Another abalone diver dies on North coast

swells of 18 feet.

?????????
 18 feet?!!

How does one find themselves anywhere near the water w/ that kind of swell running?
        They must have been new to this.
Today, one can read anything they want on the internet and imagine that its easy.
Our own fish reports may make people think that they too can launch and fish the Bean for example.
 Todays wannabie diver can buy anything..anything at all.... and head for the water.
  A computer and a credit card have swelled the ranks of sport divers/fishers like never before.
You can get anything you want now easily...anything but experience

Abalone diving is an extreme sport...

That is so true, Bajareefer.  You can buy anything but experience and common sense, whatever that is.  I can hear the waves crashing in Mendocino Bay as I write this.   Not a good day to go out.

If anyone wants a first hand ocean report of Mendocino Bay, just send me an email and I'll drive down and check the ocean for you while I do my grocery shopping.   But of course conditions can change quickly.

Also, though I don't do ocean fishing myself (I'm more of a river type guy) I'd be glad to remain onshore and watch while you fish with my VHF radio on standby.   It would be entertaining for me and an extra level of safety for you.

-Matt

This site has a lot of info about ab diver deaths this year.

http://www.sonic.net/~rocky/deathidx.htm

Of the 7 reported on this site it gives the ages of 6 of the divers. Of those six; FIVE were over the age of 50!
A few years ago ( when I was in much better shape ) I would go out in conditions that were less than favorable. Not because of the Sacto Syndrom but because it was a lot of fun. I was comfortable in those conditions. I had no problem assessing the conditions and dealing with them. A HUGE part of that was the fact that I was in shape. My cardio was very good. I liked the big waves and I stayed away from areas that would smash me into rocks. I didn't always get abs with conditions like that. It wasn't my main goal. Just being in the water was what I wanted.
That is definitely not the case now. I am definitely not getting any younger and I have no problem admitting it. If I don't like the conditions; I bail. If I am feeling lazy; I bail.
I talked some friends out of diving recently because I knew their level of experience and I knew the ocean was not going to be in their favor.
There will be plenty of good days of diving beyond whatever day you might happen to be at the coast. Take advantage of one of those days and skip the current crappy conditions.

quote from Tote "Of the 7 reported on this site it gives the ages of 6 of the divers. Of those six; FIVE were over the age of 50!"

   Hey Buddy I resemble that! My younger brother (who is less active) recently quit diving because of what I think was an anxiety attack. He said he couldn't catch his breath and had trouble breathing.
  I pick my days and check conditions up till I leave. Still working on being as nimble in the water as Fuzz, Dave, and Justin (will never happen). IMHO-It's really not worth dying for want of a snail.

 Quote from Marmite "Still remember her face nearly 30 years later.  Really was a sad event."

 Doug that is around the right time frame! The Sonoma county sheriffs dept. used Angel 1 then I think. I can't remember if it was before or after the copter crash.

Doug that is around the right time frame!

Mark, I do remember that we used the term "Angel 1"  Kind of weird to think that you and I could have been on opposite ends of the same tragedy so many years ago.

I know it's twisted, but I think it's great we live in a state where you are allowed to do stuff for fun that can kill you.

on the east coast, you can't move without permission from twelve lawyers.

well, the florida keys were a litttle different, but otherwise I like the few rules system much better.

you know, you die, your worries are over. may or not be the case for relations of course.

J

p.s., I'll skate a 12 foot deep concrete bowl. I'll fish the bean solo. I'll surf ocean beach in the winter. I am not so sure I am down for diving in murky shark-infested water for snails.  . I don't ride motorcycles anymore either...

More importantly, 7 out of 7 were STUPID.  All of these deaths were preventable.  People who insist on going when the ocean is raging are idiots. 

Remember the heartbreaking video from Stillwater.  Stillwater was a washing machine....have you seen what kind of weather it takes to make Stillwater go that crazy!!!  You would have to be insane to get in the water on a day like that.

The ocean around here unforgiving, if you don't respect the power of big blue you are asking for it.  Unfortunately these guys got it.

damn scwafish, thats kinda harsh. i hope their families dont read that. i once had a freind blackout 5 ft from the surface. fortunately i was right there to drop his belt and blow some life back into him on the boogie board. he wasnt no college educated genius but just a good guy who stayed down too long.

Bad things can happen to anyone.  Going out in a 10-12 foot sea to get a snail is...well...stupid.  Couple the that lapse of judgment with a serious lack of skill level self-assessment and there is no other word for it.  I am lucky to know some incredible freedivers, and they won't go out in that mess either.  It simply aint worth it.  Harsh as it might be, there is no other word for it.

well i certainly agree nobody should be in the water in a 12 ft swell. i dont know that all seven dead men did just that. apparently some did. however, sometimes intelligent,good people make bad decisions that get them killed. whether its getting behind the wheel after a few brews or getting in the ocean when they shouldnt. its real easy to look back and simply call them all stupid but i feel it is disrespectful and i hope i never hear anybody talk like that about any of the friends i have lost.       

Call it what you want...you are missing my point.  They were trying to say it was because they were over 50.  I strongly disagree.  Most world-class freedivers don't even peak until they are in there 40s. I dive with my neighbors dad who is in his 50s and we call him "Jimmy the Lung". He is a STUD and my hero.  If he died of a heart attack while ab diving, he'd die with a smile on his face.  However, he's been around long enough though that he doesn't go diving unless it nice out because that can kill you.

My point was that these poor folks died because they made a conscious decision to get in the water when it was obviously too risky NOT because of there age.  Call it what you want, the point is, ALL of these tragedies were PREVENTABLE.  I feel terrible for the families who lost somebody, and won't let that happen to my family if theres anything I can do about it.  The only thing worse than losing a loved one, is losing somebody when it was PREVENTABLE.  I was there the day they pulled the guy from Van Damme...who was a Dr. BTW.  The weather was RIDICULOUS.  Sometimes that means not diving when you wanted to.  Choosing between life and a snail is easy for me.

Whitewashing their stupidity as a random act is simply going to keep the myth alive that its just part of ab diving and cause more folks to unknowingly commit themselves to situations they should walk away from.  The same snails will be there tomorrow.

While there always a chance of random mortality from SWB etc., most really are weather related.  Here's some of the headlines from this year...Dive smart folks!!!

FRIENDS AID RECOVERY OF DIVER'S BODY: ABALONE HUNTERS RESCUED DAY BEFORE RETURN TO ROUGH SEA TO ENSURE COMPANION PULLED OUT

Published on October 19, 2007
BYLINE:    MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The body of an abalone diver was recovered Thursday afternoon after two divers rescued at the scene the day before returned to pull their companion from the ocean.
The body of Oakland resident Yong Lu, 46, was recovered despite large swells and pouring rain that previously prevented rescue divers from entering the water, authorities said. A rescue crew instead rappelled down a steep cliff to the rough water's edge, where Lu's diving companions held his body against

ABALONE SEASON EQUALS DANGER: RANGERS, DEPUTIES PATROL COASTS WARNING FIRST DIVERS

Published on August 5, 2007
BYLINE:    MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Divers returned to waters off the North Coast on Saturday under the careful watch of park rangers, sheriff's deputies and others hoping the second half of this year's red abalone season is safer than the first.
The season, which officially reopened Wednesday, drew weekend crowds despite overcast skies and rough surf. No major diving-related incidents were reported. Authorities said they'd contacted every diver they could for a cautionary message on water

DROWNED ABALONE DIVER IDENTIFIED: ROUGH WATER CONDITIONS MAY BE TO BLAME IN SAN FRANCISCO MAN'S DEATH
Article 14 of 51 found.
Article ID: 0706190364
Published on June 19, 2007
BYLINE:    RANDI ROSSMANN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The San Francisco man who drowned while abalone diving off of the Mendocino Coast was identified Monday as Sun Leung Wong.
The 51-year-old had been diving Sunday morning in the area of Jack Peters Creek, near the Mendocino Headlands. An autopsy Monday morning showed salt-water drowning, Mendocino County Sheriff's Capt. Kevin Broin said.
Wong was the sixth person to die off the Mendocino County Coast while pursuing the delicacy this season.

DROWNED ABALONE DIVER IDENTIFIED
Published on May 23, 2007

The 59-year-old man who drowned while abalone diving Monday along the Mendocino County coast was identified Tuesday as Hung Truong Ha of San Jose.
Ha was abalone diving with two others in rough, windy conditions near the Point Arena lighthouse. It was not clear how or why Ha ran into trouble.

One of the members of the diving group ran a quarter-mile north to the lighthouse to call for help just before 9 a.m. Monday. A sheriff's helicopter responded and was able to pull the other two divers from the ocean. One survived, but Ha was dead at the scene.

The Vietnamese man is the sixth person to die along the Mendocino County coast since April 7. Four of the deceased were hunting abalone when they died.

PETALUMA MAN DROWNS WHILE SCUBA DIVING: LARGE WAVES HAMPER RESCUE EFFORTS OFF STILLWATER COVE

Published on April 30, 2007
BYLINE:    KATY HILLENMEYER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A 50-year-old Petaluma man drowned Sunday morning while scuba diving in turbulent waters off Stillwater Cove Regional Park, said a Sonoma County Sheriff's helicopter crew leader who helped try to rescue him.
``He was in this churning water, all whitewater, where you can't really swim and you can't really breathe,'' sheriff's Sgt. Eric Thomson said. ``Just a very, very dangerous spot.''

`ANGRY' SEA IN MENDOCINO COVE TOOK SEASON'S FIRST VICTIM

Published on April 28, 2007
BYLINE:    DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Nobody saw it happen.
One minute, Arthur ``Sam'' Boyd was standing in seawater up to his shins, poking in the crevices of the well-worn rocks with a prying tool for abalone. The next minute, the 70-year-old retired high school teacher and father of five from Atascadero was floating face down in the Mendocino Coast cove, his body, clad in a wet suit, rising and falling with the incoming swells.

HIRD DIVER DROWNS OFF MENDOCINO COAST: BAY AREA IMMIGRANT DIES IN CHOPPY SURF NEAR POINT ARENA

Published on April 20, 2007
BYLINE:    MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A man who drowned near the Point Arena lighthouse on Thursday morning was the third abalone diver to die on the Mendocino Coast in little more than 24 hours, authorities said.
The victim, said to be a Laotian immigrant from the Bay Area, was on an annual trip with a friend and the friend's girlfriend when he apparently drowned in choppy surf off the south side of Lighthouse Road, his companions told lighthouse manager Rae Lynne Radtkey.

hey scwafish, i get your point..... dont risk your life for a snail......dont dive in rough conditions just because you drove all the way up there....wise words for sure. your intent to warn the community is a good thing and may someday save someones life. in case you missed my point,here it is: be careful when talking disrespectfully of a dead man, it could prove to be as dangerous as a 12 ft swell.

SCWA was easy on em in a way.
 IF A RESCUER WAS KILLED TRYING TO SAVE ONE OF THESE GUYS...
we might then see the irresponsibility charge in  different light.
Driven by greed for abalone meat, these guys put other mens lives in jeopardy.
Unlike them, rescue divers willingly go into the valley of death to pull their butts out. Think of all the successful rescues that coulda ended in tragedy but didn't hardly make the paper because of them.
         When contemplating doing something ill advised...consider the others whose lives you risk, strangers [ with families] who may die for you ... because of you.
           We have our own equivalent of the NYFD in this respect.
 People abandoning perfectly safe and solid ground to pull others out of the fire...
            Steve

   

When contemplating doing something ill advised...consider the others whose lives you risk, strangers [ with families] who may die for you ... because of you.
We have our own equivalent of the NYFD in this respect.
People abandoning perfectly safe and solid ground to pull others out of the fire...

Excellent point bajareefer. I believe Sean is right, too - key word: Preventable, period. No one is arguing the profound loss to families and friends.

John

Let's just hope that others will learn from these tragic mistakes. Like Sean had empasized again and again, the conditions were bad already and these guys made a stupid decision and paid the price....and for what? A snail? 

I LOVE kayak fishing for Salmon, and there were days where I should have NOT launched and I did anyway....(Linda Mar and Moss landing) was I stupid? Yes. But I'm glad I survived and lived to tell about my stupidity. I'm a lot smarter now because of my experiences.