[Skipbreather]

I’ve just spent several minutes reading both the article and- more importantly- the comments that followed it. What I took away from the comments after the article:

- The diver WAS diving on CCR. He & buddy appeared to be very much up to speed.

- Charter boat/ crew did a heroic job given the circumstances.

- The USCG does NOT have ANY helicopters available to rescue the general public on call in the area. Even at midday on a weekend when one might expect the public to be most active & potentially in need of rescue.

- The attitude expressed by one apparantly active duty Coastie- essentially “He got what he deserved”- is disheartening in the extreme. I truly hope it is not an attitude generally held in that service.

Ken

[wedivebc]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Skipbreather)

- The attitude expressed by one apparantly active duty Coastie- essentially “He got what he deserved”- is disheartening in the extreme. I truly hope it is not an attitude generally held in that service.

Ken

Yes I agree!

[hchoat]

Quote: (Originally Posted by wedivebc)

Yes I agree!

The CG's primary mission is not to "rescue" injured divers. What about personal responsibility for risk taking (this is a risky sport, after all). Since when do we expect "Big Brother" to come flying to our rescue anytime anything bad happens?

I'm sorry the guy died, but I don't see why we are beating up the CG over it.

[Mixaddict]

Quote: (Originally Posted by hchoat)

The CG's primary mission is not to "rescue" injured divers. What about personal responsibility for risk taking (this is a risky sport, after all). Since when do we expect "Big Brother" to come flying to our rescue anytime anything bad happens?

I'm sorry the guy died, but I don't see why we are beating up the CG over it.

Heather, I've got to disagree with you on this one. Of course, I wasn't there to first hand witness what went on, but if you read the account of one of the divers on the boat that did witness everything first hand, it sounds like the USCG was very slow in responding. Even if this is not their primary mandate, who would or should be better equiped to respond to a life threatening situation like this? Maybe they were busy with other emergencies, who knows, but sending a boat and not a helo to an emergency 25 miles out, does not instill a lot of confidence for me. Then taking 15 mins. to transfer the guy to the boat once it arrived also seems VERY slow to me. I don't usually like to jump on these type of "arm chair quaterback" observations, but this one in particular seems like a real shame. There obviously could have been a much faster response given the proximity to the USCG.

My condolances to his friends and family. A real shame.

Just my $.02
Regards,
Randy

[wedivebc]

Quote: (Originally Posted by hchoat)

The CG's primary mission is not to "rescue" injured divers. What about personal responsibility for risk taking (this is a risky sport, after all). Since when do we expect "Big Brother" to come flying to our rescue anytime anything bad happens?

I'm sorry the guy died, but I don't see why we are beating up the CG over it.

I am not beating the CG I just thought the post that coastie posted on that forum was quite callous.

[bourskov]

Quote: (Originally Posted by hchoat)

The CG's primary mission is not to "rescue" injured divers. What about personal responsibility for risk taking (this is a risky sport, after all). Since when do we expect "Big Brother" to come flying to our rescue anytime anything bad happens?

I'm sorry the guy died, but I don't see why we are beating up the CG over it.

Hi...

Condolences to the family...

Here in Denmark, when there is a diving incident, and you call for help, a helicopter is launched right away. On of the reasons is because there is only one chamber avalible to get treated for DCI (as far as I remember), and it's in Copenhagen, so the distance by car is too long from the other regions. But another reason is to get help out on the sea right away. In the rescue helicopters there is a doctor and other trained staff.

These helicopters also assists in rescue operations when a ship is in trouble an so on, like the CG.

Again, sorry to hear about this accident...

Bo Urskov

[diverreb]

Quote: (Originally Posted by hchoat)

The CG's primary mission is not to "rescue" injured divers. What about personal responsibility for risk taking (this is a risky sport, after all). Since when do we expect "Big Brother" to come flying to our rescue anytime anything bad happens?

I'm sorry the guy died, but I don't see why we are beating up the CG over it.

It's not their primary mission, but it is part of their overall mission. Here and in any Coastal area. It's some of our tax dollars at work. If they are going to take it on, they should be prepared to to it to the best of their ability.

Knowing that part of what they do is rescue work, be it divers, fisherman, heart attack victims off cruise ships, and any other major injury at sea you would think they would carry O2 on their all their boats & Helo's. They don't and they should! It can and does save lives! Don't know about the the boats, I imagine some do and some don't, but as far as I can tell none of the Helo's carry O2 for use on a patient. It may cost a bit to outfit the Helo's with a safe system, but with all we spend on our Military, it's a drop in the bucket.

Richie

[Skipbreather]

Quote: (Originally Posted by hchoat)

The CG's primary mission is not to "rescue" injured divers. What about personal responsibility for risk taking (this is a risky sport, after all). Since when do we expect "Big Brother" to come flying to our rescue anytime anything bad happens?

I'm sorry the guy died, but I don't see why we are beating up the CG over it.

I respectfully disagree after a fashion. I must confess my view is clouded somewhat by where I do the lion’s share of my diving, the Great Lakes. Here our wrecks can be reasonably intact after over 150 years, so folks often study the history of older wreck events.

Before they were called the Coast Guard, they were called the U. S. Life-Saving Service. I’ve read many, many historical accounts of brave and selfless men- and a few women- challenging impossible weather at great personal risk with only the most basic of equipment to rescue civilians in peril on the water. One unofficial motto of the time (since dropped) was “You have to go out. You don’t have to come back.”

Trust me, I’m no fan of the Big Brother concept and I firmly believe I am responsible for the risks I take, but seeing in pejorative print just how far at least one member has ventured from the grand traditions of his service was truly saddening.

[JS1scuba]

It's a terrible thing when a fellow diver loses thier life doing what we love. That tragedy is compounded when the posts start flying.

Last night about 2 am I was watching the tube and there was this one hour show on how they sank the Oriskany. It was the first time I had a desire to go make the trip. I will set it up soon.

Moving on to my point. I have been fortunate enough to have been instrumental in saving more than a few divers while being off-shore. I can tell you without hesitation that the US Coast Guard and all of thier people are among the finest people you will ever find on the seas. I have had dealings with everyone from a maintenance mechanic at Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn,to a Flight Surgeon in Alaska, to a PJ on the deck of our boat to the MSO who did asshole inspection on us after an incident. These people are consumate professionals and thier single goal is to save lives.

It is standard procedure to send out a boat to an accident, incident, or rescue. Usually a boat is sent long before a helo (if available) is sent. It's not uncommon for 2 boats to be sent too. These boats are fast and are equipped. A helo is not always available. I never expect one to be when I am off shore.

The Oriskany is 25 miles off shore. It should be considered "remote" as such every precaution needs to be taken when heading out there AND the assumption that help is NOT nearby should be known.

I don't know anything about this fatality, I wasnt there, and have not talked to anyone about it. But I can rest assured that when the USCG arrived they did everything they could. Sometimes people die even with the best help.

Rebreathers are wonderful tools but need to be managed carefuly and with vigilance. We see a fair amount of accidents and fatalities that involve them and we will see more as more are used.

If you are diving off-shore each and everyone of you has a responsiblity to be trained to the hilt in CPR, First Aid, Accident Management, and Oxygen Administration. You need to practice scenarios on WHAT IF. Then you need to be vigilant with your dive plans and execution.

I have not taken a count yet but this year's body count is getting too high. We went through this in the early 1990's when tech diving was booming. Too many people take diving for granted and belive it wont happen to them. Shit happens in an instance and you need to be prepared.

You all need to be super careful. We need to put an end to this years fatalities.


JDS

[barney]

As Heather and Brian pointed out, the nearest Coast Guard Air Station is in New Orleans, roughly 160 nm west. After that, you have CGAS Clearwater, roughly 270 nm to the ESE, but that is also in a different district (District 7). Therefore, helo evac is not going to be a viable option from the ORISKANY site unless for some miraculous reason a unit is nearby by shear happenstance. You have SAR units in both Pensacola and Destin, but they have no air units stationed there.

Lifesaving-related activities is one of the primary missions of the USCG, but they are a heavily-tasked entity, even moreso now since they have been folded into Homeland Security. They are definitely a tremendous asset to have out there should the fit hit the shan, but if you are expecting them to operate like Domino's Pizza and be there in 30 minutes or less, you need a dose of reality.

To the best of your ability, prepare and plan on handling dive-related emergencies with the resources you have on hand (or had the foresight to bring with you) when offshore. If and when the USCG show up, that's just gravy.

It is interesting to note that when Escambia County made their pitch to the state of Florida (FWC) during consideration of where to deploy the carrier (NW or SE Florida) they presented "data" demonstrating that response time was not a significant factor in dive-related emergencies