3rd death this year.

Heard from A freind that another ab diver died along the Mendocino coast. Can anyone confirnm this? That would make it three this year so far. Its A horriable reminder that this is no game. Please be careful out there divers!

He died while ab diving at Elk.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/n/a/2010/06/16/state/n174511D77.DTL

Thanks Pat. He must have got tangled in the kelp? I wonder if he had A knife? Would it have ended differently? Damn!

Wow, 67 years old, the report did not indicate if he was diving alone or with a buddy.  RIP my fellow diver.

IslandYak

"....
Lee's diving partner notified authorities after Lee failed to surface after a dive. Elk Volunteer Fire personnel searched for Lee, and found him unconscious.....

....Lee's is the third abalone diving death on the North Coast since the April 1 start of season."

Hi Yakers:

       The trip down the trail used up
his strength and he didn't know his Limits.
     I'm done with Diving Alone for Abs because
I have too much pain in my Arms to deal with.
I'm too old for Diving and Yaking unless I have
my Rotor Cuff repaired!
     Short term, I may only Fish off a Cattle Boat.
                                         Sea-ya
                                         Ernie
                                          
                                          

"....
Lee's diving partner notified authorities after Lee failed to surface after a dive. Elk Volunteer Fire personnel searched for Lee, and found him unconscious.....

WTF kind of dive partner is that?  Instead of helping his buddy, he calls authorities?!  Two is one, one is none.  As they say BUDS, "Never leave your swim buddy."

Even when you have a buddy, you're not always right next to them.  If I hung with Angel all day I'd never get out past 7 feet.

Hi Yakers:

  I feel it's best to take turns Diving. Watch you Buddie on the way up and
only Dive after he hits the Surface.
  I can't preach too much because I  Scuba and free dove  alone for
many years. 
                                                        Sea-ya
                                                        Ernie
                                                                           

In some cases, freediver blacks out after surfacing and take one recovery breath. There was one student blackout in this way in the freediving course I attended and got recovered by his buddy who kept close watching on him. It is better to watch buddy take a few recovery breath and give ok sign (i will say at least 15 seconds) before next dive.

It should be uncommon for spearfishing or abdiving since most ppl won't push limit in this kind of case but I would take caution since body condition changes from day to day and dive to dive.

In some cases, freediver blacks out after surfacing and take one recovery breath. There was one student blackout in this way in the freediving course I attended and got recovered by his buddy who kept close watching on him. It is better to watch buddy take a few recovery breath and give ok sign (i will say at least 15 seconds) before next dive.

It should be uncommon for spearfishing or abdiving since most ppl won't push limit in this kind of case but I would take caution since body condition changes from day to day and dive to dive.

My reply is not meant to correct your post as I don't know with which company you took your class.  But a class with the Performance Freediving International (school) we were told that 30 seconds was the length of time we should wait for our buddies to give us the "OK" sign.  We were also given a statistic that 90% of BOs occur on the surface. 

I don't know about categorizing blackouts (BO) in spearfishing and abdiving as uncommon.  Though BOs are more common in the sport of freediving, it is far less likely that divers die practicing that sport because the dive buddies are more knowledgeable and are usually solely focused on their dive buddy.  

Most spearfishermen/ab divers will usually not intentionally push their limits but there are times when we extend ourselves as we're trying to pry that ab from the back of a long cave or untangle that tied up fish in a cave or out of kelp.  If we BO, chances are slim that our buddy will see us and come to the rescue.  As hunters we're usually busy with our own patch of the reef or whatever.  And in the relative poor vis. of the North Coast it'd be very hard to see each other even if we were in close proximity.  

I don't have solutions to all the dangers but I try to dive within my limits.  I dive with guys that are much better divers.  I call for them to spot me if I'm working on a tied up fish.  When I feel like I'm Superman and I'm diving "the best I'ver ever dove", then I pay special attention an stick to a very conservative dive profile or get out of the water altogether.  It's when I feel invincible that I know I'm at the most risk.  

Condolences to the deceased diver's family and friends.  

Nate

Every time someone croaks ab diving people feel the need to post and point out all the wrong things that the deceased or his partner possibly did wrong.  Jeez, the guy was 67 years old and died doing what he loved.  I could only be so lucky.  With my luck I'll probably go by some stupid dementia or something where they put me in an old age home and have to change my diaper for years.

The guy lived long and died an honorable death.  The only thing relevant that needs to be said:

Condolences to the deceased diver's family and friends.

Because he's in a better place now.

Every time someone croaks ab diving people feel the need to post and point out all the wrong things that the deceased or his partner possibly did wrong.  Jeez, the guy was 67 years old and died doing what he loved.  I could only be so lucky.  With my luck I'll probably go by some stupid dementia or something where they put me in an old age home and have to change my diaper for years.

The guy lived long and died an honorable death.  The only thing relevant that needs to be said:

Condolences to the deceased diver's family and friends.

Because he's in a better place now. 

You may not have been singling out my post in your reply, but since you quoted me I feel I need to address it.  If you read my post you will see that I made no assumptions on how he died.  I felt compelled to post on this thread because I wanted to give a different perspective on safety learned from freediving classes. 

Even when you have a buddy, you're not always right next to them.  If I hung with Angel all day I'd never get out past 7 feet.

Isn't the idea to buddy up with someone as good or better than yourself?  I've only spearfished once last Jan, with you guys at the Dimple.  And I was with Brian and his chick, both of whom were hardcore water competent.  It'd be frustrating to get into the water with somebody who was not conditioned and competent.  Its all about a good match.

Interested to see who this 67 yo's dive partner was and whether he had similar capability and conditioning.  I'm also fine with DaveW's idea of just expressing condolences and leaving it at that.  Its a tragic accident anyway you look at it.

For me its completely situational and dependent on alot of factors. If there's new people with me I'll stick with em and help them out.  Some days when there's good vis its fun to watch everyone dive and try and get a few pics but alot of times when its a group of competent divers we've always just kind hopped in and stuck together for a bit before we wandered off and did our own thing (while occasionally checking in with each other).  FWIW I've never gone diving and expected that my buddies would be able to do anything more than alert the CG and tell them where they last seen me.