Female diver found dead in the water at Blue Heron Bridge

[diverrex]

Way to go here. Disparage a recently deceased diver because YOU say she was a bad diver. She isnt here to defend herself and now YOU say she passed away from being a bad diver without any facts to support your feelings towards this person. You sound like a stand up person.

I think it's totally relevant to the accident discussion to hear that other divers did not want to dive with the victim. I appreciate that type of information.

 

[aquaregia]

No they wouldn't, and that's the point. It used to be taught as an emergency drill by some agencies, but AFAIK it's no longer taught by anyone. Can be a life-saver.

The NAUI program I went through still evaluates a ditch with simulated cesa, although it's only for 5-10yds at the OW level (for logistical reasons).

 

[dadediver]

I'm going to defend divingsiren here. If you dive often enough, you are going to run into some people who truly are "accidents waiting to happen". Generally they are people who are either exceeding their experience and skills, or have a poor attitude, or both; sometimes they're people who physically shouldn't be in the water (the diver who repeatedly has to be towed in from the dive site for exhaustion, or the one who is breathless, pale and sweaty from walking the gear to the car). Sometimes you can be of assistance to such folks, and sometimes they have to learn everything the hard way. We had a near-fatality last year (I think it was) where someone got in a mess that everyone had been expecting to happen for some time . . . he was lucky, and survived it.

We have a thing about not speaking ill of the dead; but if there were behaviors or judgment errors that this diver engaged in habitually that may have led to her death, someone else may learn something from knowing about them.

The point is that we dont know what happened. Why disparaged the woman without knowing any of the facts. Her medical condition is none of anybody's business.

 

[tracydr]

Ditch their rig? Probably not.

Ditch their weights? I hope so. It's a requirement for certification.

flots.

I agree they should be comfortable ditching their weights, although they may not think of it in an emergency. I would hope if they are having trouble staying positive on top of the water and are OOA they would ditch weights but far too many drownings after surfacing to say otherwise.
Ditching gear when entangled? I doubt most OW divers would even consider it. Most just don't have the bandwidth yet.

When I had around 30-50 dives and was diving with a buddy who had poor buddy skills, I didn't think solo diving was a bad idea. Now, since I've been on more difficult dives and also have a greater understanding of what can and does sometimes go wrong, I much prefer just diving with a reliable buddy and staying together. Yes, I can handle myself and a noobie or dive solo if separated in poor vis but I almost never enter water solo anymore.
Having a good buddy is so much better than a pony bottle!

 

[boulderjohn]

No they wouldn't, and that's the point. It used to be taught as an emergency drill by some agencies, but AFAIK it's no longer taught by anyone. Can be a life-saver.

Depending upon what you mean exactly by "it," then I would say that almost all agencies teach "it." As a PADI instructor, I am required to teach students how to take off their gear under water and then put it back on. I am required to teach the CESA. We don't do them together as one exercise, but we do both of them. These are part of the standards of the WRSTC, so all affiliated agencies teach those skills.

I believe NAUI still teaches combines the two as one exercise.

To the best of my knowledge, neither BSAC nor UTD teach CESA as a part of their OW classes.

I don't know about the others.

 

[letterboy]

The point is that we dont know what happened. Why disparaged the woman without knowing any of the facts. Her medical condition is none of anybody's business.

it is part of the discussion into the death. it is sad and I send my condolences to the family, but if one person comes on and says their club would not dive with this women because she failed to be cleared by a doctor. In my opinion that says a lot about the deceased. unless you can tell us she was cleared and a safe diver? was she? did you know this diver? what is your back story and motive?

 

[Crush]

The point is that we dont know what happened. Why disparaged the woman without knowing any of the facts. Her medical condition is none of anybody's business.

This forum is concerned with learning from accidents and incidents so that we can learn from them and hopefully avoid them. A fit diver, diving within his/her limits dying suddenly because of catastrophic equipment failure teaches us something about equipment, redundancy and buddy systems. A diver who dies suddenly of a heart attack despite being in excellent shape and cleared to dive by a medical professional teaches us to listen to our bodies because heart disease can go undiagnosed until it is too late. The diving death of a diver that was not medically fit to dive teaches us about the importance of certification agency standards and encourages divers with health problems to realize that "it can happen to them." That realization may give them pause to think about what would happen to those they love if they continue to dive. The choice to discontinue diving (or not) would be made by the individual, but it would be a decision which was better-informed having read about real life cases in this forum.

 

[TSandM]

If a medical condition impacts someone's fitness to dive, I do think it's other people's business . . . if those people are diving with the patient, or analyzing an accident.

I have had the unsettling experience of agreeing to doing a rather advanced dive with someone, only to find that, once I was pretty much committed to it, the person had a medical condition that could significantly impact our diving together, and of which he had not previously advised me. I have also participated in attempted resuscitations on two divers who had medical conditions that probably played a part in their deaths (one had not even been under the water when she arrested!). A diver who is medically unsafe to dive represents a significant risk to his or her buddy, if the buddy takes the commitment to helping in an emergency seriously.