I have seen a lot of discussions and unanswered questions about local SCUBA diving accidents on the board.
My mom told me about the following accident she read in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week and I found a link to the divers blog in a seperate news story (see url below). This accident hit close to home for me, since I was thinking of diving at this lake with lizard0924 prior to moving here and I have been at two of the Lake Michigan wrecks the victim was interested in.
It was sad to read about how much the victim loved SCUBA diving and his concern about diving safely in his blog. We might never know what caused this accident, or the local accidents, but it is clear in this case that accidents happen to people who are concerned about their safety and believe that they are well prepared. I know I'll be asking myself the next time I dive how well prepared I am to dive safely for my dive plan.
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news ... ly-12-2010
Rapid Ascent Cited in Scuba Death Near Black River Falls, WI
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psundquist
- Avid Diver
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:10 pm
Re: Rapid Ascent Cited in Scuba Death Near Black River Falls
How very awful for their families :(
The student was ready.
it's nice to have low expectations, sometimes - lcf
I said keep going, not start whining -airsix
it's nice to have low expectations, sometimes - lcf
I said keep going, not start whining -airsix
Re: Rapid Ascent Cited in Scuba Death Near Black River Falls
This particular "rapid ascent" seemed to have the added factor of missed deco obligations. Its hard to tell from the various reports/articles exactly how deep they were, what their gases were, what their bottom time was, or even what precipitated the rapid ascent and how rapid it was (i.e. a 20min ascend from 100ft recreational dive can be "slow" but its really "fast" from a 20min dive at 250ft). Doesn't seem like any additional information about their profiles or what intiated the ascent will be forthcoming.
Sounder wrote:Under normal circumstances, I would never tell another man how to shave his balls... but this device should not be kept secret.
Re: Rapid Ascent Cited in Scuba Death Near Black River Falls
From everything I've read about this accident, it sounds as though it was the nightmare none of us ever want to face: stuck at depth, with a significant deco obligation, and a buddy having a medical emergency. Not too long ago, a diver sent his ailing buddy to the surface with an inflated BC. He lived, but the buddy died. This time, the able-bodied diver took his incapacitated buddy to the surface, and both of them died.
This is the kind of thing one has to think about before doing staged decompression diving, and it is part of the reason that I will never do any more aggressive deco diving than I do now.
This is the kind of thing one has to think about before doing staged decompression diving, and it is part of the reason that I will never do any more aggressive deco diving than I do now.
"Sometimes, when your world is going sideways, the second best thing to everything working out right, is knowing you are loved..." ljjames
Re: Rapid Ascent Cited in Scuba Death Near Black River Falls
LCF, I've thought about the same thing many times if I were to do deco dives and someone had a medical emergency. It truely would be a terrible situation, but can you justify skipping your own deco obligations to bring a buddy to the surface? I guess it depends how far into deco you are but it seems like potential death for one is a better option than potential death for 2.
Not to sound harsh, but I say inflate his BCD and do your deco.
It should be something that is discussed and understood before the dive and the divers should also discuss it with their family so in case something happens, there is no blaming going on.
Everybody accepts the inherant risks when they do deco dives. If i was in the same situation, I wouldn't want my buddy to kill himself trying to possibly save me.
Not to sound harsh, but I say inflate his BCD and do your deco.
It should be something that is discussed and understood before the dive and the divers should also discuss it with their family so in case something happens, there is no blaming going on.
Everybody accepts the inherant risks when they do deco dives. If i was in the same situation, I wouldn't want my buddy to kill himself trying to possibly save me.