water - but the boat alarm when someone is injured - no.
Maybe it depends a lot on where you dive , conditions , how deep the dive is etc.
We once had an injured person on board the boat while we dove, someone else's cylindre hit her on the head when we fell out of the boat -we went straight down , but the skipper could not get hold of another boat to collect her and would not leave us , so she had to wait - needless to say her dad was screaming at the skipper when we surfaced.
From now on i will ask the question about the boat alarm- it is logical to have it included in the safety briefing.
Maybe it depends a lot on where you dive , conditions , how deep the dive is etc.
We once had an injured person on board the boat while we dove, someone else's cylindre hit her on the head when we fell out of the boat -we went straight down , but the skipper could not get hold of another boat to collect her and would not leave us , so she had to wait - needless to say her dad was screaming at the skipper when we surfaced.
From now on i will ask the question about the boat alarm- it is logical to have it included in the safety briefing.
CT-Rich
Contributor
Good to hear a happy outcome. Sounds like they have their collective poo together. I felt bad reading that she was inverted with her reg out of her mouth. That is the typically the start of an endless cycle of training.... boat ops.... rescue procedures.... training..... eventual mud slinging...
Nice to hear a good outcome when everyone gets it together for an accident and it doesn't turn into a tragedy.
Nice to hear a good outcome when everyone gets it together for an accident and it doesn't turn into a tragedy.
Second the thought. If we, as a group, keep things non-judgmental and professional maybe more divers will share their stories so we can all dive safer. Unfortunately it only takes one or two judgmental posts to keep many from posting.
I have no idea if Gail is a member of ScubaBoard. My contact is through a diver who happened to be on the Silver Prince that day.
Ayisha
Contributor
In all the safety briefings I've heard, we were told to ascend at a safe rate and complete any safety stops if the emergency recall was sounded.
Many boat captains or DMs would think twice about advising people to skip safety stops or ignore their computer's request for a safety stop, even though they are not required - in case of another incident with someone aborting their dive due to the recall. Many people probably would cut short their safety stop without being asked, but it could be risky to ask that someone do that.
I'm glad it looks like she's going to be OK. The initial radio call was "unconscious, but breathing".
The incident happened at Eric's Pinnacle, and you would need a steam shovel to get below 60' there.
There are a number of ways a boat can signal divers to ascend without having a siren. Bang on the steel swim step with a hammer, rev the engine VROOM, VROOM, VROOM. But in any event there should be an agreed recall signal. But there's always someone who doesn't come right up or can't come right up (deco, etc.). So there needs to be a plan.
And as Ben said, the Monterey dive boat community is tight-knit.
Chuck
The incident happened at Eric's Pinnacle, and you would need a steam shovel to get below 60' there.
There are a number of ways a boat can signal divers to ascend without having a siren. Bang on the steel swim step with a hammer, rev the engine VROOM, VROOM, VROOM. But in any event there should be an agreed recall signal. But there's always someone who doesn't come right up or can't come right up (deco, etc.). So there needs to be a plan.
And as Ben said, the Monterey dive boat community is tight-knit.
Chuck
We have two levels of recall, with different signals. The lesser means "end your dive now and return to the boat (if it's an anchor dive) or surface with a marker buoy (if it's anything else). The more severe means do the above as rapidly as possible consistent with your personal safety - do not make "safety stops" unless they are planned decompression stops.
There is a third category of emergency which we have had to do once - the dive boat simply left station and headed for shore, and another boat was instructed to take its place. That was because the primary boat had sprung a leak and would have sunk had it remained on station. Those divers were very surprised when they returned to where the boat had been (it was an anchor dive) to find nothing there. They had a 15 minute wait for the other boat, but they did of course (this being Belize) have a DM with them who ensured all were there and were linked together.
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