Safety ABOVE water

2008-01-11T10:02:19Z

[Recently a highly experienced and professional spear fisherman with several championship titles to his credit suffered a beginner’s accident transpiercing his right
hand as his LOADED SPEAR GUN ON A MOVING BOAT went off!
I, as a instructor, have always taught that underwater spear guns are precisely that. They were conceived to be loaded, handled and discharged while in the water and that in no circunstance they should be brought on board any vessel, moving or static, while still loaded.
I have heard the excuse of “having the safety on”....come on! Are you going to risk life or limb, yours or even worse somebody else’s to a mechanical device that is sustaining abuse and metal fatigue for having been exposed to salt water, sun, corrosion, electrolysis, etc...sometimes for years on?
The excuse for this highly danderous negligence is that of “saving time, being “ready” to start hunting right from the second you hit the water… Not true though, what about the surface preparation before the dive, the acuatic adaptation required to properly submerge, etc.
A few seconds don’t change anything and they could very well avoid a tragedy.
My friend was lucky. His wound incredibly didn’t brake any hand bone or nerve, it went right through between the thumb and index, you know the fleshy part....
I know of several other cases, one of them, in my opinion the most incredible that ever happened years ago in Cuba whereas a spearfisherman having left his gun on the bottom in the previous dive, when inspecting the cave from a different angle opposite to the gun, it went off and transpierced HIS NECK! He emerged looking like that famous apple on top of William Tell’s head, from side to side.
Again, it looks like luck, or something else, protects the incautious. He too survived, no major damage. If I believed in them I would said a freaking miracle.
Please share if you know of similar cases.
Dive, hunt, enjoy and play it safe!
Ricardo

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Safety ABOVE water