Near Miss at Breakwater 9/19/2011?

[mattaphore]

This past Saturday I was diving with my buddy team at San Carlos Beach and I believe we witnessed a near-miss/almost-incident.
(I figured there's a better chance of someone here knowing what happened than if I posted in the A&I forum. Please advise if this should be moved over there.)

Conditions were calm as we entered the water, just before 9:00am. A rescue class was practicing carrying people out of the water and there were many divers preparing to get in the water, many groups were already in the water. We headed to the edge of the kelp, maybe 20 yards away from the breakwater, perpendicular to the #3 painted on the breakwater. We were probably in about 12 feet of water and nothing was out of the ordinary until a diver in a group about 15 feet from us started saying loudly, but not quite yelling, "I'm drowning! I'm drowning!"

Startled, my group looked over and saw that the diver's buddy was already inflating the BC of the diver having problems and was calming her down saying, "You're fine, You're fine." A third diver in their group was swimming with them, either not doing anything to help or totally unaware of the situation. I hadn't noticed their group earlier, so I'm not sure if they had just surfaced or if they were already on the surface when the incident took place.

Initially we were thoroughly perplexed because we weren't sure if it was part of rescue training or if it was a real incident, so I gave their leader (possibly an instructor) a big "OK?". He saw me and acknowledged with a mild hand-wavy "not so good", but he appeared to have the situation under control and by that time they were already near to shore, almost standing in 4-5 feet of water. We watched them exit before starting our dive.

The hand-wavy "not so good" indicated a real situation to me, but their buddy/leader handled it by the book. Other than asking if they were "OK" and watching them make it to the beach, I'm not sure what else we could have done to assist. I hope a lesson was learned and I'm glad the people involved made it out okay. This event definitely reinforced that things can happen at any point of the dive and that there's not substitute for proper training.

Dive safely, friends.

 

[fdog]

It's just me, but I wouldn't call this a near miss. ...More a borderline student professionally handled by their Instructor.


All the best, James

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

I agree with fdog, except I think borderline is an understatement.

BTW Saturday was 9/17/2011, not 9/19/2011.

 

[fisheater]

I agree with the above, but am posting to say that you did the right thing by standing by, ready to assist if needed, but not interfering with the "rescue"/assistance being given the "drowning" diver.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KRL1973]

I had a similar experience at N monastery 1 time and was very alarmed until a memeber of the group approached me and assured me they were simply role-playing for the sake of their training which was relieving and I was thankful for the explanation.

Hope the diver in question is ok. thanks for sharing this

 

[mahjong]

Not exactly rare. And not necessarily a borderline student at all. Some people will get anxious and panic, a little or a lot, esp at the outset of their first OWD, and esp (but by no means exclusively) in California-type conditions (very cold, low viz, kelp, bulky exposure suit, etc...ie, a place where it's a giant step from the swimming pool to the OWD, unlike the tropics where the OWD can be very little unlike the swimming pool). For some, such anxiety is psychosomatic and extremely difficult, sometimes impossible, to suppress--even if the person was up to that point the best student in the class. It's like stage fright for some people (ie, Barbara Streisand has it--she performs live only rarely)--it never really goes away, even if you might be able to get the upper hand on it. Obviously the consequences with diving mean that another sport might be worth considering, at least sometimes.

In any case, any instructor/DM anywhere, not to mention in places like CA, ought to be on the lookout for such reactions, esp during the first OWD with a class. I wouldn't like to think this was a "near miss," and somehow it really doesn't sound like one.

 

[g1138]

Generally anyone who has enough breath to repeatedly say "I'm drowning" or otherwise speak at all are in fact not drowning but rather they're just in a state of panic.

I too wouldn't call it a near miss. Just another small incident that was handled well.
I think you did the right thing by making contact and then standing by until the team exited the water.

 

[mattaphore]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. In hindsight, "near-miss" is probably an overstatement for this incident. I'm glad it was handled well by their lead diver and I agree that it was more panic than a case of actual drowning.

It startled me to hear "I'm drowning!" come out of nowhere on an otherwise calm day at the breakwater. I suppose on a Saturday morning with a lot of students coming out for checkout dives, there's a higher chance of encountering a task-loaded, potentially stressed diver.

Thanks, Chuck, I made an oopsy with the date; this took place on 9/17/2011.