Diver accident at Redondo 5-15

[luv 2 dive]

Dave and I were at Redondo today around noon and there were a couple cop cars there and news camera men. The told us that there had been a class earlier and a women and her son corked to the surface and had to do CPR on the woman.
Does anyone have any update info???

[coachrenz]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37168963/

or

http://www.king5.com/news/Diving-accide ... 52694.html

But they appear to be the same article.

[BASSMAN]

Why even try to do classes in this kind of vis? I would think, one would like their first dives in PS to be good?
If my first dive here was in this kind of vis, I think I would not have become a Scuba-holic. And just dive warm waters.
If I was to even continue diving at all.

Well I hope and pray, all, who were involved in this unfortunate incident, are recovering fully.

[G2G]

Deleted

[girldiver]

G2G...Thanks.

(Hmmm...now that the prior posting has been deleted...this really doesn't make any sense...but I'll leave this edit up anyway...weird stuff on the board today.)

[Dive Monkey]

It was horrible thing that this had to happen. But I am VERY VERY happy that the lady was revived! This makes for a good start for my day!

[kdupreez]

very very unfortunate accident - I had an OW class at Alki and Viz was not great either. You have to be very careful in these conditions on how you conduct classes and how many people you take down at a time.

I have no idea on who the dive store or instructor or staff was and I dont want to start this topic off into a flaming war, but its not right for a bystander to throw slanderous accusations towards staff or dive operations based on opinion. Without being personally present in the water and have first hand account of what happened, there is no reasonable way to make such accusations without the facts.

My thoughts go out to the near drowning victim and I really hope all turns out ok.

[G2G]

Deleted

[kdupreez]

Wow!! I am sure your wife is going through trying times after the incident and will take time to get over the personal trauma. I honestly get where your'e coming from and it must've been a hell of an ordeal.

I really hope neither of you (being new-ish divers), will look with jaded eyes on scuba diving, its tough to get back in the water after something like that.

But you are right, Instructors have an unyielding obligation to use their sound judgement in order to provide students with a safe and fun experience.

Your wife is for sure an amazing human being for risking her own life in the attempt to save another.

Best wishes to you and the victim!!

[spatman]

[quote=]*[/quote]

i completely respect the gravity of the situation and what your wife went through, but i don't understand why you are asking for people to PM you for the details. it seems you really want to tell the story, yet there's no way to write a report about your and your wife's experiences without naming the specific shop or instructors?

[ljjames]

huge huge props to your wife...

i am sorry that she had to experience that.... but i am glad she was there.....

[BASSMAN]

I did not get any details but a co-worker/ friend of mine told me, he had a son , 12 years old ,just got certified and he was at Redondo and saw the V W bug. But then at some point, he ran out of air and the divemaster was there to help him out. WHat?!!! I personally would like to know what shop this is and if it is the same shop, I would make sure I do not recommend this shop to anyone. (PM sent)
I have people asking me at least once a week, "Where do I go to learn?"

[sbro235]

I was at the scene and due to work, I am unable to post my full response of the incident. I see a lot of views and postings, please hold posting until I can get access to a computer. If viewing hold judgements and return for my additional info.

[Norris]

This may get interesting.....

stay tuned

[Geek]

Another case of the disappearing posts... maybe (Censored) made a phone call and threats were issued.... horse heads ended up on somones pillow....

[spatman]

Another case of the disappearing posts... maybe (Censored) made a phone call and threats were issued.... horse heads ended up on somones pillow....

disappeared at G2G's request.

[Luapele]

I was at the scene and due to work, I am unable to post my full response of the incident. I see a lot of views and postings, please hold posting until I can get access to a computer. If viewing hold judgements and return for my additional info.

I would like to see your thoughts on the matter. I have spoke to many people that were at the dive site and I was at the site for their first dive and had to go up to my dive center to help with tank fills.

[Old Nubbins]

This may get interesting.....

stay tuned

I find all the new people posting in this thread quite interesting.....

Or am I reading too much into it?

[sbro235]

I would like to acknowledge that G2G removed his post. Thank you. I also believe that it is time to share what happened and remove all the speculation that could only cause harm to the victim's family, the participants at the scene as well as the dive center involved.

I agree that G2G's wife was and is a hero but she was not the only hero at the scene.

I was an instructor at the scene. I know who G2G and his wife are, and have no issues with them.

Here are some facts of the scene that have not been publicly mentioned:

" I will not address G2G's opinions. He already told us that he is not an experienced diver (12 dives according to his profile) and has not dove in the NW water. So he has admitted that he is not an expert nor qualified to properly ascertain a situation as this. No fault of his own, just lack of knowledge with northwest diving.
" Diver to instructor ration for the Open Water Class was 1:1
" At 30-40' depth, visibility was 40'
" Staff at the site consisted of 5 instructors (one is a paramedic and one is a DAN instructor)
" A panicked diver situation occurred where the student threw his regulator and bolted to the surface
" The instructor controlled the boy and took him to the surface where he was safely taken to shore.
" The subsequent massive silt cloud further complicated the situation.
" Once at the surface the instructor realized the buddy had not surfaced with them they immediately directed 911 be called and initiated a search for the diver below.
" Simultaneously the instructor of G2G's wife located the victim.
" By the time the instructors at the surface began dropping down for a search, G2G's instructor began effecting a text book surfacing.
" Once at the surface, the instructor managed the victim.
" The instructor began removing the victims gear and began towing to shore with the aid of a responding assistant instructor and G2G's wife.
" Once on shore G2G's wife assisted by conducting chest compressions (by the way she is a paramedic), while one instructor conducted rescue breaths and other instructors not only secured the scene for safety but managed the students and emergency services (that had been contacted by the staff). FACT - through the staffs training, experience, and teamwork that has been developed through the dive center, and caring for the people they dive with, the diver is alive and is excited about completing her training with the same staff. It was only through the competence and confidence of the staff that this did in fact turn out to be a positive outcome.
" All the remaining students returned to complete their dive training the next day. All saw the teamwork that occurred and have expressed interest in becoming rescue divers.

" Contrary to previous posts, the above facts are public record and are irrefutable.

" G2G's wife continued and completed her drysuit dive certification training with her original instructor this evening and are looking forward to diving with each other in the future. I was fortunate to assist in the dive causing the delay of this post.


I too am the husband of a diver and the father of three children who dive. I understand the sheer terror that comes over you in a situation such as this. I grant you that. I chose the dive center in question due to their safety record of 15 yrs without an incident in an Open Water class. I trusted my children to them because they are concerned for the safety and high level of training they demand of their staff. I believe it's time you talk to people who know and understand what happened and gain some understanding of the day including the preparation prior to entering the water. I would not be surprised if the entire staff would be willing to talk to you openly.

I sincerely ask that G2G contact myself and/or the dive center owners and if there are valid concerns, let's identify them and look for solutions. We are always looking to become better and safer, if you can add to that, we are all better off.

[cardiver]

40' of viz at Redondo this past weekend?

[ljjames]

vis at a depth of 30-40' was 40'?

the rest of the sound is craptastic right now... the best i've seen in the past two weeks in the mid sound has been 10' at 60-70'. Given i don't dive Redondo much, and for sure i was not there the day of the occurrence, so it could be possible, i'm just a bit of a skeptic.

Looking at the vis reports for the past two weeks also do not show Redondo having anything more than ~10'.

[spatman]

this has got to be one of the weirdest incident report threads i've ever seen evolve on nwdc.

[girldiver]

At low tide...on a huge exchange day...in the middle of algae bloom...40'?

I'm not a skeptic...I'm calling b.s.

I've never cancelled classes due to 40' of visibility...I cancelled on Saturday due to having 5' of visibility.

[sbro235]

that vis is what was reported by some of the divers at that time at Redondo on that day. Not just a couple of divers either. I have been diving Redondo consitantly for the last couple of weeks and have experienced poor vis down to 70 and clear at 20 in those two weeks. Just got out a couple of hrs ago and found 20' vis at 40'.

[LCF]

One of the scariest things about instructing in our poor viz is what you do when a student either bolts or has buoyancy issues, and another student is on the bottom. Since you stated that you had a 1:1 instructor to student ratio, how did this woman end up on the bottom alone? I can see it if you were running 1:2 (not uncommon or even unwarranted, except in our recent horrible viz) but not 1:1.