Diver dies in Ginnie Springs

[SThompson]

Just read this and it gave me pause. Here is an excerpt, read it carefully.

Jan 23, 2003


An experienced California diver was found dead last week in a Gilchrist
County spring.

Two visitors to Ginnie Springs found Farhad Koloushani, 25, lying face down
in the main springs just after 9 a.m. Friday, Gilchrist County Sheriff's
Office Investigator Daniel Slaughter said.

Koloushani was free-diving with no air tanks and apparently had been
holding his breath underwater, Slaughter said.

"He was scheduled to take a class at that spring the next day," Slaughter
said. "We think he was testing the water."

The springs, located off County Road 340, have become a well-known diving
spot, Slaughter said.

Koloushani, who lived in San Diego, was an open-water scuba instructor who
worked at a diving shop. He had flown into Jacksonville the night before he
was found dead.

An autopsy might determine when Koloushani died, Slaughter said. Foul play
is not suspected, Slaughter said.

Here is a website that was put together as a memorial for him: http://www.sdue.org/far.html

It is always a tragic event when someone passes like this. I would venture a guess based on the description that he succumbed to a swb. It's interesting to note that he was not a rookie in the water, or unused to safety. In fact, he was a tech diver in a dir club in San Diego. He was also at least an OW instructor. And yet despite all of his knowledge, training, and skills he still decided to freedive alone, in a strange set of waters, and as such paid the ultimate price.

Anyone can fall victim to SWB

We should all be aware of this. I think that as freedivers we have a duty to our bubbleblowing friends and relatives to warn them of the dangers. Over and over, so the message is always fresh.

I am NOT saying that you should never dive alone, etc, etc (although, you know that you shouldn't ). I am guilty of diving solo too......... Although, since I practice regularly I know where my limits are and never push them. I think that is where most scuba divers have problems when they start freediving, especially alone. SWB is maybe a paragraph in OW courses and I don't think many of them know what thier limits are, let alone when they cross them. But agian, SWB can happen to anyone.

I feel it's our responsibility to make people aware of the dangers, even more so since you don't have to have any certification, gear, training, or common sense to jump in the water and hold your breath.

DSAO,

[Mattedhead]

I was there this past fall, and this just emphasizes that SWB can occur anywhere. The pool at the main spring is only ~20' deep. It is crystal clear and not much bigger than a small swimming pool, if only he wasn't diving alone--this probably would have ended up differently.

Dive safe--Dive with a buddy,
Matt

[JMD]

I used to dive there regularly as well. Although the pool in the main spring is only twenty feet deep the cave extends a long way back. Had he been exploring beyond the cave entrance its conceivable that he could have exhausted his air supply returning to the surface...

One other quick point, it's highly likely that the gentleman in the article thought he knew his limits too and didn't intend to push them....just something to consider.

[JimGlynn]

It said that he flew into town the night before. He may have been dehydrated and sleep deprived. What a tragedy.
Jim

[Bill]

Please allow an old man one observation. This is the third diver, that I'm aware of, to die after signing up for a diving class. No criticism meant, I remember making a fool of myself trying to impress Kirk on the first day of the class.
Aloha
Bill

[icarus pacific]

Good point, Bill. I think there's a natural desire to want to get deep right out of the gate and be one of the guys and it oftentimes results in just this manner. It's one of the things I worry most about when diving with new found friends in new places, ala the Keys Kraze this April. I hope to get the crowd together to go over just this as there are going to be quite a few divers of equally differing abilities.

sven

[BladeRunner]

I agree with you Sven that's one reason I decide to pass up Keys Kraze. It would make me push myself to the depths I can not make yet and it make feel bad about being a dead weight to other divers. It would be hard on me to watch everyone around me dive to the depths I'm dreaming of making one day. I actually almost made it 20ft. pass my personel best this past weekend with my trip to Blue Springs in Florida. I won't tell you what it was because It's nothing to you big guns of the deep blue.

Oh and I'm really guitly of solo diving, but it would be easier to find a playboy centerfold than another freediver to dive and train with here in Redneck Land.

"Freediveing Spearos Lead The Way" Hooah!!!


BladeRunner OUT

[Bindlestitch]

Originally posted by BladeRunner


Oh and I'm really guitly of solo diving, but it would be easier to find a playboy centerfold than another freediver to dive and train with here in Redneck Land.




BladeRunner OUT

Amen to that brother.