60-Year-Old Scuba Diver Missing Off Monterey Coast

60-Year-Old Scuba Diver Missing Off Monterey Coast

POSTED: 3:38 pm PDT October 7, 2006

MONTEREY -- A 60-year-old scuba diver is missing in the waters off Point Sur on the Monterey coastline, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

According to U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Amy Marrs, a recreational charter boat took a group of scuba divers, including the missing man, out to sea this morning for a dive.

Marrs said the man probably entered the water around 11 a.m. with a compressed air cylinder capable of holding enough air to last about one hour.

The Coast Guard received word at 12:10 p.m., just more than an hour since the start of the dive, that the man had not returned.

Divers aboard the charter boat searched for the man but were unable to find him.

Marrs said the man is "an experienced diver" and "was with a partner" when he entered the water about four and a half miles off the coast.

The Coast Guard has two helicopters and a 47-foot boat at the scene.

As of 2:45 p.m., three people were searching for the man underwater and two people were standing by aboard the boat, Marrs reported.

I hope they find this guy 

Still no good news................
COAST GUARD SEARCHES MONTEREY WATERS FOR MISSING DIVER
10/07/06 6:40 PDT
MONTEREY (BCN)

The U.S. Coast Guard has launched two helicopters and a motorboat to search the waters off Point Sur on the Monterey coastline in hopes of finding a 60-year-old scuba diver reported missing around noon today, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard estimates the diver has about 10 hours to survive in the water, and the search will last at least that long, U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Amy Marrs reported.

The recreational dive group that included the now-missing man boarded the charter vessel, Cypress Sea, and took their first dive around 11 a.m. today, according to Marrs. They were in waters about four miles west of Point Sur, Marrs reported.

Marrs said the man probably entered the water shortly after 11 a.m. with about two hours of air with him when he left the vessel.

The Coast Guard received word at 12:10 p.m. that the man had not returned with his "dive buddy."

Divers aboard the charter boat searched for the man but were unable to find him.

Marrs said the man is "an experienced diver'' and "was with a partner'' when he entered the water.

The Coast Guard has two HH-65 helicopters from Air Station San Francisco and a 47-foot motor life boast from Coast Guard Station Monterey.

The Coast Guard is searching an area of approximately 100 square miles, according to Marr.

I take it that there's been no new developments?

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/15721465.htm-----------------
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Extensive searches failed to locate the man
By BRITTANY GRAYSON
Herald Staff Writer
A 65-year-old man disappeared Saturday during a dive 4 miles off Point Sur.

The diver was identified by authorities as Robert Crawford of San Mateo.

He was holding a floating line along with his three companions while preparing for a dive during a charter trip off Big Sur, said Frank Barry, president of Cypress Charters of Monterey. Crawford and others were checking their gear in preparation for a 70-minute dive when the man abruptly plummeted into the deep.

"Everybody was hoping at that point that he got excited and started without his team," said Barry, who had accompanied the group of nine divers on the charter expedition.

A diver who descended almost immediately afterward could not find Crawford.

Crewmen aboard the boat, the Cypress Sea, called the Coast Guard shortly before noon, said the officer on watch at the time, Lt. Ian Callander. The Coast Guard launched two HH-65 helicopters from Air Station San Francisco and a boat from Coast Guard Station Monterey.

The helicopters searched the ocean's surface for more than seven hours. The Coast Guard combed an area of approximately 132 square miles before calling off the search at 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

Cypress Charters ran rescue searches of its own, sending divers to the bottom while people with binoculars watched the surface of the water.

Crawford disappeared in an area called Point Sur Banks. He descended directly over a sea mound with a summit 120 feet below the surface, and with a base 150 feet deep. The currents on the sea bottom, said Barry, whip around the sea mount, making recovery of any object unlikely.

All the divers carried four tanks of air, including two on their back and one under each arm. Coast Guard Lt. Amy Marrs said that Crawford probably had less than two hours of air available when he first submerged.

In addition to the air tanks, Crawford was wearing a rebreather, an apparatus that recycles a diver's exhaled breath into breathable air.

Barry said it is possible to suffocate while wearing a rebreather if the air a diver's lungs are receiving does not contain enough oxygen. But, he said, no one knows if Crawford passed out or simply got excited and descended early.

"It's all conjecture at this point," Barry said.

Crawford was an accomplished diver, said Barry. He had considerable experience diving with a rebreather and was trained extensively in technical diving. Crawford had organized the trip that morning and had been adamant about adhering to safety procedures, said Barry.

Barry said nothing about the day was dangerous.

"None of the depth, the ocean, the currents, the conditions, were challenging."

Barry said that Cypress Charters will continue to search for the missing diver. The Coast Guard will resume a search if any additional evidence surfaces, said Marrs.

Barry said the incident has left him shaken.

"Everything should have gone fine," said Barry. "That's why this is such a mystery. What happened? That's what we're all trying to figure out."

Curiouser and curiouser...

Wouldn't "Plummet" imply that Crawford deflated his BC, and thus rule out health problems?

 

well they found the guy after diving deep. a group of volunteer divers went out and searched. sad story.

Diving is definitely a high-risk activity. It's sad when it happens and people try very hard to keep it from happening but it's inevitable in any risky sport that puts man in a situation where equipment failure or judgement lapse can bring death quickly. My Alpne climbing journal even has a transitions monthly column for briths, accidents, and deaths. Guess what dominates the page or two most months? And climbing has fewer deaths per capita than diving--diving one of the most dangerous of the common sports you can do. I think the older you are, the more risky as well.

Fatality Rates b in the United States
ACTIVITIESa\\   FATALITY RATESb - 1998
Scuba Diving (1996) g   3.5
Climbing: rock, snow, ice kk (1997)   3.2
Kayaking Whitewater    2.9
Recreational Swimming g   2.6
Bicycling g   1.6
Drowning (in public places)   0.9
Whitewater boating
(based on 94-98 user days)h    0.86
Hunting e (1997)   0.7
Skiing and Snowboarding g   0.4

Total Number of Deaths in the United States
ACTIVITYa    TOTAL DEATHS (1998)
Passenger Automobile travel   41,200
Falls at home   10,700
Pedestrians   5,900
Fires at home   3,300
Drowning (in public places)   2,400
Swimming g   1,500
Recreational Boating f
(registered vessels)   815
Bicyclingg   700
Firearms (accidental)   200
Hunters e   99
Whitewater Boatingh (1998)
kayaks
canoes
rafts
other (i.e.: swimmers & tubers)   62
20
16
6
20
Lightning (1997)   42
Climbing: rock, snow, ice (1997)k   31
Ski / Snowboarding g   26
Hang Gliding   9

Unless otherwise noted, statistics are from the National Safety Council (1999). Injury Facts.

Fatality rates are per 100,000 participants (except Lightning, Falls, Fires, Drowning, Motor Vehicles, Pedestrians, and Firearms, which are per 100,000 population).

What a sad thread. 

I recently signed up for some new life insurance.  During the phone interview they asked about scuba diving or rock climbing.  I had been avid in both sports until about three years ago, but they asked about whether I had done it in the past two years ago so I was able to get good marks on that one.  They didn't ask, nor did I volunteer, that I like to go kayak fishing, a sport that often involves paddling around with a bloody deck in shark infested waters. Let's hope they actuaries don't become aware of our sport, I'd hate to pay a higher premium.

Brian

During the phone interview they asked about scuba diving or rock climbing.

Those actuaries know their stuff. Good thing kayak fishing has a low take-up in the population and therefore isn't in their actuarial tables...yet.

So let's keep the GWs talk down..

the following is in jest...mostly...

and guys, Bean Hollow is 6 miles from Ano Nuevo (the Sea Lion My Space equivalent  ) and Mister Gray Suit swims 40 miles a day. So he's cruising Bean Hollow and we've likely been checked out without knowing it. So stop tempting him from mid-Oct to mid-Nov when the Sea Lions are breeding and the GWS gather for their once a year take-down. Please for my and bsteve's insurance sake..please

Humor ended. Back to regular programming.

I take it that he wore his weight belt all the way down...

Was it an equipment failure?  I could see a ruptured BC or drysuit causing one to sink like that. 

I could see a ruptured BC or drysuit causing one to sink like that.

Sure, but wouldn't a seasoned diver check such things before relying on their serviceability--i.e. before letting go?
Of course, Lynn Hill, a famous woman climber with a nubmer of first ascents under her belt, once failed to check her knot before rappelling (somethign we have drilled into us early on in climbming) and took a 40-foot or so plunge of a route. Lucky for her, some tree broke her fall and she escaped with minor injuries.

that's why teh expereince versus incident curve is 'U"-shaped: neophytes get in over their heads and the very expereinced relax too much and ignore healthy fear.

Sometimes experience and skill can lull one into lethal complancy over the simple things:  I once had a patient of mine, an experienced sky diver,tell me how he watched from the ground as his very seasoned instructor directed a plane load of students to take their jumps.  After all had jumped the instructor followed.  Only problem was...he forgot to put his chute on.

My patient stood by with the man's wife and two young kids as he drilled into the ground.

He may well have had a heart attack or stroke or something too because it's very odd that someone could sink at the begining of their dive and fail to either use their regulator or ditch their weight belt.  I could see someone with severe chest pain and low blood oxygen levels tugging on their low pressure inflator hose accidentally and dumping their BC.

A screwed up mix in the rebreather could also cause unanticipated unconciousness too I guess.  Presumably they recovered the gear so aught to be able to check that it was working properly.

Diving can be dangerous, however the person doing the diving has a considerable level of control over how safe it is.  People dive in caves, wrecks, offshore currents and extreme depths, and their deaths make the statistics look worse for people that mostly dive in shallow protected bays like carmel.

For my life insurance I said I scuba dive twice per year.  Half local, half on vacation.  I cached 6 tanks on 2 trips in the last 12 months, so that's about right and should gurantee payment in the event of any water-related incident.  They did ask what my deepest dive was, and I was able to honestly say less than 75' - and the interviewer said 'good'.   

My climbing club (I was not on the trip) lost a climber on the North Palisade on the descent years ago when I was still an active climber. We were all shocked. He was 55 but in very good health. He was last in the group on the descent and at some point near the top of the descent someone halted to check up--he was gone nowhere to be found. They found his body on the glacier below (about 1,000 feet or so). Never found out what happened. Dizziness, fainted, who knows--he stumbled for some reason and, without a noise anyone heard, plunged to the glacier. Autopsy revealed nothing tangible.

It was a sobering reminder that when we engage in extreme sports where a small mistake can quickly cascade into a calamity--we need to acknowledge we are living on a razor's edge when we choose to engage in those sports. We all make mistakes every day--we're human. But some situations are more forgiving than others of simple mistakes and foregetfulness. It is an individual choice how big a risk we should take in terms of the penalties for simple errors. Be safe out there and think twice when you feel the risk gives you pause--you rational mind maybe trying to reason with you. Ignore its advice with the understanding of the course you are setting on and what the consequences could be and go confidently that you'll accept the outcome. Otherwise, turn back. It's for fish not world peace we are adventuring for. Weight the risks and benefits. That said, a little boldness and risk is a good thing--its called adventure and its in our genes to seek it. Temper that with healthy fear and you've got the right mix.