Lessons learned - a SWB Story

[jome]

Wow, that was a chilling read. I'm very glad you're here to tell the story, from what I can gather it must've been very, very close.

Thank you for sharing the story.

What I find really disturbing (and valuable at the same time) in your account is that you didn't really do anything obvious "wrong", except of course being alone. The dives were conservative, no hanging on the bottom, plenty of surface time etc...All in all for your experience level I guess this should've been an easy and routine dive? It is just the perfect example of SWB.

I wonder though how you came about again. If you already had a BO and inhaled water, and still came to...If I was a religious man I'd be very grateful.

[Adrian]

So glad that that you made it Colin. It would have been a total bummer to read anything else. The sea giveth and the sea taketh away, this time it just burped, a not-so-gentle reminder of it's power - or our frailty.

Get well, take it easy and smile, you live to dive another day!

[scott]

Colin,

What a shocking story, especially in light of our diving and conversations on Saturday (I had not yet gotten around to pm'ing you to say that it was nice meeting you and diving with you, which it was). I am glad that I'll get another opportunity and you have yet another reason to be thankful today.

Thanks for sharing and giving us all things to consider.

Scott
ilyavm

[Stephan Whelan]

Scary stuff Colin.

Glad you got through it - a lesson learned indeed!

[nostres]

OMG! I am happy for the happy end in this case, and for You of course.

Here we have another proof how sudden and unexpected SWB can be. Seems almost like it hit You for no reason, You had long intervals and not the longest dives - in 10 years experience dives under 2min, I am sure that's far from pushing in Your case

thanks for sharing

[surfunc]

wow, that's scary stuff, glad you're okay man.

i know it's quite a haul but you are welcome to come fishing with us down in Ft. Lauderdale anytime you want, we always have some spare room on the boat and we watch each other's backs pretty well whenever we're hunting 60-100' depths.

maybe you should post your story on the spearfishing boards, it would be good for everyone to read it.

[cdavis]

There is a clue here that nobody has explored. At the point he lost memory, Colin was reaching for the reel because something was causing the line to spool off fast. What??? Shark got the fish? or ? Also, burning muscles sounds like lots of lactic acid, but there is nothing in memory that would have caused it. Where did it come from? The point of losing memory may come well before the point of BO incapacitation. This is pure speculation, but is it possible that the reel is related to something that delayed surfacing until too long, struggle to surface, maybe get a quick breath of air and water but too late to stave off BO, followed by regaining consciousness on the surface but in a mess? or something like that? Memory loss could have wiped much of that out, or at least made it not accessible to the conscious mind. In addition, what did the guys on the boat see? Does it match what Colin remembers. Could it be they saw him on the surface during the time he doesn't remember? Whatever, I'll bet the reel business is somehow important to the story.

The classic description of a BO drowning is BO with laryngaspazm, diver's face is below the surface, a short time later (minutes) the urge to breathe overcomes the Laryngaspazm and the diver inhales water, curtains. Lung damage would kill you if lack of 02 didn't. At that point, the diver has been unconscious for quite a while, it seems unlikely that he would regain consciousness. Seems like something slightly different happened here, but what?

Colin, keep thinking about it, maybe something will surface.

Connor

[Amphibious]

I don't think the reel playing out would have enough drag to significantly slow me down.. that's the whole reason i use a real, so i don;t have to wrestle a fish up when diving deep, I can just haul him up at the surface. If I felt short of breath I would not try to slow the reel down, if anything I would spin the drag to full off and let the line play out without resistance. but an interesting thought.

one of the reasons I think I might have "woke up" is the snorkle. while I can;t remember if It was in my mouth or not when i woke up, old habits die hard and I still put my snorkle back in my mouth from time to time on assent. I do an exhale and roll onto my stomach, thuse ending up with a clear pipe and a great position to fight a fish. if I had put my snorkle back in my mouth, and been very very very lucky, I may have only aspirated the liquid in the snorkle, then had a clear tube to breath from. am am quite certain a part of the water that ended up in my lungs was from the swim home, it was hell.

the lads on the boat saw nothing untill they noticed me waving.

everything is still very much a blank.

[spaghetti]

Originally Posted by Fondueset

Colin - Holy Crap!

Spaghetti - we can assume he lost a chunk of time after the reel check.

...Not that chunk of time after all.
Just until 3 A.M. when my wife came into the living room and found me with my feet wrapped in kilometers of nylon line and a bottle of lube in my hand. The reel check was over before she could say "Will you tell me what the HECK are you doing?"
...
Best wishes to Willer for quick recovery. Be well bro

[wet]

something to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

[Erik]

Tattoo time

[Fondueset]

Now see! I learn so much from each of your mysterious foreign posts, Spaghetti. Here I have discovered there is a word for 'heck' in Italian and also, as I never would have suspected; the women use it!!

My thought too Connor: May be there was a burst of exertion during the last part of ascent.

Complements to Colin for not taking all this wild speculation personally.

Originally Posted by spaghetti

...Not that chunk of time after all.
Just until 3 A.M. when my wife came into the living room and found me with my feet wrapped in kilometers of nylon line and a bottle of lube in my hand. The reel check was over before she could say "Will you tell me what the HECK are you doing?"
...
Best wishes to Willer for quick recovery. Be well bro

[Amphibious]

just added an update to post one, a post by the owner of the boat, with his view of the accident.

[Gail_Berke]

Originally Posted by Amphibious

one of the reasons I think I might have "woke up" is the snorkle. while I can;t remember if It was in my mouth or not when i woke up, old habits die hard and I still put my snorkle back in my mouth from time to time on assent. I do an exhale and roll onto my stomach, thuse ending up with a clear pipe and a great position to fight a fish. if I had put my snorkle back in my mouth, and been very very very lucky, I may have only aspirated the liquid in the snorkle, then had a clear tube to breath from. am am quite certain a part of the water that ended up in my lungs was from the swim home, it was hell.

Hmmm. . . so having your snorkel OUT of your mouth on assents works for when you have a buddy around to protect your airway, but could seal your doom if you're freediving alone? If so, is it because you may be lucky enough to blackout at the surface with the snorkel in your mouth, float head down, and then have your snorkel ready to deliver air to you when you regain consciousness?

Thanks for posting your story, it has made an impact on me. C'mon on up to Alaska next summer and dive for king crabs (if scuba divers get em, I think you can too!)

And thanks for updating your post about the boat anchor. I was wondering how to prevent that problem.

[Mr. X]

Glad you are still with us Amphibious. How deep were you diving - sounds like quite deep?

Surprised that some of your buddies didn't dive in to get you and/or jetison the anchor. Not sure how you rig anchors on proper boats but for kayak diving they recommend you place the anchor with a buoy (or buoyancy aid) marking it at the surface, & then kayak back & hook into it. That way you can park or free yourself quickly & still come back & recover the anchor later.

I hope you're on the mend . A colleague (& semi-pro. swim instructor) collapsed after a lunch time swim session a few months ago. Heart arhythmia problem...he's barred from swimming now.