Two fatalities in Monterey

[Stoo]

Apparently it is quite common for divers who are unconscious or already deceased while at depth to embolize on the ascent.

Ayisha, I'm sorry to take exception, but I think most research says otherwise.... Including that done by our own Dr. Harper years ago. The head of an unconscious or deceased diver will inevitably flop backwards allowing any air to escape without trauma.

This accident sounds a lot like a number of double fatalities that occurred in Tobermory some years ago when I ran a dive operation there. Typically, one diver had "some" problem... often a regulator freeze-up... which led to an attempt to share air, which went badly. These accidents where classic "task-loading" events, often in relatively inexperienced divers. I simple "thing"... out of air, a dislodged mask, a tank slipping from a harness for example... set into play a series of increasingly difficult events from which there ultimately was no escape. I single, easily resolved problem, resulted in a double fatality.

 

[mdb]

B
Although this was almost 100 posts ago, I just got around to getting caught up today and I'm surprised no one (that I saw) picked up on this . . .
b


Lest anyone get the wrong impression, I think the qualifier "10%" was omitted. As in "In the "old days" the mantra was 10% of your body weight plus 5 lbs. when diving in a 6-7mm wetsuit in CA waters.

I'm pretty sure that if you think I need 190 pounds of lead (my body weight + 5 pounds) to keep me down, I'll be kept down a lot longer than I'd like. Besides, I don't think I've seen the BC on the market yet that has 190 pounds of lift. (Perhaps a model made by Goodyear???)



- Ken

Thanks for the correction Ken.

Yes; of course the usual advice was 10% of your body weight plus 5 lbs. I am 5'11" and 170 lbs. The 22 lbs of weight I use seems to work just find with my custom skin two hood attached FJ 7mm suit.

The suit fits like a glove is comfortable and flexible and drys very quickly.

 

[mdb]

This thread has almost 26,000 views.

Despite the few hateful comments the majority of divers have responded with good thoughts.

I hope we all, old and new, learn from this discussion.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

This discrepancy of whether the boys finished their O/W certification on the Friday or were experienced divers has still not been resolved.

If they completed their O/W on Friday, then the fatal dive would have been their second dive post-cert, as Thal has mentioned; in other words, their 7th lifetime dive.
If they were experienced divers, we still don't know for how long or how many dives they had done and in what conditions.

I don't think there's a discrepancy at all ...

While Carson City is the state capital, "we're a small town of 55,000 people, with one high school," said parent Eric Dardert, whose son, Logan Dardert, was one of the students who came to Monterey Bay for a diving adventure with his Carson High School classmates.

Students at the school gathered in the parking lot Monday morning for a candlelight vigil, Dardert said, adding that students on the diving trip have returned home.

"They're standing around kind of in a fog, waiting for answers," he said.

"It's hit the town hard. The boys were both on the football team, both were going to be starting linemen on the varsity next season. They were good, all-around boys," he said. "They've been to my house before. I knew them both personally."

Dardert said the students were all certified as scuba divers and went diving at Lake Tahoe, 20 minutes south of Carson City, "many times. It's not like they were first-time-in-the-water divers."

I think the information from the parent of one of the kids involved ... someone who knew these kids personally ... is more credible than that of some anonymous poster on ScubaBoard who doesn't ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Their gear was recovered today by divers off the Silver Prince in
79 feet at Hopkins Deep (I heard the VHF traffic and talked to the
diver who recovered it). Do not read anything into the depth, my
understanding is that it had drifted a bit from the site of the
accident.

 

[Quero]

The number of young divers in the group and the number of adult divers supervising are issues that have been brought up as possible contributing factors.

The parent of one participating teen posted the following to the Comments section of a news source:

My child was on this trip and diving at the same time. There were 4 Dive Masters in the water and one on the boat. There were 2 other adults also diving.

This information appears to support zf2nt's observation

I did notice quite a few adults in the group walking around in dry suits, presumably the instructors/DM's. There did not appear to be a lack of adequate staff with the group.

I realize that it's not the norm for California boats to send dive guides into the water with assigned groups, but these numbers seem to suggest that on this particular dive trip there were, exceptionally, guides in the water with groups.

For anyone familiar with guided group dives from Monterey boats, and especially if you've had experience with guided group dives from this particular boat, can you shed any light on whether briefings cover procedures relating to the separation of a buddy pair from the group, and if so, what procedures typically come into force?

 

[VooDooGasMan]

quero, thats the whole point, there were plenty of dive staff, and when you dive lake Tahoe, it is like a pool, from the site the boys dove is a big rock to the left of the entry point, other rocks, crayfish, and great vis. diving in California is a whole lot different.



Happy Diving

 

[mobeeno]

Their gear was recovered today by divers off the Silver Prince in
79 feet at Hopkins Deep (I heard the VHF traffic and talked to the
diver who recovered it). Do not read anything into the depth, my
understanding is that it had drifted a bit from the site of the
accident.

How many incidents were there? 2 not too long ago and 1 or 2 today?

 

[VooDooGasMan]

scuba, the dive staff on the dive has a choice when they did the dive, can they safely send the children out on a dive and supervise them, or call the dive.

If these two kids were properly trained they would have made it to the surface.

The outcome will be awhile, be patient, everyone involved is responsible, think about the parents, what they seen hands on, and not.

Not out to hang anyone. Instructors teaching children need to only certify them when they are able to dive safely.

Happy Diving

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Mo, just too many, thats for sure.







Happy Diving