Joe,


What day were you at Catalina. I was at Catalina this last weekend
(Saturday) and
saw the Great Escape and Bottom Scratcher (along with alot of private boats)
around the island. What boat were you on and what divesite?

From your email it sounds like an instructor turning a weekend boat (usually

for certified divers only) into a teaching session. Stupid act number 1.
It sounds like (with a 100 yard swim) that there was a compromise on 
divesite selection and the students were forced to swim for it. 
Stupid act number 2.

You also say they were not wearing hoods. Stupid act number 3. 

They are on their first open water dive AND from a boat. Stupid act number
4.

Do you see a pattern here yet? I would suggest that you re-evaluate 
you "instructor's" ability to teach you something about dive planning for
the
conditions.

You also say that the dive took place about noon..... What were they doing
before
then??? My guess is that the boat left that morning (about 7) and arrived
about 9:30
at a deep spot for the "divers" that paid and the "students" sat on their
miserable 
back ends until the instructor (probably went on a deep first dive for fun)
could have the boat
moved to a comprimise dive location. Stupid act number 5.

I will say that you did make a nice save. Well done! Noticing the problem
before it
is a full blown emergency is most of the battle. As the vis (depending on
the site you 
were at) was pretty good, the instructor should have noticed the unnatural 
body movements and should have been aware. All of this sounds like he was a 
little seasick/over-exertion/anxiety rolled into one. The water was a little
surgy
on Saturday and that does affect new divers.

The depth was probably not related to the diver's discomfort. More an effect

of out of shape-> over exertion, new diver anxiety, and some sort of
seasickness.
It also sound  like once he vomited, the problem developed into shock
(possible 
from the blood pressure meds). Did you and/or the instructor know about the
blood pressure  meds?

Also, the fluid in the lungs is interesting. (aspiration/edema?)

The instructor you are learning from is a STROKE. That is the only way 
to put it. Go for rule number one. The bottom line here is you made a great
save
that should not have happened. This is poor planning. The instructor made
the
conditions for this and it took only one more thing to turn it into a dive
accident.

You did well, get away from this instructor and continue to LEARN.

Steve

--
Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]