about the Seacrest boundary line ...

[Grateful Diver]

In light of yesterday's tragic accident ...

Diving the boundary rope from Cove2 to Cove 3 keeps you deep for a long time. Many folks can't make it on a recreationally-sized tank of air ... and most of those who can will be cutting their reserves short. Unless you've been trained for deep diving, please just don't go there.

Remember to continually monitor your air supply ... especially on deep dives. Being deep for a long time can make you forget because of narcosis. Determine in advance what your rock bottom pressure should be, and keep that number foremost in your brain. When you reach it start heading up to a shallower depth. This is the danger of that dive ... if you have an issue when you're down there, in order to go shallower you have to cut inside the rope and swim toward the pier.

And finally, this ain't a good time of year to be doing the "boundary tour" anyway. Fishermen can, and do, snag that line regularly with salmon lures. If you're down there, they can snag you too.

Please dive safe ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Scubak]

...again Bob, you are so right...
Be careful and dive safe everyone.
K

[Zen Diver v1]

And, if you haven't already, take a Rescue class, learn CPR/First Aid and do an O2 class.

-Valerie

[thelawgoddess]

i just heard about the accident on npr. how tragic. :-( thanks for the heads up gentle reminder(s), bob.

[Pinkpadigal]

I only heard a little about what happened yesterday. Can someone give a full report?

Thanks.

[gcbryan]

In light of yesterday's tragic accident ...

Diving the boundary rope from Cove2 to Cove 3 keeps you deep for a long time. Many folks can't make it on a recreationally-sized tank of air ... and most of those who can will be cutting their reserves short. Unless you've been trained for deep diving, please just don't go there.

Remember to continually monitor your air supply ... especially on deep dives. Being deep for a long time can make you forget because of narcosis. Determine in advance what your rock bottom pressure should be, and keep that number foremost in your brain. When you reach it start heading up to a shallower depth. This is the danger of that dive ... if you have an issue when you're down there, in order to go shallower you have to cut inside the rope and swim toward the pier.

And finally, this ain't a good time of year to be doing the "boundary tour" anyway. Fishermen can, and do, snag that line regularly with salmon lures. If you're down there, they can snag you too.

Please dive safe ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I know you know this Bob but even though it's obvious I'll mention it...if you have an issue while you are deep your only choice isn't to cut inside the rope to go shallower. You can ascend to the proper depth for the air that you do have.

I understand that for a newer diver an open water ascent may not be optimal but I think one must think of it as an option. Otherwise someone can be low on air and use up that air by being preoccupied with swimming hard to get shallow by following the shore.

Diver's should realize that there are many options at their disposal if something does go wrong.

I knew the diver in question here and I'd like to think that some of the other newer divers out there would be able to think outside the box a little more or something like this will happen again.

[Grateful Diver]

I know you know this Bob but even though it's obvious I'll mention it...if you have an issue while you are deep your only choice isn't to cut inside the rope to go shallower. You can ascend to the proper depth for the air that you do have.

I understand that for a newer diver an open water ascent may not be optimal but I think one must think of it as an option. Otherwise someone can be low on air and use up that air by being preoccupied with swimming hard to get shallow by following the shore.

Diver's should realize that there are many options at their disposal if something does go wrong.

I knew the diver in question here and I'd like to think that some of the other newer divers out there would be able to think outside the box a little more or something like this will happen again.

It's a logical suggestion, but for many divers it will compound an already-tense situation.

As those of you who have taken a Rescue class know, dealing with an emergency is as much about managing your stress levels as it is about dealing with the problem. Most newer divers have not ever learned how to do mid-water ascents ... much less mid-water swims. It's one of the reasons I make my AOW students learn this skill ... because as Gray appropriately noted, in some situations it can be an option.

As regards to the boundary rope, I wouldn't recommend it however ... especially this time of year. There is heavy activity on the fishing pier, and diving midwater increases the likelihood of getting snagged. It also increases the likelihood that you will stray from your proper course and either veer toward the pier or out into the shipping lane.

Midwater diving does require some practice, and I urge every diver to get it by practing in shallower water. Start with doing mid-water ascents from about 25 feet, holding stops ever few feet to the surface. Then try doing a dive while you're just far enough off the bottom that you cannot see it. I have my students do an entire dive at 20 feet ... through water that is 40 to 75 feet in depth. It takes away the visual references we all become accustomed to and forces you to rely on other cues ... your depth gauge, ambient light changes, floaties in the water, and ear pressure. Learning how to use those cues is invaluable ... and one step along the path to becoming a more skilled diver.

But for the uninitiated, trying to manage it while also trying to manage an OOA or other "crisis" situation can be more task-loading than you can deal with ... and task-loading is a key factor in the chain of events that can lead to a crisis.

This is why I urge you all to get out and practice the skills you've learned in your classes. Just diving isn't enough, because if everything goes right you won't use many of the skills that you practiced in class ... and they will fade over time. It's better to consign these skills to muscle memory than to be trying to recall how to do them when they're most needed.

If any of you want to practice a mid-water dive sometime, let me know. I'll bring my dive flag out and we can do it under controlled conditions ... I can tell you that of the skills I teach in my AOW, students invariably find it to be the most challenging. Even some very experienced divers have found it difficult ... because they'd never tried it before.

But as Gray said, it's an option to consider in some cases ... and a good skill to have.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[JDR]

I agree Bob. Mid water skills are vital to diving in limited visibility water. The ability to hover at depth and use a compass is an essential skill. it's good to see that you include this in your AOW class.
A few years ago a buddy and I were photographing a sixgill at Seacrest in midwater between 70 and 80 feet. After about 10 minutes of following the shark we realized we had no idea where we were or what direction we had traveled. It was a night dive, vis was about 15 feet and no bottom was in sight. We ascended to 30 feet and began heading West. after about 5 minutes we ascended to 20 feet and began heading South. After an additional 8 minutes of swimming we finally found bottom, followed it up and found ourselves next to Salty's.

[BASSMAN]

[quote="Grateful Diver"]In light of yesterday's tragic accident ...

In light of this tragic accident, I just purchased DAN Insurance for both myself and my( soon to be OW certified) daughter.


D.A.N.

"Don't Leave Ambient air, with out it!" :hello2:

[lamont]

The dive around the boundary cable should really be approached as soft overhead and is not a beginner dive.

Me and Geof did a dive a year or more ago now where we were trying to go down to Olive's den on a night dive, got narced and missed the turn and wound up probably almost to the wooden rubble down there (remains of a pier?). Anyway, Geof (skinny guy, lower SAC) was on an HP100 and i was on an E8-130 and we hadn't planned the dive on 1/2s and it freaked us out a little bit because it seemed like such a longer swim back than it did out, even though we started ascending above 80 fsw right when Geof was hitting his rock bottom. I had actually worked out consumption rates and rock bottom rates and knew the time that Geof had on his gas before he had to ascend, so I knew we were still okay, but it still tweaked me out a little. At that point in time I also didn't have the judgement skills to know when to bail on the boundary cable and/or to bail directly to the surface.

If I was to dive the boundary cable today, I'd plan on using at least E8-130s for all divers and we'd all be using EAN32 (it takes around 25 mins to swim around it and if you have issues or stop to watch a 12-foot 6-gill or whatever you may get delayed, so you need more NDL than 25 mins). Rockbottom pressure (which is the pressure that you would *IMMEDIATELY HEAD TO THE SURFACE DIRECTLY*) would be 1000 psi. That would leave 2200-2500 psi usable. I'd plan on 800 psi / 10 minutes gas consumption and that would give 30 mins of bottom time with 2400 psi -- that gives padding of 5 minutes, plus my SAC is usually a little better than that (but i never bet my life on that). I'd also compute a turn pressure on halves, which would be 2200-2500 / 2 + 1000 psi = 2100-2200 psi. If you want to turn the dive and head out the way you went in on the dive around the boundary cable, that's the turn pressure you need to decide to turn it by. I'm also aware now of a lot more options of how to abort a dive around the boundary cable.

We did the boundary cable awhile back on 30/30 and double-130s/119s and it was actually just really boring. If you're no longer particularly excited by the depth or the 'soft overhead' challenge there's really just not a lot down there -- doing the olive's-den-to-i-beams loop is a little less hazardous and you see a lot more, plus you hit the deeper portion of the dive and the portion of the dive which is directly under the ferry props first and then get away from there. I recovered a fishing lure off the cable just because I was a little bored...

[Maverick]

I really like the boundry line dive and have found that the dive is a longer swim than you think. there is not much to see down there, but if it is not fishing season and it is a night dive there are usually lots of seals and shrimps to keep you entertained.

dive safe and with a buddy you trust in a panic.