Quick question on Rescue

[Prostar]

Hi,

Are there any particularly good reasons, really, that one would try a surface direct/frontal approach? I know they discuss it in the book but if someone was truly panicked on the surface surely going for the sure fire method of getting them buoyant and under control without major risk to oneself (from behind, knee cradle on the tank) would be the obvious choice. Or am I missing something?

TIA,
John

Depends on whether there is an alligator behind the rescuee.

 

[InTheDrink]

I took rescue a long time ago in a very far away place (Singapore, '88). The class was excellent (NAUI) and covered a lot of material. One requirement was a written paper describing all the likely marine injuries and their treatment. This was a LONG research project. Kind of open-ended... And definitely regional...

But here's the problem: the water was warm, weight belts were used with very little weight, buoyancy didn't change much from bottom to top and all we had to deal with was the change caused by air consumption in an Al 80. Sure, we learned all the dance steps but it simply doesn't translate well to cold water with a wetsuit that can lose 25# of buoyancy at great depth.

The surface techniques are all the same, tow and blow is still tow and blow and the requirement for First Aid and CPR were the same (although the standard for CPR has changed over the years).

I think the current approach to rescue around here (Monterey, Lake Tahoe) is deficient in the handling of wetsuit compression. None of the class rescues are done from much depth so the wild swing in buoyancy just isn't a factor. Heck, it could be worse: the victim could have twin 120s and a blown wing!

My only point in all of this is that rescue is not only situational, it requires a lot of thought. Try to figure out what the worst-case scenario might be and try to prepare for it. Worst-case is NOT 10' of water!

Richard

Clearly 10' of water is not worst case scenario. This was day one of pool session remember. A lot of divers round her dive dry, doubles, BP/W, rebreathers, whatever, etc. so I would certainly not be letting my mentality just consider tropical water dives. Do I know how I'd react in real life - of course not. But one thing around here that you'll get is variety and I'll plan as much for that as I can do. At least one of the victims for the OW part of the course will be wearing a dry suit so I'll get to play with that too although I can't say yet from what depth.

Cheers,
J