To help or not to help!!

[htn123]

So there were 6 divers on our boat, our capt and a first mate. 3 beginners, a dive master to watch over the beginners, 2 spearos, and I was one of the spearo. One of the beginners was, shall I say, "large" and he carried a big ar$e camera setup that looked like 50lbs!. We all went in pretty much the same time. The camera guy sank like a rock. 5 of us got back on the boat fine. Well, the camera guy was nowhere to find. About 15 minutes later, we spotted him about 1/2 miles down the current. He was screaming for help!. The capt asked the dive master to go down and unhooked the anchor so we can go and get him. But the camera guy kept on screaming for help. That is when the capt said we can't wait no more and he took one of our fins and mask and jumped in and swam like crazy to get the guy. To make the story short, we got him back on the boat and everything was fine. He did not dive the rest of the trip.

I went through rescue class and dove enough to handle myself and feel pretty comfortable to be able to handle others in stress situations. Been situation where I have to donate air on OOA situations before.

My question is, should I have dove in and helped out with the capt? should I have jumped in and get the camera guy even before the capt say so? Or is this a capt call? liability?

Trying to figure out what is the protocol here. Any boat capt. please jump in and give me some perspective here.

Thanks,
Charles.

 

[fnfalman]

Did you inform the captain that you are a certified rescue diver?

It's still his call as to whether to solicit help from passenger, but if the guy were really drowning, I doubt that either the drowning person nor the captain would give a damn if you were to jump in to help out...as long as you don't complicate the situation.

 

[Blackwood]

I don't know what the legal answer is, but if I hear someone screaming for help, I'm jumping in (assuming I'm able to do so).

 

[j yaeger]

cut the hook loose-take the boat-1/2 mile swim??i'd be too pooped to help...

 

[SteveAD]

Capt. leaving the boat would not be a good call, he's responsible for the whole boat. If anyone should do a swim rescue, should be the DM, but I agree that if it was anything like a 1/2 mile, it would have been much better to cut loose the anchor and do a boat rescue. As for whether you should have pitched in to help, that is a judgemnt call only you can make. If I were there and could have done so safely, I certainly would.

 

[RTee]

Agree with what was previously mentionned by others...especially when the preferred method to assist is to attempt to do so without even getting in the water especially when long distances and current are involved. If the Capt thought the DM was to slow, then he should have ordered to line to be cut and use the boat to go get ''buddy'' rather than leaving the boat to the DM and the mate. I would have had no problem volunteering to get the anchor loose myself either.

 

[Quero]

In a situation where a rescue is imperative, somebody has to be in charge, make procedural decisions, and delegate tasks. The Captain took on this role and assigned the DM to release the anchor. You were correct not to jump into the water at this point. The last thing the person directing a rescue needs is to worry about crowd control or wondering if instead of needing to perform one rescue he will now have to perform two since you jumped into the water without being asked to help.

Whether the Captain made the right call by leaving the vessel to perform the rescue himself is hard to say. If the boat was still at anchor, I fail to see that the risk of leaving the boat would be greater than not performing an immediate rescue, especially since it's likely that the first mate would be able to pilot the boat to pick up the rescuer and the victim once the DM managed to get the anchor free. (I assume that since the current carried the victim a half mile away from the boat, towing him back to the boat against the current would be at best difficult and at worst impossible.)

Your question, though, is about protocol, and I think you did the right thing. If the Captain had wanted to know if there was a Rescue Diver available to assist, he could have asked.

 

[kanonfodr]

hmm...it's ultimately the captain's decision, and you can certainly avail yourself as a certified rescue diver but many factors must be ascertained to make a correct decision. The end result is definitely important, but the means to that end (ie only making one rescue instead of 2 or possibly more) is just as important.

Personally I feel that the correct decision would be to undo/cut the anchor line as the boat will reach a diver faster than any diver will, period. And at that point, you have more able hands to help with the rescue itself, that's always a benefit. But seeing as we only have a small appreciation of the event, it's hardly our place to judge the actions of another.

Peace,
Greg

 

[String]

The one thing that strikes me with this post isn't the incident itself but what cerial packet the "captain" got his licence from!

He puts a boat in a position where its unable to respond promptly to any sort of emergency and in addition an area of current (ok lots seem to do this but why would you hook a boat in?! You cant respond quickly to anything!) and then he leaves his boat to SWIM in a current to a casualty meaning both him and the casualty are a long way from first aid and help.

Even if you do insist on the warped idea of hooking anchors in if you do that and there's an emergency you cut the anchor. Simple as that. Then you take the vessel to the casualty.

If i'd have been in that position there's no way id jump off a perfectly seaworthy boat with an engine to swim 1/2 a mile in a current! The only sensible outcome is move the boat.

 

[Laurie S.]

We had something similar happen this weekend while diving in San Carlos, Mexico. I'm a SSI stress and rescue diver and am now interning as a PADI divemaster. We had a boat full of experienced divers and about five or six divemasters and instructors. One couple, who didn't listen to the briefing well enough, surfaced beyond North Point and were taken by the current. We spotted their safety sausage and several of us (including me) prepared to go get them. But, the captain said no, and released the stern anchor rope and pulled the bow anchor. They probably were a quarter mile at least and drifting away in a very strong current. The boat got there quickly and we tossed the life preservers. They were fine, just pooped. Then we went back to where we had been anchored and a crew member from another dive boat that was anchored there helped to get our stern anchor hooked up again.