[Bill McIntyre]

I'd like to point out that no one knows, or at least know one I have heard from, that Hatch was a victim of shallow water blackout. All we know for sure is that he drowned. Drowning is the ultimate cause of death when swb occurs, but there are other ways to drown.

For instance, the scuba divers who recovered his body reportedly said that he was tangled in kelp. Maybe he was tangled in his shooting line and kelp after trying to recover a white sea bass that was tied up in kelp on the bottom. Maybe there was a big swell and the surge on the bottom washed some thick kelp over him just as he was started up.

I don't mean to diminish the danger of swb. I'm just saying that the author of this article used his death to launch an explanation of the dangers of swb, but there is nothing to indicate that he knew that it was what caused the death.

When a dive buddy of mine died, we found his body on the bottom at 90 feet. It could be that he was a swb victim and sunk to the bottom, but there were other things to indicate that he died on the bottom from what is known as static apnea blackout. All that is certain is that his lungs were full of water, and he drowned.