Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
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*>
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]