Injured Diver Transport from Boat at Sea

[Dangerous]

Now that you have determined that a diver is injured and has DCS, you have him/her breathing the highest oxygen concentration you have on board but you are 100 miles out in the Middle Grounds. This diver needs to be extracted and taken to a higher level of care.

Ask yourself, how will I contact someone for assistance?

If assistance comes, what should I do to prepare?

Speaking from experience, the extraction of an injured diver has many common experiences but also has many differences.

Sharing instructive lessons learned from the actual injured diver extraction may save someone’s life or help to avoid injury in the future. The readership has a vast knowledge and experience to call on.

To start, the helicopter will produce hurricane force winds at the surface - be prepared.

Additional thoughts?

[TGuthrie]

Never been in a situation like that. A few stories and some info. would be nice.

[diligaf]

If you dive long enough, accidents are going to happen and you must be prepared. Most of my diving is on the East coast where we are always in VHF range and usually in cell phone range. Out in the Gulf, many miles of shore, is a completely different situation. I think this is a very important topic and I’ll try to get it started, but I hope some West coasters will help out and add too or correct my points.

The first step is preparation and attempting to be as self-sufficient as possible, realizing it could be hours before help arrives or being able to make shore. I would be prepared for different scenarios such as DCS, injuries such as shark bites or prop injuries, and lost divers.

Before leaving port, I would have enough oxygen for 2 divers for 4 hours each. I think 2 72’s would be enough. Be sure injured divers keep their mask on while breathing O2. If they are not wearing their mask, they will breath air through the nose and not get the full benefits of oxygen.

With deep puncture wounds, you will need the ability to stop the bleeding. Have a well-stocked first aid kit, rubber gloves, etc. While it may or may not be medically correct, I keep surgical tubing on the boat large enough to wrap around a leg in order to cut off the blood flow. Again you are just trying to keep someone alive until you reach medical help.

You must also be prepared for lost divers. Personally, way off shore I carry a flashlight or glow stick, mirror, and safety sausage. On the boat a good pair of binoculars helps. Another scenario could be the boat breaks down and the diver cannot swim back. Having a safety line on board could help or raising a nearby boat could be a solution.

VHF radios only have a range of 15-25 miles. A satellite phone would be best, but most people don’t have one. Mostly likely you would need to raise a freighter or a succession of recreational boats to relay your distress to the USCG.

As I radio for help, I would make sure all other divers are on board, and start heading for shore. Once I had contact with the CG and they were aware of the situation, I would then make the decision to wait for them or keep heading in. That decision would be based on the circumstances of the accident and is hard to speculate on.

Anyways, I think this is very important and I hope others have ideas and can improve on this thread.

[FredT]

and their copper drivers a few things should be done before the bird arrives. These were not rescues, but material transfers.

1. Lower ALL antennas, outriggers and anything else you can get off that protrudes above a smooth hull. Line entanglements are REALLY bad news.

2. Try and rig a static dissipation pole. A fiberglass fishing rod with a stainless leader attached to the end terminal and dragging into the water is a good thing. Choppers are wonderful static electricity generator, and can generate enough charge to kill if drained through your heart. Tap the basket to drain the charge before grabbing it, unless the pilot dips it first.

3. It's easier to do the transfer with both the boat and chopper underway. If you can run in a swell trough so much the better. Boat to maintain heading and speed throughout the transfer. Reading the seas for direction and frequency, and what direction will give you the best chance to maintain both speed and direction as well as minimize wave heave, and passing that info to the USCG up front will speed things up. It may even be necessary to run OFFSHORE to get a quick transfer. Boat should maintain enough speed to provide good steerage.

BTW let the chopper bring the basket to you, don't try to run to it. The pilot has a better view of what's going on than you do.

4. NEVER tie the basket to the boat!

5. Be aware that almost 1/4 of at sea fatalities happen after the victim is sighted by the "rescue" vessel. Given that without the rescue almost all of those rescued will die without help justifies the increase in risk for doing the rescue.

FT

[deepfish]

1. take a medic diver course
2. take a rescue diver course
3. keep diver hydrated, on right side, higest O2 available, record and relay vital signs regularly

here they come:

[deepfish]

closer

[deepfish]

real fricking close

[deepfish]

strapping him in

[deepfish]

up

[deepfish]

and away

[deepfish]

time to pluck the Coastie

[deepfish]

Coastie hanging out

[deepfish]

and gone

[deepfish]

bye

[fernandezh]

Good Post FredT. Most people overlook the danger of static shock while dealing with Choppers. Another thing is that you should ensure that everything is secured from the rotor-blast on the boat. I could imagine that charts, fishing lures and other sharp objects could become pretty dangerous under the high winds. Good thread

[deepfish]

When I took the Rescue Diver class we were told that a basket lowered by a chopper would be preceded by a static line that had to make contact with the water before we touched the basket. In practice, at least on this evacuation, it worked the same way with the CG telling us several times not to touch the basket before their static line had made contact with the water.

[Spearchucker]

EJ -

On what boat was this rescue done on?

[Dangerous]

Deepfish, great pics, I was on that cruise aboard the JR ii several years ago when we called in the chopper.

Look at the pics closely, everyone is wearing their dive mask because at Capt. Fernandez says, the rotor wash is significant. D4B, who was it that had to throw them selves across that heavy JR ii fishbox lid that was lifting up even though it was lashed down. As FredT says, lash everything down & lower everything. Anything on deck will be blown overboard.

Now, back to communication, the first time I saw the Coast Guard Helicopter, was aboard the SS Minnow, excuse me, correction, the SS Groundscreeper. Having minimum equipment to increase the speed to 6 knts, the GK only had a VHF so Spear One aboard the Double Vision had to relay to the Coast Guard via his Sideband. If you are in MG, the Fla Fisherman may also be out there and can relay too. (been there – but that’s another story) You can get a reconditioned Sat Phone from these folks: Outfittersatellite.com if you are interested.

On the first injured diver extraction I saw (GK), the CG dropped a swimmer on deck after we were maintaining a steady course as FredT has described and he handled the details. On the JRii extraction, the CG dropped the basket and we were to assemble the basket but there was a problem with one screw joint and they dropped the swimmer to assist.

DF or AJ, you want to add anything.

Next, what to do if you are dead in the water, can the CG helio drop a basket on deck or in the case of the recent GK adventure, high velocity pumps.

Comments:

[Ed Walker]

Wow, great pic sequence. Couldnt spell it out much better than that. I dont dive real far out much but I do fish out there and have had an experience with a dive emergency. I have decided that if Im ever in a similar situation Im firing the EPIRB. That way the chopper is coming. Period. No decision for them to decide if they think the think the guy is gonna live or die, they are coming. Yes, Ill be calling too, with a sat phone if needed but the EPIRB will be clickin'. IMO- NO VESSEL FOR HIRE SHOULD BE WITHOUT A SAT PHONE IN THE MIDDLEGROUNDS. You are usually out of VHF range, especially if the weather is bad, all you have to do is pick up the phone and dial. It is also independent of the boats electrical system should there be a problem there. My two cents.