Two fatalities in Monterey

[DevonDiver]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Moved to Accidents and Incidents

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[diversteve]

threads merged...

 

[ItsBruce]

That idea of remove and hold came up kinda late in this thread actually, a new one to me but made good sense once presented - but why not on OOA, which was why weight ditching below was suggested? OOA is the prime emergency to me; most other problems are challenges to evaluate and deal with - and weight dumping may still be chosen in time.

My training on this was quite a while ago. However, my current thoughts are that when you go OOA, time should not be taken to remove and hold weights, even if it is only a second or two. It is more important to get air, which should be done first. BTW: everything assumes a diver is not grossly overweighted and can swim up (if that is the choice instead of getting to a buddy).

 

[edm81363]

I received a communication from one of the instructional team

Does the presence of an "instructional team" indicate that these divers were students in a class?

Any idea of what the ratios were? How many in the "instructional team"?

The possibility of a night dive leads me to suspect that they may have been taking AOW.

A few simple facts could clear up so much. But, alas...

 

[ItsBruce]

I don't think I've ever had to post anything like the following, but this time I simply had to do do:

Ed; have you been reading this thread or did you just jump in and figure you had to say something?

 

[edm81363]

8. A BCD cannot be inflated underwater if the tank is empty - either by the power inflator or by mouth.

Huh? Why would that be true? I've disconnected my (stuck) LPI before and orally inflated during a dive with no problems. The BCD is only affected by the tank when the LPI valve is in the open position. If you are not pressing the inflate button, the BCD will hold air regardless of the source.

Perhaps I'm missing something about your statement, or there was a word missing?

 

[DiverLS]

FYI:

I live in Reno, NV and work in Carson City, NV. Here's what I've pieced together about this tragedy:

The two young men were best friends, 16 and 17. I think they were in Monterey for their 5th dive for O/W on Friday. The diving on Saturday was post O/W cert. The store that booked the trip is a NAUI store.

The divers who recovered the young men stripped their gear. Because there is information somewhere that one tank was empty and one was very near empty, it must have come from the divers who recovered the bodies. There is a search being made in Monterey for their equipment. According to the information in the local papers, finding the gear is paramount for the cornor's inquisition.

Both sets of parents have been bouyed by the way both boys were mourned at Carson High school. The young people at Carson High have getting help from the clergy and grief councelers. Last night at dusk they released over 500 blue or white baloons at sunset with messages for their lost friends.

So my prayers are with all of them, the boys who died and the people they left.

I hope this helps answer a few questions in your own minds.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

A BCD cannot be inflated underwater if the tank is empty - either by the power inflator or by mouth.

Huh? Why would that be true? I've disconnected my (stuck) LPI before and orally inflated during a dive with no problems.....
Perhaps I'm missing something about your statement, or there was a word missing?

I took it to mean that if your tank was empty and you were out of air, that you wouldn't have anything to breathe into the inflator. I mean, say you had breathed in from the tank, thought everything was okay, then exhaled and gone to breathe in again, and found no air. So now there you are, OOA, and you have just exhaled.

Presumably raftingtigger meant that the theoretical person's BC could not be inflated further from whatever its current state was.

I have not been in this situation, thankfully, so I don't know exactly how it would be; I'm just saying how I interpreted raftingtigger's assertion.
Blue Sparkle

 

[boulderjohn]

A small kick up should initiate an ascent very easily -- air expands in the BCD and neoprene expands as the ambient pressure decreases. Perhaps divers need to learn how to be "neutrally" buoyant at depth. That's something I learned in my PADI basic OW class.

Don't forget that as you ascend your wetsuit will expand a little as ambient pressure decreases. Also, as you use up air from your tank, this should make you more "positively" buoyant.

I have frequently conducted OW checkout dives for students in 7 mm suits after they were pool trained in 3 mm shorties. It is vital to warn students about the difference carefully and have them do several ascents to get the hang of it before doing the CESA. In the ascents they did in the deep end of the pool, changing buoyancy on ascent is mostly an academic exercise, because there isn't much change. In a 7 mm suit, though, the change is dramatic, especially as they get closer to the surface. If they don't learn to dump air as they ascend, they will end up on a rocket ride to the surface.

The opposite is also true. Some instructors make the mistake of telling students during OW work to dump all the air out of a BCD before doing an ascent. That works just fine in a thin tropical wet suit, but it can be a quick ride to the bottom in a 7 mm suit.

Based on where they lived (and, I assume, trained) and the fact that they had done a couple dives at that location previously, these divers should have been aware of this.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

She's got it. Can't inflate with no air in your lungs to do that.