Spearfisher dies in QLD

[coucho]

Sincere sympathy and commiserations to all family and loved ones.

Here here,
he was a well respected local young man extremely fit, a life saver always in the local papers for his achievements in life saving events a tradgic end to a young life.

[Matt_F]

My deepest condolences to the young man's friends and family.

I lost my best spearing mate to swb nearly a year ago. He was a very experienced spearfisherman and freediver. He could routinely spear fish in 30m of water, and he was one of the best blokes you could meet. I wish I was there when the accident happened, I might have been able to save him.

You don't need to know the science to reduce your risk of swb. My advice is

1) Always dive with a buddy that is capable of diving to a reasonable depth. My mate died most likely because his buddy couldn't get him out of the 30m of water he had sunk down to.

2) Do not hyperventlate

3) Always have a few minutes at the surface between dives to reduce your CO2 levels in you blood

4) Never exhail before you reach the surface. The experts liken that to suicide.

5) If you are spearing large pelagics DO NOT fight them under water. Have a good teather system with a float and let the gun go. This really burns your O2 and pushes up your CO2 fast. This is most likely how my mate suffered a swb.

It's a dangerous sport so treat it with respect and enjoy it.

Matt.

[bondy99]

G'day,

Sorry to hear about the tragedy of a spearo in his prime. My condolances.

With regards to Pressure. From what I understand when I went trough the paces of diving. On the ground i.e 0 to 33 feet = 1 Atmosphere
33-66 fteet = 2 Atmospheres and so on going on the 1/3rd replicates.

I assume these are Boyles Law of Partial Pressure regarding residual gasses and shallow water blackout.

The same applies to above ground i.e climbing the highest Mountain.

The air is thinner thats also why one is required to carry compressed air to enable the brain to function coherently to ensure the body does not screw up.

You can correct me if I'm wrong.

Peter

[mattooty]

The local community is still in shock following this news. A true local life saving legend who's dedication to his passion left most people in awe.
A young man who in his 20 short years created a huge impression on so many people.
You'll be most sincerely missed Jacob. A mate, a son, a true all rounder.

[cuzzamundi]

Sincere condolences to all who knew him. Tragic. RIP.

Cuzza

[Bribie Is.]

Hello Guys,
Just thought I would provide some extra info about
'shallow water blackout''
The scenario most dangerous to freedivers in 'deep water blackout' This is as a result of Hyperventilation, which does not help the 02 content much, but reduces the percentage of CO2 in the blood.
The CO2 triggers that almost uncontrollable desire to breath when the 'air gets low'.
By deminishing the percentile, divers are able to overcome the feeling and push further that they should.
This is the usual cause of blackout when surfacing from depth. It is often accompanied by 'shallow water blackout' which is the sudden reduction of O2 pressure.

Cheers, Bribie Is.