Another abalone diver dies on North coast

i fully agree that some if not all of those 7 men made bad if not ridiculously bad choices that cost them their lives and endangered the lives of rescuers. however i think most people at some point in their life have made bad choices that could have ended with similar consequences. even those same brave men who are the rescuers. if you guys want to sit at your computers and bad mouth those 7 dead men, go right ahead. i'm sure you will find plenty of people who will be glad to chime in and cheer you on.

Your all right,

 Don't get upset with each other here,

 I like your direct talk kayakJack, you speak your mind well,

 Sean is right also in pointing out how senseless it is to risk so much for a " Snail "...

 Having that kind of talk can run through a persons mind before he does something stupid knowing he

 might be remembered as a " Stupid " Vrs " Extreme Adventurer "....

 And ya it's not to appreciated by rescuers to put it all out for Stupidity,

 I can't speak for Rescue Divers...

But in the Fire Department, It's about " Acceptable Risk "

yeah yeah you are all Right interesting tread. Lets DO  be careful out there, it's no place for the meekDon't be old or stupid(at the same time. my take from it.anyway )

ohh and if i could add my  2 cents and some humor, my Vhf will arrive Friday to West marine! yippie.. what channels are we on? is it 69 ?who thought that up? original

I think if Scwafish was editor-in-chief the headline would be
"Idiot dies for snail" you have clearly stated your thoughts. lol :smt001haha, other headlines could have read
"Poor Emigrant Dies Trying to Feed His Family" or "friend runs to lighthouse and/or old lady's house to summon help" , "Rescuers say "f-it" , "Death stirs up waves in NCKA forum"

"Rescuers say "f-it"

I just thought of another, " landlord vacates premisis," body found intact

Guys,
 Of course its tragic and sad.
 Thats a given. The point now is to learn from it and to minimize the chances of it happening so often!
 If enough people get killed, the "enlightened" attention of a gov't agency may want to make a cause of it and restrict access more and more for our own good.
 Smaller events can be exagerrated into big consequences.
         Steve
         

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.

I probably shouldn't say anything, but it has never stopped me before. Pointing out facts about someone that may put that person in a bad light isn't talking disrespectful, it's telling the truth. Many people these day are so thin skinned that they have let the political correctness get out of control.

Alive or dead, point out facts is TRUTH!

The last guys that died used very poor judgment, that's why he died.

My two cents!

Something about this sentence struck me;

The last guys that died used very poor judgment, that's why he died.

A judge knows something of the law and from that ....then makes a judgement.
What if a judge knew too little of the law to make judgements with?
The obvious answer is that he would not even be in that situation.

What if these guys generally had too little experience w/ the sea to even read the danger? What if they thought that the worse that happens is cold, discomfort and getting knocked around a bit....?
 Death probably never entered into the realm of possibility.
Imagining your own death at sea and how it could occur is a serious exercise in prolonging your life.
 I do it all the time.
 Steve


 

They knew. I talked to the guy who helped rescue them the day before. One of the guys was more concerned with his tube full of abs. Too many abs. He threw the tube in the basket before he got in. Some people are just don't learn. 

Too many abs?
 You're only allowed 3...
These guys were legit were they not?
 Steve

hefacts and truth huh. the fact is none of you guys were there when those seven men chose to go in the water. you dont know all the mitigating circumstances that caused them to make the terrible choice to go in (ie:peer pressure,lack of self esteem etc..etc...) in fact i doubt you guys ever laid eyes on any of the seven men who died this year. we all know the choices they made were bad. but these guys were our fellow divers, our fellow human beings. i just think it would be cool if we could get the safety message out with insulting the deceased on a personal level. when scwafish stood up and labeled all 7 as stupid idiots i found it arrogant,presumptuos,and disrespectful. mahi, just because the guy in the most recent incident through his tube in the basket does not mean he knew what he was doing. in fact it seems obvious to me that these guys did not know what they were doing or they wouldnt have been there.

when scwafish stood up and labeled all 7 as stupid idiots i found it arrogant,presumptuos,and disrespectful.

Thanks for the compliment!  While that may be your new formed opinion of me, I think the folks that actually know me will say otherwise.  You are right, I am fortunate enough to not have lost any of my dive partners this year, I didn't know any of these guys.   

However, I was supposed to go out with Capt. Ron the day the guy croaked at Van Damme.  Keep in mind Ron was born and raised in Anchorage, was on the US Ski Team, commercial fished for years before becoming a gold miner in Ruby.  He ain't no pussy.  As soon as we hit Bragg and could see the water we scratched the trip on his Whaler.

We headed down the coast looking for a decent spot to jump in and get abs.  There were 5-7 foot wind waves on top of a 8 foot swell.  It was a MESS everywhere, including all of the usual "safe" spots like Russian Gulch and Van Damme.  When we got to Van Damme we couldnt believe how f-up'd the water was even at "baby beach".  Then we saw the helo and just cringed.  Nobody in their right mind would have gotten in the water that day. 

We all watched the heart wrenching Stillwater rescue video.  I have been diving here since the late 70s when I still lived in Sacramento. I have never seen it as rough as the day of the rescue.  The spot where the emergency crew couldn't get in the water, is EXACTLY the same spot my son got his first freediving ab when he was 9 years old.  It is usually a POND even on a bad day.  We got dinner there in September...like a POND despite getting blown off the water to the outside.  For it to be as rough as it was in the video it has to be INSANE to the outside.

For the remainders its was just based on my experience.  Part of my daily work duties are to check the bouys and the river flows.  As I work I always plan my weekend based on the output of these wonderful tools that are available to anyone.  Essentially every time I would cancel a trip to the coast this spring, which was the roughest spring I can remember, the weekend paper was full of articles about someone else who died.  Tragic. Normally by this time I would be metering out the last couple of slots on my ab card.  This year I have only gone a handfull of times.

The fact remains, these deaths were all weather related and all 100% avoidable by simply choosing to stay out of the ocean when it was readily apparent that getting in is a real bad idea.  Call it stupidity, greed, poor self-assessment of ability, ignorance, or a combination of these attributes...none of it qualifies as a good reason to leave your family and friends behind in the pursuit of a snail. 

MY hope was to not hide the actual cause.  It wasn't really a heart attack or because they were old.  IT WAS THE WEATHER. I wanted to be brutally clear, so hopefully some of the guys on this board who are just getting into freediving, like Mooch and Pacifico (guys I love and want to remain alive), will get the message loud and clear...when its rough out stay home.  The snails will be there next week, but you can only go after them if you are still alive.





 

dude you are right. i dont really know you. i have only met you 3 times. however i consider myself a good judge of character. i think you are a good guy with oodles of integrity. in fact i would bet my next measley paycheck on it. growing up as a kid in oakland, iwas always the guy to stand up for the fat kid with glasses when the jocks and gangstas came around pickin on em. sometimes i paid dearly. furthermore i have lost a lot of friends to bad decisionmaking. i guess i am a little sensative to the situation and that is why i feel so strongly. that certainly doesnt make me right but is just how i feel. 

I agree with you Sean in that the weather was the biggest part of the deadly equation. But you cannot discount the ages of those who lost their lives either. I am willing to bet that along the entire coast on the days that these guys lost their lives there were others in the water diving for abs. Why then are 5 out of 7 who died over 50?
Yes, the water was crappy. Yes they should have stayed out of the water. Yes, they all made bad decisions. Their body's ability to handle those conditions played as equal a role in their demise as the conditions itself.

Group hug 


Sean , thanks for your concern I look forward to being in the big blue....but if I ever make the mistake of going out in 20 foot seas and don't make it back.....please call me a "dummy" instead of "stupid"  It just sounds a little better  Love ya brah