Northwest Dive Club

Article in Seattle Times

The Bainbridge Island Fire Department started a search for a missing diver from South Beach Drive about 2:30 p.m ...

The Bainbridge News has a corroborating story.

More details from Bainbridge News, sounds like they spent the evening in recovery mode.

74-84 feet deep is essentially the middle of Rich Passage. Right under the ferry :(
And the ebb was 2.3kn at 13:30 so right about the time he went missing.
I don't know what kind of safety plan DNR geoduck survey divers are required to prepare/file or what the dive plan might have been (drift?). But for this area and day, conditions were "not divable" for me.

And only 24yo, RIP fellow diver.

CaptnJack wrote:74-84 feet deep is essentially the middle of Rich Passage. Right under the ferry :(
And the ebb was 2.3kn at 13:30 so right about the time he went missing.
I don't know what kind of safety plan DNR geoduck survey divers are required to prepare/file or what the dive plan might have been (drift?). But for this area and day, conditions were "not divable" for me.

And only 24yo, RIP fellow diver.

Certainly not a time and place I would have chosen. Rich passage can be tough even on a low exchange in that area. Unfortunate when your diving on an hourly wage reason does not always rule!

Sad times for the family and friends. I hope they can recover the body for the sake of closure for the family.

There's a LOT we don't know here. I'm hoping we can get tons more information so we and other divers can figure out what to learn from this sad event. Meanwhile, my heart goes out to his family and friends.

body recovered:

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/jul/ ... ver-found/

lamont wrote:body recovered:

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/jul/ ... ver-found/

That's a tough read. I feel for the survivors. Glad they recovered the body. RIP, and all that. It seems sort of wrong that he died on a working dive for the State- I bet there's going to be a LOT of fallout from this death.

RIP. Sad. I feel for his family.

Joshua Smith wrote:A disturbing report on this fatality

Good thing I started rehab this week.

spatman wrote:

Joshua Smith wrote:A disturbing report on this fatality

Good thing I started rehab this week.

Do they start you off with ramen therapy ?

spatman wrote:

Joshua Smith wrote:A disturbing report on this fatality

Good thing I started rehab this week.

You were supposed to wait a week so we could do it together!

I didn't know that the NACD was training commercial divers these days.


FWIW the Seattle Times also has a brief followup.

renoun wrote:I didn't know that the NACD was training commercial divers these days.


FWIW the Seattle Times also has a brief followup.

Good one! John R. Made a similar comment on the phone this morning.

I think it is terribly sad this thread has turned to jokes--by moderators no less. This was still a human being who has a family out there who could be reading this. It sounds like he made a terrible mistake--no argument there. But still, let's be respectful.

I can agree only to a certain point. I think it is a shame, but I would be willing to bet it was not the first time he dove while high on coke.

Diving has enough inherrent risk in it as it is, without adding the loss of common sense that drug usage causes. I guess the only bright side of this is that he didn't take anyone else out with him.

I'm going to shut up now before I really go on a tear about illegal drug usage and come across as totally insensitive to those who use illegally.

I'm having time a hard time mustering some sympathy for this guy now. He decided to do a high risk dive while under the influence of an illegal substance. Following his untimely demise, he then put others at risk for the recovery of his body. I'd probably sound a little more callous mentioning that since he was a state employee and having done some work at his agency's headquarters, it's just another waste of our tax dollars from the DOE... but that is another discussion for another time.

Do I feel sorry for his family? Of course I do, but because he made a stupid decision while alive, I don't feel it should merit sympathy because he died.

enchantmentdivi wrote:I think it is terribly sad this thread has turned to jokes--by moderators no less. This was still a human being who has a family out there who could be reading this. It sounds like he made a terrible mistake--no argument there. But still, let's be respectful.

No disrespect to the deceased's family was intended, and it is indeed tragic when loved ones are taken so suddenly. I speak from experience, not as just a member of the peanut gallery.

But humor has its place as a coping mechanism for tragedy. Some levity should be tolerated if not appreciated during times like this.

I have no sympathy for this diver or anyone else that does illegal drugs.

On the other hand a feel extremely sorry for the family and friends who have been hit with yet another tragedy. The accident was tragedy enough to have to cope with but to get hit with something like this after the fact is extremely heartbreaking. I grieve for them and hope they can weather this awful news.

For anyone among us who might be using or thinking about it, and I sincerely hope there are none, Please take this as a warning and seek help. To get well you must first admit you have a problem and ask for help.

The loss of any diver hurts us all but to lose one for a reason like this is doubly hurtful. However if one other diver is saved by this at least something good came of it.

I usually do not participate in these arguments because it is similar to arguing religion. However, having lost family members to drugs I find these callous comments very disturbing. I have known very few drug addicts that wanted to be that way. It is a sickness and unless you have lost someone to drugs it really isn't fair to be so insensitive. The bottom line is that life was lost, period! No one knows when or what circumstances led to drug abuse. It is a truly sad situation no matter what the circumstances were. My heart goes out to everyone who was affected by this loss. And I pray no one ever has to deal with drug addiction in any way. Believe me that the only thing powerful enough to bring someone out of the depths of drug abuse is love and compassion, not fear and condemnation.

I agree with everything you say, Scubie, but the diver didn't die due to drug abuse. He drowned while he was stoned. For all we know, he may not have had a history of drug problems and just made a fatal error in judgement.

spatman wrote:I agree with everything you say, Scubie, but the diver didn't die due to drug abuse. He drowned while he was stoned. For all we know, he may not have had a history of drug problems and just made a fatal error in judgement.

Cocaine is known to cause cardiac arrhythmia, myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), and hypertension. If we are to speculate, a cardiac event (that we wouldn't expect in a young healthy person) might very well be causal or contributing to this man's death. I think that a cardiac event is much more likely to have contributed to this mans demise than any impaired judgment on his part. I suspect in the near future we'll also be hearing about some significant shortcomings in DNR's dive program too.

All joking aside I think our society is rather constrained by being unwilling to view addiction as a disease process rather than a character flaw. One of my best friends is currently getting sub-specialty training addiction medicine. I'd be happy to respond to PM's about local detox and treatment programs.

fishb0y wrote:I'm having time a hard time mustering some sympathy for this guy now. He decided to do a high risk dive while under the influence of an illegal substance.

Ain't that about the irony of it all. It does not matter what feelings anyone musters for him, cause he is long gone and doesn't have to worry about what anyone says. the relatives he left behind... that is another story.

If he chose to do cocaine WHILE diving AND being paid a wage, that is just about one of the most self centered and selfish things I can think of. Like I said, it certainly does not matter to him anymore. He is long gone... but HIS actions may have left someone behind to grieve for his stupidity.

Cocaine is extremely addictive, but everyone who is addicted to it made the decision to try it before they were addicted . . . and it isn't as though the dangers of use aren't well known. Cocaine and its relatives (and methamphetamine is FAR worse) raise anxiety levels, predispose to seizures, and accelerate atherosclerosis to a truly unbelievable degree. Which, if any of those effects played a role in this accident will probably never be known, although seizure is unlikely, given that he made the surface.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's, and there was a lot of pharmaceutical experimentation going on at that time But even as a teenager, I was smart enough to stay away from the stuff that hooks you.

Cocaine and high-risk work is a bad combination, and I wish a case like this would make a difference for the next young man who is considering going down that road. It is too late for this one . . .