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> Gee, let me see. I'm on a dive where the boat roams free and picks up the
> divers as they surface. During the dive, another diver surfaces severely
> bent. The boat gets the diver. Boat calls coast guard to evacuate, ETA is 
45
> minutes, but the boat captain decides that he can take the diver to port in
> 30 minutes, so off he goes. Yes, abandoning the remaining divers in the
> water. You surface using your ascent, me using my ascent line. Current is 2
> knots. I'm stationary, in the same location that the boat will come back to
> first. You, out to sea.


You seem to have circumstances where the boat is very close to a deco chamber 
and the air/sea rescue helicopters are very distant. UK practice is usually 
the reverse, ie the dive boat would often take an hour or two to get back to 
port, followed by half an hour or more by ambulance to a pot, whereas the 
air/sea rescue helicopters often arrive within 15 minutes.

Secondly, abandoning divers in the water is *VERY* dangerous, and I would not 
use a boat which would even consider such an action. What happens if a second 
diver surfaces in distress after the boat has left?


> And if you don't like the scenario with the bent diver, try a boat with an
> engine that no longer runs. there are plenty of realistic scenarios.


1. Use twin engine boats.

2. If the boat doesn't anchor in and stop its engine(s), the engine(s) is/are 
rather less likely to give problems.


> I've given valid reasons, as well have others, as to why and use uplines.
> Lets here some valid reasons as to why you choose not to use them. 


As above, plus why hang on for grim death to a fixed rope in a two knot 
current when you could have a nice relaxed, unstressful (=safer) deco 
drifting with the tide with either a communal or separate deco buoys, and 
with the boat drifting along with you. If you have a long hang, how do you 
read a book/magazine or whatever streaming like a flag in the tide?


Dave.

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