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Chapter 5 — 8
entanglement with other equipment is possible. Unbuckelling the weight belt
per se
will not
necessarily cause it to fall.
The attachment of weights to the diver using rope or an ordinary belt buckle which cannot be rapidly
released, has sometimes proved more permanent than the diver would have wished.
The
weight belt should always be the last item of equipment put on before entering the water,
and the first removed before leaving the water.
If this advice is followed, then an inadequately
equipped diver who does fall back into the water, is more likely to float and not sink or drown.
Diving Knife
Contrary to the popular Hollywood image,
the diver's knife has limited usefulness in
fighting marauding sharks. It is, however,
an essential item of safety equipment
which can be used to cut the diver free
from entanglements such as rope, kelp,
fishing lines and nets. Scissors may be
more effective for this.
Although stainless steel blades resist rust,
inferior quality steels do not hold a cutting
edge well. The knife should be of robust
construction and of a reasonable size. It
should be strapped to the diver at a
location where it will not cause snagging
(e.g. the inner surface of the calf or arm),
and easily accessible. It should not be
attached to any item of equipment, such as
the weight belt or scuba harness, which
may be ditched in an emergency.
Fig. 5.10
Spear Guns
Although there is usually some value to specific
bits of diving equipment, with inevitable problems
accompanying them, the only piece of common
diving equipment which can be universally
condemned, is the spear gun. The senior author is
so scared of divers carrying this equipment, that he
departs the water as soon as one is observed.
Sometimes the injury is to other divers, sometimes
to the spear fisherman himself. The latter was the
case in the fig 5.11. He managed to spear himself
with the spear (seen as the white rod in the X-ray)
penetrating his soft palate, the optic chiasm
(nerves to the eye), the sinus and a lot of the
frontal part of his brain (which he probably was
not using, as he possessed this implement).
Fig 5.11