Not wanting to put too much of a dampener on things, I believe it is beneficial for divers to learn lessons from mistakes made by others. Unfortunately, the nature of this sport is such that many have died before us in order for us to learn how to survive.
Anyway, on A1 today was a documentary about a cave dive that went wrong in NZ. I did a bit of reading afterwards and came across this recent story that happened in South Africa.
there is a video on youtube, which was recovered from the diver’s helmet cam. I would suggest you read the story first and then watch the clip in that order(however, you might not WANT to watch the clip)
At 2.56, you see a very eerie thing, but you need to read the story to appreciate what you are seeing.(please don’t post a spoiler for those wanting to watch it for themselves) youtube.com/watch?v=-0df2MchpJ8
Holy crap that’s a spooky video. The world of extraordinarily deep tech diving is a frightening world that makes me glad that I’m only 30-something meters down where the margin for error doesn’t have my dive buddies pulling their fingers across their throats and giving up if they see my light heading to the bottom.
It’s also considerably easier to keep one’s focus when all one needs is 40-50 minutes at relatively lightweight depths before coming up – the idea of spending 9, 12 or 24 hours breathing from a ka-zillion (despite the rebreather, it seemed like this super-deep dive was requiring 35 or so additional) tanks just doesn’t sound like fun. Whenever I see those guys heading out with so many tanks it just doesn’t even look like fun to me… yet. I’d rather spend some time topside talking with my wife and diving friends about the stuff we just saw.
well, I can see the attraction. It’s akin to base jumping. If you pull it off unscathed, it’s a buzz beyond words.
If.
I reckon a decent fear of potential issues is a healthy thing. What I reckon happens to these guys is they eventually desensitize themselves to the reality of dying and something as simple as not diving to the plan (as in this case) turns normally manageable problems into fatal ones.
Does anyone know how to use a diving drink supplier? A Taiwanese diver gave it to me, he sells it and wants me to try it. It’s a waterbottle that you attach to your regulater and when you’re thirsty or your mouth is dry, you can have a sip of your sports-drink UNDERWATER!
Problem is, the instructions for how to attach it (it has it’s own mouthpiece) are in Chinese. The only word that I can read is “alcohol” which is crossed out to indicate that one shouldn’t take Taiwan Beer with you when you go exploring the depths! ha ha!
At least base-jumping would seem thrilling – the ability to fall from great heights plus, if it is a building, the thrill of doing something illegal would make for a nice adrenaline rush. The mere thought of spending 9-12 hours to go down into a deep black hole with only a mucky, sticky bottom to see seems a bit tiring – all the while trying to maintain a zen-like calm over your breathing. Of course, if you set records or are pushing rebreather equipment to new limits I can imagine that upon recovering from the bends or hypothermia one might feel pretty good. I guess I would have to do it to know, but I’m likely not to.
Still, the general nature of the mistakes made in the body recovery appear to basically be the same as the problems that befall divers at shallower depths – just that the problems were magnified in a situation with little to no margin for error.
At least base-jumping would seem thrilling – the ability to fall from great heights plus, if it is a building, the thrill of doing something illegal would make for a nice adrenaline rush. The mere thought of spending 9-12 hours to go down into a deep black hole with only a mucky, sticky bottom to see seems a bit tiring – all the while trying to maintain a zen-like calm over your breathing. Of course, if you set records or are pushing rebreather equipment to new limits I can imagine that upon recovering from the bends or hypothermia one might feel pretty good. I guess I would have to do it to know, but I’m likely not to. [/quote]
Yeah I agree.
At least base-jumping would seem thrilling – the ability to fall from great heights plus, if it is a building, the thrill of doing something illegal would make for a nice adrenaline rush. The mere thought of spending 9-12 hours to go down into a deep black hole with only a mucky, sticky bottom to see seems a bit tiring – all the while trying to maintain a zen-like calm over your breathing. Of course, if you set records or are pushing rebreather equipment to new limits I can imagine that upon recovering from the bends or hypothermia one might feel pretty good. I guess I would have to do it to know, but I’m likely not to. [/quote]
Yeah I agree.[/quote]
I didn’t get into diving to die. It is a safe sport IF you are properly educated to check your gear and properly trained to handle minor emergencies in the water. There should be no major emergencies in my book.
On my 3rd dive after getting my open water cert, a night dive, I geared up and jumped into the water (did not properly check my gear) found I had 40 bar. NO one had changed my tank. I passed my gear back up and stayed in the water. Put it back on, checked, 200 bar, went down. Tried to inflate the bcd for some stability, and it wasn’t hooked up. Had to auto inflate at 20 meters in the dark, NOT something fun, but I was properly trained and did it with no problem, except a bit of freak factored in.
This deep tech diving doesn’t impress me; neither does hiking up Everest. To do the act for the act itself? No thanks.Pass.
At least base-jumping would seem thrilling – the ability to fall from great heights plus, if it is a building, the thrill of doing something illegal would make for a nice adrenaline rush. The mere thought of spending 9-12 hours to go down into a deep black hole with only a mucky, sticky bottom to see seems a bit tiring – all the while trying to maintain a zen-like calm over your breathing. Of course, if you set records or are pushing rebreather equipment to new limits I can imagine that upon recovering from the bends or hypothermia one might feel pretty good. I guess I would have to do it to know, but I’m likely not to. [/quote]
Yeah I agree.[/quote]
I didn’t get into diving to die. It is a safe sport IF you are properly educated to check your gear and properly trained to handle minor emergencies in the water. There should be no major emergencies in my book.
On my 3rd dive after getting my open water cert, a night dive, I geared up and jumped into the water (did not properly check my gear) found I had 40 bar. NO one had changed my tank. I passed my gear back up and stayed in the water. Put it back on, checked, 200 bar, went down. Tried to inflate the bcd for some stability, and it wasn’t hooked up. Had to auto inflate at 20 meters in the dark, NOT something fun, but I was properly trained and did it with no problem, except a bit of freak factored in.
This deep tech diving doesn’t impress me; neither does hiking up Everest. To do the act for the act itself? No thanks.Pass.[/quote]
A couple of things.
Who does get into diving to die? Please don’t misunderstand me - I can see the attraction, just like base jumping, climbing everest etc etc…but I am not saying I want to do it.
JD, your story is exactly the sort of thing that kills people. Complacency because a diver is within the ‘safe’ bounds of rec dving.
As crazy as deep tech divers may seem, one thing that I respect a great deal (in general terms) is their ANAL attitude towards setting up gear.
I follow GUE/DIR discussions on scubaboard.com , do you have any links to aquanaut?
Not sure if I agree with the full DIR mentality, but it’s pretty hard to fault it from a safety point of view. I am heading towards a DIR setup, but I doubt I will go full DIR.
[quote]Who does get into diving to die? Please don’t misunderstand me - I can see the attraction, just like base jumping, climbing everest etc etc…but I am not saying I want to do it.
JD, your story is exactly the sort of thing that kills people. Complacency because a diver is within the ‘safe’ bounds of rec dving. [/quote]
Well, more to my point is that I didn’t get into diving to do dangerous things that might end up killing me. Some people get in for the thrill.
As for my mistakes, oh, sure, I accept full and complete responsibility for them, and in the short and long run, I’ve never made those mistakes since; however, they still remain in the realm of minor emergencies.
I follow GUE/DIR discussions on scubaboard.com , do you have any links to aquanaut?
Not sure if I agree with the full DIR mentality, but it’s pretty hard to fault it from a safety point of view. I am heading towards a DIR setup, but I doubt I will go full DIR.[/quote]
Aquanaut.com is long dead. But at one time on it you could see posts from all of the big shots in tech diving. Plus stupid flame wars over bungie straps on wings…etc…
Yes. GUE/DIR at times can seem like an evil cult, they are not very tolerant. But, once you start diving that style, you’ll appreciate the simplicity and ease. Plus, the stuff just lasts much longer. I’ve been using the same open water version with 18lb wings & an SS backplatefor 10yrs. This is no longer considered an acceptable open water rig since I only have 1 kg of removable weight with an 80 al tank. Dunno…I’ve never had a problem even with large ‘downdrafts’ and I’ve never been over weighted. But it does mean that at the end of the dive I’m perfectly neutral @ the 10ft stop.
But it also means I’m dragging my gear all over the place as I don’t trust dive resorts rental stuff and ill-fitting gear.
[quote=“jdsmith”][quote]Who does get into diving to die? Please don’t misunderstand me - I can see the attraction, just like base jumping, climbing everest etc etc…but I am not saying I want to do it.
JD, your story is exactly the sort of thing that kills people. Complacency because a diver is within the ‘safe’ bounds of rec dving. [/quote]
Well, more to my point is that I didn’t get into diving to do dangerous things that might end up killing me. Some people get in for the thrill.
As for my mistakes, oh, sure, I accept full and complete responsibility for them, and in the short and long run, I’ve never made those mistakes since; however, they still remain in the realm of minor emergencies.[/quote]
Diving deep with mixed gas is a very exact science, but your body’s reaction to the mixed gas from day to day isn’t.
My wife and I were very lucky to get a tough teacher - helped us avoid bad habits and approach the rare problems with some calm. While we can’t be complacent at any depth, at least in normal recreational diving we can be relaxed enough to see lots of cool stuff. The cave dive in that article doesn’t seem to offer that.
We all make mistakes, but one thing that has lept out at me recently after reading some accounts of diving accidents is that virtually always, it is a collection of minor errors that were not dealt with properly.
For example, in the case of jumping in with 40bar, you could have quite easily got to 30m before you found out. Many people don’t check their tank bar until they have been under for quite some time, making the assumption based on experience that they don’t hit 100bar until say 30mins.
You could say that checking tank bar before going down is a relatively minor check, and it would be as long as the tank pressure was checked when the gear was put together, and again during your buddy check, but if both of those ‘minor’ opportunities were missed, that next opportunity goes from being a minor check to a major one, potentially saving your life.
Thanks for sharing anyway JD. I learn a lot from those sorts of stories.
Me too. I’d rather have made the rookie mistakes when a rookie in “shallow water” costing me some face, than when more experienced and have it cost me my life.
I am pretty religious about checking only because I know my air consumption is faster than my wife and a couple of 65 kg friends we dive with. I always have my eye on getting a little more time, which means that checking my gauge before a dive has some of the same excitement as a scratch-off lottery card. Right at 220? Allrrrrright! At 200? crap.
A friend passed on to me some interesting PDF magazine articles regarding techniques to reduce air consumption. After reading those and making a reasonable effort to concentrate on breathing better, I honestly picked up an additional 10-15 mins on average. No shit.
