DATELINE :- 2nd August 2000
BUOYANCY PROBLEMS
Bad buoyancy control still the cause of many incidents
A Coastguard watch assistant at Portland on the South Coast has warned that too many divers are suffering rapid ascents because of poor buoyancy control, and ending up "in the pot" for precautionary recompression treatments.
Towards the end of June this year, recompression treatments already numbered 12 for the Coastguard's Portland district, from the Hampshire/Dorset border west to Exmouth. Previous annual figures were 27 for 1999 and 35 for 1998.
Watchkeeper Lucinda Williams, a keen diver herself, said: "Divers attempting to decompress in open water, without a shotline to hold on to, fail to keep themselves at a steady depth and rise unintentionally to the surface."
Williams' comments reflect the last Maritime & Coastguard Agency report on 1999 diving incidents. This found that, of 185 attended incidents involving divers at sea, the "overwhelming majority" were due to rapid ascents.