Under Water Search And Recovery For The Real World

[@explorescubaadventureamaze8595]

Great videos on search and recovery techniques.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Explore Scuba Adventure Amaze Edwin Anton Antonio, glad you liked the video and found it helpful.

[@johnmilsom2179]

I want to get into recovery, so all the insight is excellent 👍

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello John Milsom, you local Scuba Training Center is a great place to start. Most scuba shops teach the basic search and recovery course.

[@melvinmoi3302]

Thanks a lot for the video, appreciate it!

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

You're welcome Melvin

[@SeattleRingHunter]

Great video on search and recovery techniques. Prior to watching this video I have been upgrading my tool set for more effective circle search. Have a few lost wedding rings in a few of our local lakes and only have a single GPS pin as a reference to go off of. With my 100’ dive thumb spool already marked at 5’ increments by means of white heat shrink tubing and lengths written on by a fine sharpie marker. Also using a solid SandShark helical sand screw anchor and my own custom 360 degree swivel interface. The SandShark is more than adequate to my down line from my dive float and flag as well as a sturdy pivot point for my circle search efforts. However regarding 17:02 and the use of a compass that works well for certain visual search conditions. I have found trying to stop every bit to aim and take a compass reading off of my arm mounted dive computer while metal detecting through low visibility silt is very difficult to do accurately with out wasting additional energy. I thought about this and simply have overcome this challenge by use of a PVC marker pole about 3’ to 4’ in length. I can let 5’ of line out, stick the marker pole into the silty bottom, search 360 and when I return to the PVC marker pole, even in low visibility my thumb real line will catch the marker pole if I don’t see it visually. I will then let another 5’ of line out, move the marker pole out and proceed in this fashion until I recover my target. I should have have a few new videos out soon showing my version of the circle search. Cheers, #SeattleRingHunter

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Looking forward to the videos Jeff.

[@SeattleRingHunter]

@@LakeHickoryScuba not forgotten, need to get some good footage on my next search using my Sand Shark and dive line doing a circle search pattern.

[@SeattleRingHunter]

4:26 Thanks for pointing out that depth is an important factor to consider as related to how wide your search zone radius can be. I want to also say we need to be mindful of the type of object lost. Car keys and wedding rings compared to a naked cell phone or one in a rubberized water case. Eye glasses can be very light weight and get pushed much easier in slight currents. I am quite concerned to learn how much time since the item was deposited into the waterway has elapsed. I have recovered wedding rings years later in the exact same location however gone searching for more buoyant items that were lost recently and have not been able to locate them. I have a higher rate of recovery on naked cell phones than those in those plastic zip lock water bags with the neck lanyards attached and I can only suspect they may have had some trapped air in the bag causing a bit more buoyancy so they may have drifted further from the initial drop zone. Please remind everyone to leave their valuables at home or in the vehicle in a safe place and if those paddle boarder absolutely must take a phone or keys with them its not enough to just sling a neck lanyard over there head and think its secure! Please tie it off to a fixed point on your paddle board or area of your clothing that doesn't cause an entanglement or neck strangle. I have found captured GPS pins to be highly variable. People have lost rings and keys over open water in the lake and then make a GPS pin on their phone or fish finder. Days later depending on the original conditions and the days diving I had variances of up to 30+ feet between pins using the same waypoint data. People that have participated in GeoCaching think its easy to find the "drop zone" because they got a GPS pin but we use a lot of visual clues when searching for a stash in the woods. It can be a much larger challenge than many even realize while diving under water in silty pore visibility conditions swinging a metal detector around looking for the two carat diamond wedding ring while keeping a priority on all dive safety practices. Fun times... Cheers, #SeattleRingHunter

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

All great points Jeff.

[@aaronfriedman171]

Hi Bryan, I subscribed recently and love your videos! I volunteer for a search & rescue team back home and want to ask about your Jack Stay approach. We never separate divers, especially in low visibility. One diver makes a ring with his thumb and index finger around the rope and the other diver holds on to the first's wrist and each searches on their side of the rope. You then turn around for a 2nd sweep (or not) and then move the rope. Could you please give me your thoughts on separating rescue divers?

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Hello Aaron Friedman, thank you for your service to your local community. One thing that sets us apart from a department team (we are a private based Public Safety Team), we are not held to the same standards and do not fall under the same rules and regulations, such as OSHA, NFPA, etc. etc. With this being said, it is not to discredit the safety built in to the protocols of buddy teams, and as you stated not separating rescue divers. All of our guys are not only PSD's, but avid Solo Divers as well. The truth of the matter is, environmental conditions truly dictate how we operate. All safety considerations are constantly being monitored during our operations, and any single member can call an abort at anytime. I guess to sum up the answer, we have different tools in our tool box to help make the dive safe and successful. We train for multiple scenarios, including separating our divers. And 9 out of 10 times we are using underwater communications, so this plays a huge role in safety as well. Hopefully this answers your questions.

[@aaronfriedman171]

Hi Bryan, thank you for your reply. I guess what it all comes down to is training training training. Take care, keep safe and many fun dives.

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Training is definitely key.

[@diversdown2116]

Have you ever thought about going live and dooing a q&a i think it would be great

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

Yes, why we were down in Curaçao just before Christmas, we discussed doing just that a LIVE Q and A Session. The biggest issue is time. Trying to find time that would work for most of our subscribers

[@diversdown2116]

Well when u do make sure u let us all know

[@LakeHickoryScuba]

We definitely will.