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I cant believe it happened again ...

12K views 72 replies 23 participants last post by  davebarber 
#1 ·
Long story short Back in 2006 i was drifting around in the irish sea with a few buddy's and was returned to my club boat by the life boat, i set of a flare which was spotted by someone on shore . Happened again last week same place different cox'n there was quite a drift. Smb was up and we could see the boat and after a while i set a flare off which as you might have guessed was spotted by someone who phoned it in the coast guard then directed our boat north west of where they thought we were ,about a mile. So do i get the record for the amount of times lost/misplaced or is there more of us out there?
 
#2 ·
Thanks for posting, just shows that sometimes the skipper can't track you all.

However, sounds like there is a bit more work required regarding the plan to keeping a number of divers together. What was the brief for dSMBs etc?

Regards
 
#4 ·
Did you put the SMB up from the wreck, or had you already started to drift off from it when you finished the dive and sent it up?

G
 
#6 ·
how long is a while , was the cox picking up divers ,, how long was you in the water for / waiting for your cox to come get you ,, 20 min dive , what depth , what it a wreck dive (as you say you went down the shot)

how bigs your blob, was you alone, what size is the club rib ,, number of divers that got picked up , number of divers that did,nt get picked up ,,
 
#35 · (Edited)
Glad you got back OK.



Wot e said.... (must stop agreeing with Terry :eek:mg:)


no wreck a work-up dive to 30m not long on the bottom though it was dark and I was concerned about other divers . I don’t really want to go into too much about the ins and outs about the incident just wanted to show what surface drift can be like whistles and shouting too the boat was useless as it could not be heard over engine noise. The shot that was placed in the water was about 25mts long! I was first in when I got to the end I was not very happy as it was placed in by the skipper. When the other two arrived at my side the shot was on the bottom so I’m guessing the buoy is now submerged 5 mts from the surface 'great'. Came up to find that was the case. No other divers other than us were in the water.smb was a buddy self sealing type , rib is 6.5 mtr. I fully accept that I should have come up as soon as I found the shot hanging. Blobed off from 5mtrs during safety stop. I think Mike has a good point about the power whistle. Hey that's diving for ya.
BSAC do some very good teaching when it comes to reading charts and tides to determine depth of a dive site so as to get the length of a shotling right, they also teach how to rig up shotlines that can alter themselves with the the depth change a rising/falling tide makes..... Just a thought!

Regards

Steve
 
#10 ·
you are not alone, there are quite a few out there who end up with a fair amount of thinking time. I know people who could write books on getting lost at sea. It's not just poor diving practice or boat cover. It happens occasionally due to circumstances beyond anyones control e.g. when diving in swelly conditions, you get out of phase with the boat and when they are on a wave you are in a trough and vise versa, or that rare day when the sun shines on the water and you're lost in the glare, or the fog rolls in. Just be prepared and carry the right kit to minimise the chance of getting lost in the first place and then making it as easy to find you as possible, DSMB, power whistle, Torch, GPS/VHF, Flag, Flare.

I try to minimise the possibility off the boat muppets not seeing me by early deployment of the SMB towards the end of the dive (or as soon as I start to drift off the planned divesite) in order to give them plenty of time to notice it, and then carrying all of the above on all dives. The most useful for attracting the boats attention is the power whistle as they can hear it even if they can't see you and then start looking properly as they now know you are up, followed by the torch (aim it it them and then sweep it side to side so the flash gets their attention - a dive torch is visible for a long long way even in daylight), followed by the VHF to tell them to come and get you if they are still reading the paper (that is if they haven't switched off the radio or accidentally changed channels). The flag is just a backup in case I lose the DSMB. Flares are pretty useless - Red smoke flares are OK ish on a calm day but if it's windy they disperse too quick.
 
#16 ·
You're probably right, plus i have a friend that had a 5 hour drift off southern Ireland - next stop new york, two that had a 4 hour drift off the top of shetland next stop - reykjavik, two that had a lonely 30 minutes off the skelligs and two members of my old club had a 12 hour drift along the east coast when they surfaced the other side of a small island in the Farnes rather than where the RIB was waiting for them. I myself have also had a lonely hour or so off southern Ireland on a sunny afternoon and a worrying 20 minutes or so 30 miles out in the North Sea in a fog bank all alone after bailing early from a wreck and not being able to see the boat.

paranoid moi? damn right
 
#13 ·
no wreck a work-up dive to 30m not long on the bottom though it was dark and I was concerned about other divers . I don’t really want to go into too much about the ins and outs about the incident just wanted to show what surface drift can be like whistles and shouting too the boat was useless as it could not be heard over engine noise. The shot that was placed in the water was about 25mts long! I was first in when I got to the end I was not very happy as it was placed in by the skipper. When the other two arrived at my side the shot was on the bottom so I’m guessing the buoy is now submerged 5 mts from the surface 'great'. Came up to find that was the case. No other divers other than us were in the water.smb was a buddy self sealing type , rib is 6.5 mtr. I fully accept that I should have come up as soon as I found the shot hanging. Blobed off from 5mtrs during safety stop. I think Mike has a good point about the power whistle. Hey that's diving for ya.
 
#14 ·
i remenber when them power whistle,s first came out think thay cost about 60 quid at the time ,, my m8 was showing us how good it was just be4 we went for a dive ,, when we hit the water my m8 gave the whistle a nother go , and it some how shot 50 foot across the water and was never seen again ,, lol

glad you got sorted in the end ,,

best
steve ,
 
#24 ·
I was there when a well known school in the med hired a commercial boat and it was only back in port while arguing over the number of weightbelts that they had collected from the punters made them realise it was probably still attached to the diver that they had left behind....

at least clubs know when they have lost someone.
 
#25 ·
I was there when a well known school in the med hired a commercial boat and it was only back in port while arguing over the number of weightbelts that they had collected from the punters made them realise it was probably still attached to the diver that they had left behind....
did they find him?

Reminds me of the film made a few years back about a couple that went diving and the boat had left when they surfaced. Dont think their bodies were ever found
 
#26 ·
Yep. he was still underwater. When we asked a few questions it turned out he made such a habit of hiring the biggest cylinder he could find and then ignoring the back in an hour briefing his mates had taken to leaving him in the water. They had failed to realise he hadn't got out when the useful call of 'is everyone here' was made. The dive guide in question didn't actually count the number of divers remaining in his group when they came out, only the number of weightbelts he needed to put back into the store.
 
#32 ·
Hi.

If I happened to be cox on the second dive and the tide has turned, and we all know it can only get stronger I insisted that ever diver clips on to the shot line so they can get back to it to come up, at least that way they will be in a known position with the shot chucked down the side of the wreck and tied into it with a waster at the bottom for an easy break out with the boat..

Also two divers coming up one DSMB with their own reels clipped on, that way there will be two divers together instead of spread apart halving the amount of divers in different positions and having unknown scenarios of divers being lost on the way up.

ray.
 
#36 ·
Hi Ray,

Please excuse possible daft questions from someone with not a great deal of experience, but how does this work in practice?

Do you mean that when each diver hits the bottom of the shot, they clip on their reels, reel out as they explore, then reel back in to find the shot? Doesn't this get a bit like knitting, if there's a few divers down, or isn't that a problem in practice?

Likewise with clipping two reels to a single DSMB. Buddy and I frequently surface together on a single DSMB, but only with a single reel clipped on and held by a single diver. I've not come across the idea of two divers clipped to a single DSMB, each with their own reel.

Thanks for any enlightenment.

Mark
 
#34 ·
Have heard that a torch put inside of an SMB makes for a very impressive target for a locating divers in low light. Never tried it or seen it done though
 
#44 ·
It depends on the reel. I've seen el cheapo reels jam many times. I've used them in the past and had them jam too. I now generally stick with a large McMahon which has never jammed.
 
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