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Old 11-14-2017, 02:02 AM   #1
rojodiablo
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Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Coast Guard is canceling the search for the diver, whom it sounds like he may have been narc'ed and swam down to oblivion. His dive partner I am assuming cut off the chase on the guy and went up fast with no air, was sent to Catalina to the chamber to recompress.

Really sad, you never want to hear about a diver going out.

The report was that the divers were off the oil rig Elly, and he went down, and then just kept going and going, until no one could catch him and he was gone. Mid 50's; either 52 or 54 depending on the report I read. Male.

The only news report I saw was so full of no information, this I literally all I cold gather about it.

Godspeed............
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Old 11-14-2017, 08:44 AM   #2
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Man... My condolences & prayers go out to all who are close to this diver. RIP sir.
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Old 11-14-2017, 09:34 AM   #3
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

His body was recovered at a depth of 260 feet. RIP.
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Old 11-14-2017, 09:42 AM   #4
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

I was at Catalina on Saturday. The radio traffic between the dive boat and the CG was really sad to listen to. They kept saying that the diver had an uncontrolled decent. R.I.P.
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Old 11-14-2017, 09:50 PM   #5
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Named released. Henry Cook 55yo from San Diego. Condolences to his family and friends.

http://www.presstelegram.com/2017/11...g-beach-coast/
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Old 11-15-2017, 10:55 AM   #6
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Poway is home. Since back in 91. What a tragedy. Show those you love some love today. Tomorrow aint no guarantee.
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Old 11-15-2017, 12:11 PM   #7
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Horrible as this tragedy is, it would be good to have more details about what happened. Understanding accidents helps us all learn to dive more safely. It's odd that the lost diver had an "uncontrolled descent" while his buddy apparently had an uncontrolled ascent to have ended up in the chamber at Catalina.
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Old 11-15-2017, 05:27 PM   #8
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Meddiver View Post
Horrible as this tragedy is, it would be good to have more details about what happened. Understanding accidents helps us all learn to dive more safely. It's odd that the lost diver had an "uncontrolled descent" while his buddy apparently had an uncontrolled ascent to have ended up in the chamber at Catalina.
I second that. I don't really understand? He consciously just kept going deeper...?
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Old 11-15-2017, 07:06 PM   #9
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

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I second that. I don't really understand? He consciously just kept going deeper...?
The only thing I can think of is that he started descending and lost consciousness before establishing neutral buoyancy, so he just kept going down. Had he had a technical problem but remained conscious he could have ditched his weights, inflated his BC, or otherwise established positive buoyancy. He might have been bent with a too rapid ascent, but he would have lived. But all those measures require consciousness, so I can only assume he was somehow incapacitated and his buddies couldn't arrest his descent, so he slipped into the darkness. It's the stuff of nightmares . . . .
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Old 11-15-2017, 07:17 PM   #10
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Was he diving off of a San Diego boat or the Long Beach dive boats in Los Alamitos Bay?
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Old 11-15-2017, 08:57 PM   #11
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Quote:
Originally Posted by VangysWay View Post
I second that. I don't really understand? He consciously just kept going deeper...?
Nitrogen Narcosis. He possibly got 'Narc'ed'. It's a semi-euphoric high, confusion, bewilderment, and often a loss of sense of direction.

Stories abound of divers pulling their regulators out of their mouths and chasing fish down to 'give them air', and a lot of people losing their sense of time and direction, and/ or not being able to comprehend the dive computer, even when it goes full red and is telling you it's too late.

There is a video out there of a scuba diver on comms, diving deep, and his research friends literally are trying to talk him back up, and he just keeps going, and going..... and going until he's in death throes, writhing on the bottom in the abyss.
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Old 11-16-2017, 11:55 AM   #12
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

My guess is Oxygen Toxicity. They were on Nitrox.

In 100-110 ft of water, most people don't get completely "narc'd". At most, they have a slight case. Past 140 though, it gets pretty much everyone.

With a hot blend of 36%, your MOD of 1.4 is 95ft, with 1.6 being at 114ft. Go any deeper on that blend and you're asking for serious trouble.
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Old 11-16-2017, 12:13 PM   #13
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

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My guess is Oxygen Toxicity. They were on Nitrox.

In 100-110 ft of water, most people don't get completely "narc'd". At most, they have a slight case. Past 140 though, it gets pretty much everyone.

With a hot blend of 36%, your MOD of 1.4 is 95ft, with 1.6 being at 114ft. Go any deeper on that blend and you're asking for serious trouble.
Yes, I saw the photo of the nitrox tank and was thinking the same thing. Or he had a heart attack or other incapacitating medical crisis and just couldn't establish neutral (or positive) buoyancy. CA divers, both scuba and free, often dismiss the buddy system, but it can make a life or death difference, especially in unforgiving deep water (though if his buddies were on nitrox too they wouldn't have been able to chase after him deeper than maybe 100 feet without risking their own lives too--but maybe they could have grabbed him sooner had they been closer).
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Old 11-16-2017, 07:32 PM   #14
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Is there any hard information on this besides the bit about an "uncontrolled descent?" Unless there's information being brought into this thread which hasn't been in the public accounts, it doesn't sound like there's anything to back up a specific hypothesis yet.

From what I've read, that dive was the third one of the day for that group; they hit the Olympic II first and had already done one dive on Elly/Ellen (plan was to go to Eureka earlier, but it was off-limits at the time). Given that the Olympic II maxes out at 100 ft and they were on their third dive of the day, I would say if they intended to go anywhere near the range where ox-tox or narcosis would be a factor that would be poor dive planning.

I'm not sure how much weight I would put on the account, but I did read the diver who tried to catch up to him maxed out at 167 ft before turning around. I did read that he was not bent, but was complaining of a severe headache after ascending and was sent for a chamber ride as a precaution.
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Old 04-03-2018, 11:15 PM   #15
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Re: Lost scuba diver off the rigs in Los Angeles.

Figured I would dredge this one back up as some details were made public this week: https://www.scubaboard.com/community...6#post-8258132
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