Nate died spearfishing, Sunday 6/8/2014

In Cuba we don't have a 911. the one thing we do is to do the job ourselves . when we know someone is missing we try to find him. we do not swim to shore to find help. If this person is not found, then we look for help. The first 5 minutes are crucial. Meaning that if this person is not found in the first 5 minutes, then is dead for sure and then you can look for help to find the body, not the person. For that reason, I've been meaning to say, knowing that I'll be criticized like Dan was. that i would have thrown the anchor then jumped in the water, and if I hadn't found the person, then I'd call 911. My point is not to criticize, but to set an idea or whatever you want to call it, so that next time we can do better to assist. In this kind of situation you can go down and either tie a rope to the hand or shoot it to save the person. You do not have to go down and bring him up with you because it can result in the death of both. So, i apologize if I unnerve anyone, but i understand why Dan asked the question. It's just about the first 5 minutes.

Pantoja, you are right. The first five minutes is crucial. Dan is also right to use this godamn ****ing tragedy to better the collective knowledge. I didn't get to meet Nate personally, but something tells me he's the kind of guy who would say "If there is anyway that studying and reviewing what happened to me can help prevent it from happening to others, please do." Every one of us feels it when one of our brothers passes in the water. We all got family and friends.

I have been out for a while due to a couple of close losses, and I get this sad news in my come back. My prayers and deep sympathy with his loved ones ..

Sad news. My condolences to family and friends.

Terrible news, have not been on here for a while and hate hearing of things like this happening.

My condolences to his family and friends.

That is basically what we had surmised. It doesn't make it any easier to lose a friend.
Miss you brother.

The one good thing I got out of this news is that it appears he didn't suffer. My biggest fear is imagining one of us tangled in something on the bottom and fighting to get free. Death is death and it's hard. But I hope he went out peacefully.

I've been reading a lot of Stevens fish reports. All of them since the beginning actually. I continue to see Nates replies... It really stings every time. Was he overweighted? That's what I keep thinking to myself. I never met the guy, but I feel he's taught me more about spearing and diving than practically anyone else. He left a deep impact on my diving thought process.

I am as inexperienced as you can get so maybe I don't have a place to comment on this particular thread. I view my question as a learning tool and in no way mean for it to turn the discussion into the blame game or finger pointing. Having said that, I am guilty of diving solo to 70' a few days a week. I think most people, against their better judgment will go out alone if the alternative is not going at all. When I do go with someone else, when they are down I am watching them and fully expect that they watch when I am down. I think that from the video that was described, regardless of a bad breath up or any other circumstances, if Nate was on the surface for 4 seconds before he started to sink...... That just makes this all the more tragic.
No amount of fish is worth not watching your dive buddies ass.
Again I apologize if I am out of line here.

I am guessing andrew posted this somewhere else? I feel angry and sadden at the same time.

I would also like to know his rate of descent, it sounds like he was pretty weighted down.

I'm with Nate's family now in Louisiana. I drove up here yesterday with his truck and boat packed with all his belongings . I would like very much to not watch the video again. You all do raise some good questions concerning the details, though. That said the details really are inconsequential. It was a very hectic dive and there wasn't just one technicality that botched it. I wrote out a response answering all the specifics then deleted it as I feel it wouldn't help anyone and it felt degrading. We all know the text book way to dive. Nate's last dive broke a lot of the rules. I love Nate like a brother and I don't want to rehash his death anymore, granted I would if his blackout had been on a more routine type of dive and the specifics might help someone else not make the same mistake.

Always take your time to breath up correctly.
Never exhaust yourself chasing a fish to the point you can't safely make surface.
Never turn around once you have begun to ascend, it's extremely taxing.
Always dive with someone you trust and matches your dive ability.
Never overweight yourself.

I won't always meet those criteria but there's what I think the video shows.

If anyone would like to pm me about certain aspects I'll do my best to explain.

Quote from sdeisen

Always take your time to breath up correctly.
Never exhaust yourself chasing a fish to the point you can't safely make surface.
Never turn around once you have begun to ascend, it's extremely taxing.

Very important piece of information! Turning around while trying to ascend is a mistake many make, especially with fish on the spear.

One year today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6AM3FnGVz4

I never met him but I do think about him still. His helpful threads and advice lives on here.

I can't believe it has already been a year.

Like George I didn't know Nate, but think of him often as a sobering reminder of the dangers of our sport.