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Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 19:28:55 -0400
To: "Stuart Morrison" <divebimbo@li*.fr*.co*.uk*>
From: Mike Rodriguez <mikey@ma*.co*>
Subject: Re: Cold Water Diving
Cc: "TechDiver" <TechDiver@aq*.co*>, cavers@cavers.com
At 07:31 PM 4/20/99 +0100, Stuart Morrison wrote:

Hello Stuart,

I'm not a WKPP diver, and I sometimes disagree with them, but
in this case, I think they're right.  Please take this post
as a constructive criticism.  I'm not bashing you, just giving
you my opinion.

>Is there anyone out there who is one hundred percent sure that in an
>emergency they can honestly say they would reach the valves EVERY SINGLE
>TIME?

With the possible exception of being in a very tight restriction,
yes, I can always reach all my valves every single time.  If this
were not the case, I would spend a lot of time in a pool or cavern
basin messing with my strap adjustments until I *could* reach the
valves every single time -- even when I'm cold or tired or in an
awkward position or weird attitude in the water.  Every single time!

>All it takes is one time to fail and, basically you die. I hear loads
>of rhetoric but not a lot of justification to your arguments. Have I just
>dared challenge the High Lords of the WKPP or is there a more practical
>reason why this method is flawed?

There are probably other reasons, but some that immediately come
to mind are that to use the isolator as you described requires:

1. Your long hose be on the left.
2. Your pressure gauge be on the right.
3. Your backup regulator be on the right.

The problem with number one and three is this: since you donate
the long hose, which you're breathing off the left post, your
out-of-air buddy exiting the cave in front of you has no way
to tell you that the valve has rolled off; a roll-off is most
likely to happen during an emergency than at any other time.
He/she is already out of air, so when your donated regulator
stops delivering, he/she thinks you're out of air now too and
you're both going to die.  If he/she is ever going to panic,
this will be when it happens.  The long hose belongs on the
right post so your buddy will never experience a roll-off
during an air emergency.  If your backup stops delivering, you
check the left post, find it off, and turn it on.  Your
buddy never even knows this happened and doesn't freak.  You
don't panic because you're watching your gauge (with the
isolator open) and know that there's plenty of air left
for both of you.

The problem with number two: the gauge is reading an unused
tank when the isolator is closed.  This makes it useless most
of the time.  If you forget the isolator is closed, you'll
get an unpleasant surprise when your left tank runs out of
air.  At this point, you'll be at halves, not thirds.  If an
air emergency occurs at this point, there will be insufficient
air available (only 50%) to get both you and your buddy out
of the cave.  At least one of you (your buddy) will drown.
If your buddy panics at the realization he/she is about to
die, you may drown too.  Forgetting to periodically open
the isolator seems improbably now, while you sit comfortably
at your PC, but when bad things are happening in a cave with
poor visibility, high-flow, and lots of restrictions, the
task-loading will make you forget.  Rigging such that as many
things as possible 'take care of themselves' frees you to deal
with the task-loading that might otherwise kill you.  Leaving
the isolator open allows it to 'take care of itself'.  You
don't even have to think about it the vast majority of the
time.

>I'm assuming most of the hostility is coming from the US. I don't dive open
>water except for training purposes, so I'm speaking from the standpoint of
>cave diving. European cave diving is a million miles from the springs of
>Florida, so I have a slightly different view.

You're right.  Your caves are different from ours in Florida.  But
the reasons for the Hogarthian configuration still apply because
the relevant elements are the same in all submerged caves
everywhere.

>After three or four hours in
>flowing, zero vis cave water, barely above freezing, I cannot say for sure
>that I could shut down my valves safely.

Stuart, if your hands get too cold for you to confidently work
your valves, how can you be sure you could work your isolator
in the same conditions?  What would happen if you *thought*
you were turning the isolator but really weren't and didn't
notice due to cold?  You'd continue diving until your left tank
was empty, then you'd realize what happened, but if you're too
cold to work your valves, how could you work your isolator?
You'd be out of air and unable to access the remaining 50%
of your air.

If your hands really are getting that cold, I think the way
to solve the problem is to get better exposure protection
or to make shorter dives.  Your solution to one problem (cold
hands) is introducing a myriad of other, I think more serious,
problems.

Even if it is the case that your hands will become numb no
matter what you do to protect them, then isn't it better to
leave the valves alone (and open) all the time since,
statistically, needing to work your isolator is a very rare
event.  Opening and closing your isolator sets you up
for the much more likely event of human error?

>I can reach my valves just about every time I try it, but I cannot convince
>myself that I will do it when I need to. The method I use is developed from
>that used by the British Royal Navy, who have one of the best safety
>records amongst the military.

This may be so... I don't know one way or the other.  What I
do know is that just because a lot of people do it, doesn't
mean it's the right way to do it.  This especially applies to
government agencies who's inertia usually puts them way behind
the current state-of-the-art.

>I'm not knocking the originators of the Hogarthian rig, I'm knocking the
>disciples and WKPP wannabees who blindly do without thinking and cannot
>tolerate being questioned.

I don't blindly follow anyone into something as dangerous as
cave diving.  I've really thought this out.  I've read opinions
in favor and against Hogarthian, and I've read your posts and
diligently considered the methods you propose, but I just can't
logically justify them.

Take a step back and carefully analyze what you propose.  Try
to think of everything that can go wrong in a cave and how
each of those events would affect you when diving using your
methods vs Hogarthian.  I think you'll find that your methods
are not optimal.

You're an adult and, I'm sure, a capable cave diver.  You're
certainly capable of making informed decisions about how to
rig your gear, but I think and hope that if you carefully
and thoroughly consider all the issues, you'll change your
mind.

In any case, I wish you safe diving.

-Mike Rodriguez
<mikey@ma*.co*>

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