Nate died spearfishing, Sunday 6/8/2014

    Andrew man... Wow none of us ever want to think about what your going through much less actually have it happen. Wasn't your fault bro, we all choose a dangerous sport. Keep the faith.

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele

    Quote from Andrewk

    When I didn't see Nate is when I called out his name. Then I screamed his name over and over looking everywhere but in my gut I knew something wasn't right. I called 911 at 12:23 pm Sunday June 8th, 2014 . By 12:41 he had been brought to the surface by rescuers.

    You had the presence of mind to throw the anchor. Why did you not dive after him?

    I never met Nate, but my deepest condolences go out to his family & friends. I've met Andrew K before at DiversDirect, sorry for your loss and what you had to experience, truly.


    1 up, 1 down, be safe.


    Chase

    Relax & Go Spearfishing

    sad news. like Dan said. a couple times i've seen fish float from the bottom to the surface by themselves without being pulled by us. but in this case i'm more inclined to think that he had the fish , removed the shaft and just before hitting the surface , he lost consciousness.to my knowledge, most black out's happen at the surface or when the diver is about to surface. it appears that in Nate's case he did not have any warnings . I'd just say that we have to know our bodies, our limits and not to push it . that's why i don't like competitions or i don't like to spear with those who like to brag etc.
    i never met Nate , but all i heard was good things about him. R.I.P. let's all have a beer in his name tonite.

    Very sorry for your loss Andrew, and for his family and everyone who was related to him. Stay strong and always remember it is NOT your fault.
    One can easily tell he was a great person by reading some of his posts.
    Tragedies like this makes me rethink and appreciate everything, and not take anything for granted.

    You know hank said something to me in a pm that has really resonated with me. This forum is really like an extended neighborhood if not an extended family. I consider you all my kin. I found myself wondering why I found myself missing nate so much. He and I were not very close but I really enjoyed our interactions. I realize that it i miss him because I know he is gone. The way he and we all can support each other with a fishing report when we are trapped at our desks, with a nice compliment or comment on our story, with helpful advise or personal experience, and the sad hard truth is that nate will never be there again. That really hurts


    Bottom line is I love most or all of you as brothers and losing you, in any way or for any reason, is devastating.


    So, as pantoja said, everyone be safe and here is to nate!!

    i like to spear fish

    Quote from Dan

    You had the presence of mind to throw the anchor. Why did you not dive after him?


    the water on sunday had a murk layer over it. After finding the fish I had no idea where to even begin to look for him. we didnt have an active GPS on our boat. only our phones.


    I called 911 with one hand and threw the anchor over with the other and tied off. I provided GPS coordinates to the rescue crews and flagged them down. They got to us so fast.

    Quote from Andrewk

    the water on sunday had a murk layer over it. After finding the fish I had no idea where to even begin to look for him. we didnt have an active GPS on our boat. only our phones.


    I called 911 with one hand and threw the anchor over with the other and tied off. I provided GPS coordinates to the rescue crews and flagged them down. They got to us so fast.


    I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I have been in the boat with Jake and watched him dive…..the boat drifted faster than I thought and all of a sudden….where is Jake? I yelled his name……I SCREAMED his name. I wouldn't have known where to dive and look….just as you said. Then he surfaced and looked at me like…."what"?. If only it had turned out that way for Nate and you also.


    I've never met almost everyone on Speardiver but I feel a real kinship with many of you. Hang in there Andrew. Nate would probably have told you to get your ass back in the water. It's what we all choose. Surfing is much the same. The draw of the ocean…..it's what makes us brothers.

    Dan,


    I think it's harder to think what you should do at that moment when it happens. What is crazy to me is your first dive of the day is your best dive of the day. It might not feel like it but it really is. You are fully hydrated, strong, and well rested. Something really bad must have happened or he made a really really bad mistake. I dunno.


    We also don't know how good of a freediver Andrew is. Is he strong enough to pull up a body from depth? It is not easy for an average diver to do that at 60ft.


    I met Nate maybe like 2 times. He was a super nice quiet guy from what I gathered. He was crazy about spearfishing that I know for sure. He is gonna be missed.


    RIP

    Judah, I know you cant see my texts but I still enjoy reading yours!


    I consider the Speardiver family my brothers in the ocean as well. I always try my damndest to look out for the guys I dive with and would hate that sinking feeling that comes over me when I cant find them for a few minutes. It's terrible to think about what happened specifically but any information that comes out of this may help prevent the death of another fellow diver.

    I heard this before about the first dive of the day being the best, and believe it's theoretical nonsense. In worse case scenario acting on this premise will cause exactly what happened to Nate. The exception is guys who dive very often, like commercial spearos. They also have a faster recovery time.


    Panic is not an issue, if any one of my dive partners didn't surface and a fish did my instinct is to go in. It's the only chance they got. That would come way easier to me than throwing an anchor and calling rescue. I'd probably make the terrible blunder of forgetting to anchor and jump in, then what would I do floating in the ocean with an unconscious diver.. I don't think I can pull up a body from 50ft on the first dive of the day. But I know I can get to 30 and shoot him in the thigh.


    It's a strange empty feeling to think we're talking about Nate and he's no longer here. Almost like it's too early to let go. But he is gone, and I believe not without long reaching repercussions in the spearfishing community. I bought a FRV today, even though I think I'm the last candidate for making use of it.

    Quote from hau

    Dan, will we be able to buy the FRV from the Freedive Store?


    I am unable to get this tragedy off my mind. Just drove home over two days from a family celebration and just can't get this off my mind.


    One of my recurrent thoughts s what if Nate was wearing a FRV????????? Thanks for bringing it up HAU - I was going to when I got home but glad you did - thanks.


    Something to consider.


    Dan - we weren't there. Hashing what if won't bring Nate back. And Andrew jumping in blind after finding hs gear assuming in wasnt still in his gear bag would not ave changed anything at that point IMHO. My suggestion is to drop that view.


    It hurts and I can't imagine how much this hurts Andrew, let's not make it worse please.

    Oscar I was thinking the same thing, not the time to probe. Again I can't imagine how hard it is for Andrew.

    A bad day at sea is better than a good day in the boatyard
    George Steele


    As I understand it, this dive was after a morning of fishing. I was fishing that weekend and it was surface of the sun hot. None of those things that you listed apply to a first dive after a day of fishing. I wonder if this was a factor in tipping the scales on that day.



    I don't think anyone wants to hash and probe for the sake of it. But I think for many of us here this tragedy hit so close and was so shocking that we can't help but want to understand and analyze the situation in an effort to learn and make sense of what happened. Now may not be the time. But at this point the only positive thing that can ever possibly come from this situations is learning from it.


    This has already caused me to take a serious look at my own diving and how I can improve my own safety. Until this week, diving buddy-less with a boat following after a long day of fishing was the most common of practices for me. But a number of things will be different for me the next time I get in the water. I also plan on investing in a FRV.

    Edited 2 times, last by Reefchief ().

    I feel for Andrew, losing his friend in a tragic accident like that. Many members including me dive solo. We all should learn from this and may take action and open a spot (sticky) in the forum, where we can find potential dive buddies for planned trips to help preventing accidents like that in the future.

    I'm so sorry for your loss Andrewk, the rest who have lost a friend, and of course Nate's family.
    I know that it is hard not to replay the scenario over and over in your mind and think how you could have reacted better. It sounds to me like you made a really good decision in a terrible circumstance to dump the anchor immediately and get help on the way ASAP. Many would have delayed, hoping for the best.
    Try not to be hard on yourself, grieving the loss of a friend is enough to deal with already.

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