Rescue procedure if diver blown off wreck?

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You're just making excuses for laziness and incompetence. The Escapade is a great dive boat, but other boats do things the same way all over the world. It's not hard or complex. Doing it right becomes realistic as soon as paying customers demands better service. I don't listen to incompetent captains.


If calling me names somehow vindicates your assertions then carry on.

My statements didn’t exclude listening to the captain / crew of our local boat.
 
Lazy and incompetent assertions were implied; perhaps I phrased it poorly.
 
In the Sound of Mull when diving the Shuna the dive starts with a negative entry, (as soon as the marker buoy surfaces with the dropping current). Holding onto the line if the current picks up early just pulls the buoy underwater. The captain’s brief is to deploy a DSMB and get picked up down stream (sometimes over a mile from the wreck). I know divers who have used the line only to meet the buoy at 10m.
 
Whatever the possible solutions, the plan for this eventuality needs to be made before anyone gets in the water. I don't think divers following others in to the blue/green is the solution unless they are a buddy team.

When I dived in the most insane current I've ever experienced (Spiegel Grove), the skipper said that if we lost the wreck/shot line, he'd never see us again. That focused the mind. Brave talk from an operator that just threw a couple of tourists unguided in to the maelstrom!
 
No point in more divers floating away when not expected. Stay with anchor/mooring line, ascend ASAP without endangering yourself and advise crew. In any case they should already be watching down current.
 
Too many variables for any one answer. Is the boat anchored, drifting, or chained into a wreck. How much current on bottom? On surface? 50 yards from boat when you surface? 200 yards? Calm or panicky? 20 yo athlete or 60 yo potato? SMB or no SMB? 6 divers in water or 20? What did the captain tell you in the briefing? Are you weighted properly to float good at surface? Can you get to your weights to dump them? 1st boat dive or 500th?

Only consistent advice I can give, don't panic.
 
One trick the diver can try in this situation is taking a bearing on the current direction before ascending and swimming against it on ascent/stops. If you can make headway or if the current is lower at shallower depths you can surface closer to the boat or even upstream of it.

The biggest debate here is whether the dive boat goes to get the adrift diver before or after all the other divers are up. I've been on boats who's procedure is to leave a buoy on the anchor or mooring line to let the remaining divers deco and surface there while the boat goes to pick up whoever is adrift. And I've been on boats with the policy that engines don't run while divers are in the water and anyone adrift is picked up only after all other divers are onboard. Both have serious pros and cons. Perhaps the best method is a separate rescue dinghy.
 
It's been stated already, but it bears repeating.

#1 rule in a rescue is to not create additional victims. If you and/or your buddy leave the ascent line, then you run that risk of creating additional victims.

If I were presented with this situation, I'd expect the other group to launch a DSMB, and ascend together. I would complete a safe ascent (may skip safety stop if Surf GF is acceptable), surface, get on the boat and alert the crew of the situation. Assist by keeping a watch on the DSMB.
 

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