First responder dive teams compete at Babcock Ranch to sharpen skills for real underwater calls

BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. (WINK)— The water at Lake Babcock was not just the course Friday. It was the obstacle.

First responder dive teams from across Florida competed at Babcock Ranch in the 4th Annual First Responder Dive Team Challenge, a two-day event hosted by Sheriff Bill Prummell and the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office. The challenge is being held May 1 and May 2 at Babcock Ranch Founders Square in Punta Gorda, with events starting at 8 a.m. both days. Public spectators are welcome, and admission is free.

From the shoreline, the event looked like a race. Teams pulled, tugged and fought to finish as fast as possible while spectators cheered them on.

But below the surface, divers said the work was much more complicated.

“Practicing under pressure, it just helps,” Deputy Matt Chandler with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said. “It makes the real-world stuff much easier.”

Chandler said the biggest challenge in Lake Babcock is not always the gear or the clock. It is the lack of visibility.

“There’s just no visibility,” Chandler said. “It’s silted out. This is a lake. It’s nothing but heavy mud. Light doesn’t really penetrate, so it’s dark. Seeing is the biggest obstacle.”

That means teamwork underwater does not look like teamwork on land.

Chandler said divers may not be able to see the person right next to them. Instead, they often rely on touch, feel and trust.

“You can’t see them, you don’t know where they’re at,” Chandler said. “It’s just by feel. We usually stay tethered with each other by hands.”

The competition includes events that force divers to complete tasks underwater. Doug Coleman, a diver with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, said one challenge requires teams to row out to buoys, retrieve different pieces from underwater boxes, bring those pieces back to a center table, assemble an apparatus, attach it to a lift bag and bring it to the surface. Once the team gets it back across the finish line, their time is recorded.

Coleman said the challenge is built around coordination.

“It’s all about teamwork and coordination,” Coleman said. “They have to manipulate bolts. They have to use coordination to screw this together and then to lift it.”

The event is timed, but Chandler said real recoveries are not.

He said when dive teams are called to recover evidence, a vehicle or, in the worst cases, a person, the work slows down.

“When we recover anything, either it be evidentiary value or the unfortunate circumstance where we have to recover a person, we are not doing it quick,” Chandler said. “It’s slow, methodical. Evidence preservation is our number one.”

Coleman said the skills being tested can apply to real recovery work. He said divers may have to use hooks and other tools underwater to manipulate equipment or help remove vehicles from the water.

For spectators, the challenge offered a rare look at a part of public safety that usually happens out of view.

Vanessa Vincent said she came to the park with her children and did not expect to see a first responder dive competition.

“I didn’t realize it was like a competition style,” Vincent said. “I thought that was really cool. All of them, like, kind of out here showing off their skills.”

After watching, Vincent said the event gave her a greater appreciation for the people training in the water.

“It makes me proud to see there’s so many strong people out here that care about what they’re doing,” Vincent said. “So it makes you feel really safe.”

The event also supports the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches. According to the organization, its mission is to prevent delinquency and develop resilient, productive and law-abiding citizens. The organization says it has been serving children and families for more than 68 years through residential campuses and summer camps for at-risk youth.

The First Responder Dive Team Challenge includes teams from sheriff’s offices, police departments and fire departments competing for top team awards in individual events and an overall winner. Team registration is $250 per team, according to the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches event page.

While the challenge has a winner, divers said the bigger point is making sure every team leaves more prepared than when it arrived.

For the teams along the shoreline Friday, the race ended when they came out of the water.

But the reason they train was still right in front of them.