We had a local scuba death here on 19 July.
Here’s what we know from the paper/radio reports: A 48 year old Warner Robins man drowned in Lake Tobosofkee while testing out some new scuba gear to get ready for a trip to the Bahamas. He jumped in the water with his air turned off. He was certified O/W at our LDS back in 2002 and had taken no other classes from them after that date. No one knows how much or how little diving he has done since then, but his mother said he was a "very experienced diver."
Now, here’s my take on it: My personal opinion is the guy hadn’t been in the water for a few years. He wanted to do some diving in the Bahamas, so he went and bought new equipment and was going to test it out. He went in the water by himself but had a surface support person with him. (A non-diver support person) After he went in, he realized his air wasn’t turned on, he panicked, tried to turn on the air and drowned in the process. The non-diving surface support had no idea what to look for and didn’t realize anything was wrong for an hour. They found his body 4 hours after he went in, in 15 feet of water.
A few things I want to bring to the surface here: Just because you have been certified for a number years, does not make you a "very experienced" diver. Honestly, if you got certified in 2005 and never did any dives after your check dives, you aren’t a diver at all. You are someone that went through the class. The ONLY thing that is going to make you an experienced diver is diving.. The more dives you get under your belt, the better diver you are going to be. Along with the number of dives, diving in different conditions will also help your experience level. If you only dive in tropical, no current/high viz situations, how are you going to know how to react is there is a sudden current situation or low viz problem?
Also, those checklists they teach us in class are there for a reason.. If the guy had done the "check both regs, purge buttons and low pressure inflator" he would have noticed his air was off because, even with residual air, there wouldn’t be enough to complete that check. If this guy was as experienced as they were saying in the paper, he would have done his checks and inflated his BC before jumping in the water. (Remember SORTD: Signal, Orient, Regulator, Time, Descend) You can’t do that check list if you drop directly below the surface after entering the water) Also, the guy must have been over-weighted to the gills since he just sunk and couldn’t get back to the surface.
I’m not going to go into the buddy diving/solo diving debate. That’s a personal preference and I believe, with the zero type viz at Tobo, a buddy would have made no difference. BUT, if he would have had a topside support person that was a diver, they would have noticed within 30 seconds there were no bubbles coming up and figured there was a problem.
All in all, there wasn’t just one thing that killed him, it was an unbroken chain of bad decisions and events. He hadn’t been in the water for a long time(my opinion), bought new equipment and wasn’t familiar with it, didn’t check equipment after putting it together, jumped in the water without a systems check, had a non-diving support person, used a zero viz water source to do his checkout dive, and last but not least, panicked underwater and tried to turn on his air instead of getting out of the equipment and bolting to the surface.
How can you and anyone else avoid this?
1. If you haven’t been in the water in a long time, take a refresher course!! Just because you have a C-card, don’t think you know how to do it. Get in a pool, get some time with an Instructor, DM or if there aren’t any of those your immediate area, a "real" experienced diver to help you out. All of us are willing to help you if you want us to help out..
2. If you buy new equipment, test it in a controlled environment. (pool or whatever) Again, have experienced help with you.
3. Always do your equipment checks!!! When you do your pre-dive equipment checks, it will let you know if you have a problem before it’s too late. (BWRAF: BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, Friend) 4. Always get your equipment serviced..
5. Stay calm and make the right decision. Since this has happened, I had it running through my mind what I would do if this exact scenario happened to me. Now, the decision is ingrained. Rip out of the equipment and bolt to the surface.

This was a tragic accident that didn’t need to happen. And, I’m hoping that each of us can take something away from this story and learn from his mistake.
Stay safe!!
Dale

Comments

raftriver - 8/14/2009 9:31 PM Dale, What I take from that is you should never take your skills for granted. The reality of diving is you are the only one who can save yourself when its time. Jim

charstew - 8/04/2009 11:45 PM It is really hard to tell what went wrong. Obviously they did an equiptment investigation and found air off. Solo diving debate aside he should check his air supply and I am guessing he never turned it on and like you said overweighted. Low vis and an unqualed top tender. Probably no current so he should have gone in positive. (Air in the BC) I have had the drills of air turned off Mask ripped off reg ripped from my mouth the whole 9 yards so over all I would be wondering about the course he took. Was it a real course or a pencil whip.

bubblesup - 7/30/2009 4:25 PM Condolences to family and friends. Tragic error in judgement. Don’t believe in predestination. Choices, either good or bad have consequences. We don’t know what happened below the water but we do know what happened above.

dalehall - 7/28/2009 10:07 AM Some of my article is speculation and I specifically stated it was my opinion in the write up. Everything else was written based on pure and simple facts. Number up or not, I still think it was needless death and it could have been prevented had the chain of bad decisions and events been broken at one point. Rumor had it that Earnhardt’s seatbelt was either loosened or frayed to point that it broke. If that was true, then if it was tightened or replaced prior to the 500, he might have lived. We’ll really never know.. Fact is, like you mentioned, we do what we can control. We can everything in our power to make sure it doesn’t happen. I don’t beleive this diver did that. And, if he did, I believe the outcome could have been different.

OLDFART - 7/28/2009 9:24 AM You know you are speculating because really you have no idea what happened. Not to long ago I read in a PADI publication about a very seasoned diver drowning. Why??? It gave a bunch of reasons, but the bottom line is that when your # is bunched your out of here no matter what you do or how much experience you have. Classic example is Dale Earnhardt. I know he wasn’t diving, but he had experienced in what he was doing. You need to take precautions and do follow ALL the rules, but sometimes shit happens, so you better be ready. Tom

millertime - 7/28/2009 7:58 AM You said a mouthful. It seems to me that you are right on target. The more that you dive, the more things that you see. Some make me cringe.

dalehall - 7/27/2009 2:53 PM Absolutely!!

LatitudeAdjustment - 7/27/2009 2:40 PM Even experinced divers need to watch out when doing something different, I saw a DM with only lake dives jump off a boat and swim down current and need to rescued.