Diver Rescue

[TSandM]

I think, here in the Pacific Northwest, the majority of open water divers are challenged enough in trying to get THEMSELVES safely to the surface, and asking them to manage somebody else's buoyancy and their own is too much.

Honestly, I've done unconscious diver retrievals in Rescue, Rec Triox, Rec 2, Helitrox and Cave 1, and it is NOT a trivial skill. In a single tank and a thin wetsuit, maybe, but in heavy gear and dry suits, controlling the other diver, keeping the reg in their mouth, and managing an ascent at proper speed is quite difficult.

I think that, when I dive with a new diver, I don't expect them to be able to surface me if I am unresponsive at depth. But I am also quite nihilistic about this . . . if I'm diving with a new diver (therefore shallow, simple dive) and I go unresponsive, I am probably dead, and the delay introduced by having them go get help isn't going to make a bit of difference.

The possibilities for being incapacitated at more significant depth are greater, but there, I dive with people who can save my butt.

I mean, honestly, what's going to make you unconscious in less than 60 feet of water? And how likely are you to survive whatever it is?

 

[TSandM]

I think, here in the Pacific Northwest, the majority of open water divers are challenged enough in trying to get THEMSELVES safely to the surface, and asking them to manage somebody else's buoyancy and their own is too much.

Honestly, I've done unconscious diver retrievals in Rescue, Rec Triox, Rec 2, Helitrox and Cave 1, and it is NOT a trivial skill. In a single tank and a thin wetsuit, maybe, but in heavy gear and dry suits, controlling the other diver, keeping the reg in their mouth, and managing an ascent at proper speed is quite difficult.

I think that, when I dive with a new diver, I don't expect them to be able to surface me if I am unresponsive at depth. But I am also quite nihilistic about this . . . if I'm diving with a new diver (therefore shallow, simple dive) and I go unresponsive, I am probably dead, and the delay introduced by having them go get help isn't going to make a bit of difference.

The possibilities for being incapacitated at more significant depth are greater, but there, I dive with people who can save my butt.

I mean, honestly, what's going to make you unconscious in less than 60 feet of water? And how likely are you to survive whatever it is?

 

[ronbeau]

At what point in a diver's training should they be able to rescue their buddy (unconscious diver at depth, panicky diver at the surface)? Do you feel that these skills should be part of the OW course? AOW? or should they wait until the diver is ready for Rescue Diver training?

How do you feel about being buddied up with a diver who can't perform a basic rescue if you get into trouble?

Have you performed a rescue while diving? If so, were you trained to do so?

This was part of my NAUI Open Water training.
I was certified on June of 2004.
Bringing a diver to the surface was part of the open water training was was required as part of the check out dives.

Granted this was not as in-depth as the NAUI Rescue Diver course but it was nonetheless a required part of my open water checkout dives.

The panicking diver on the surface was part of the NAUI Rescue diver training.

 

[D_B]

I would say that a full rescue class would be too much for the average person to absorb during OW training that is stressful enough by it's self (I can still remember the stress during OW class thinking that this is ALL so important and you better learn it)

I took rescue at a very early stage with only a few open water dives because someone I cared about was going to dive here in conditions way outside their normal diving, and even after a refresher dive with them in what to expect here with my instructor , I was not going to be their only dive partner without doing everything I could to make it a safe dive

I think that you should take rescue as soon as you have basics down, decent buoyancy, trim, and are comfortable underwater
Could you come away from the class with less skills than if you waited until you had 50 or 100 dives before you took it ? probably ... but , I was a better/safer diver for taking it, even when I did
besides, just how many dives do you need before becoming safer anyway?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

What some may fail to realize is that while we call it unconscious diver it could also cover a diver in passive panic. All of the skills noted are covered in my OW class. It is true that 4-6 hours in the pool and 4 Ow dives are not enough to give the new diver the skills to do this. In fact most just barely hope to survive. But then I don't teach that way. My Ow class is 16 hours in the pool and the 4 OW dives are from 45 min to an hour each. More than enough time to not only teach the skills but get them comfortable with them.

 

[Crush]

With so many threads on the boards discussing the quality of open water training provided today, I'm not sure adding basic rescue skills would help. Currently, after 2 days in the pool and 4 open water dives, the newly certified diver probably dosen't have the skills (taught or not) to properly recover an unconscious diver from depth.

Our entire class practiced rescue of an unconscious diver from the bottom of the pool, pre-basic OW cert dives. The occasional person messed up (rescuer positive, victim negative) but we all did it on the first or second try, and it wasn't tough. This was recent - 2008. If the divers that you guys are putting out can't manage so simple a task, I am truly frightened.

 

[bwade]

Interesting poll, DCBC.

My Basic OW class in the 1970's did included rescue techniques, possibly/probably in excess of standards (instructor was ex-Navy diver).

I to was certified in the late 1970's and had full rescue training as an integral part of the OW course. When finished our OW course (NAUI), we had about 24 dives covering skills - done on EVERY dive, navigation, night/low vis, trim and buoyancy plus rescue.

It astounds me how watered down and dumbed down the OW courses are now.

Do I think Rescue should be part of an OW course? Hell yes, go back to some "standards" which actually train people.

 

[Crush]

I think, here in the Pacific Northwest, the majority of open water divers are challenged enough in trying to get THEMSELVES safely to the surface, and asking them to manage somebody else's buoyancy and their own is too much.

TSandM, from your posts I know that you expect a lot of yourself and that you are a very knowledgeable person and diver. I am surprised to read you expressing this sentiment. Do you truly believe that a basic OW diver cannot rescue an unconscious diver, or that the standard basic-OW product being put out nowadays can't rescue an unconscious diver. I suspect that you would hold a Fundies graduate to higher standards.

I admit that drysuits are complications, so let's assume that a wetsuit diver should not be expected to know how to manage drysuit buoyancy, but a drysuit diver should reasonably be able to manage these issues.

 

[flots am]

At what point in a diver's training should they be able to rescue their buddy (unconsious diver at depth, panicky diver at the surface)? Do you feel that these skills should be part of the OW course? AOW? or should they wait until the diver is ready for Rescue Diver training?

Generally speaking, it doesn't matter.

Most divers get certified, dive somewhere on vacation, then don't dive again for ages. By the time they go diving again, most people won't even remember which way the tank faces when attaching it to the BC, to say nothing of how to handle a panicked diver.

People who dive a lot and want rescue training will get it and keep their skills sharp, and the rest don't really matter because even if they take it, they'll forget in a year or two anyway.

flots.

 

[Crush]

Generally speaking, it doesn't matter.

Most divers get certified, dive somewhere on vacation, then don't dive again for ages. By the time they go diving again, most people won't even remember which way the tank faces when attaching it to the BC, to say nothing of how to handle a panicked diver.

People who dive a lot and want rescue training will get it and keep their skills sharp, and the rest don't really matter because even if they take it, they'll forget in a year or two anyway.

flots.

DCBC,

Next time please include some suitably nihilistic poll option for flots.