Rod Farb sez: "A few dead divers is a drop in 
the bucket in the overall scheme of things. Rod

  Rod, you are right about this - not that many people have been killed 
emulating Bret, and I for one have gotten some great free gear from dead guys 
who do what these agencies tell them. I got Jim Fernandez's tanks after he got 
killed at Ginnie diving 40% nitrox. I can thank the certifying agency for that 
(he was doing a combo nitrox and cave training).Unfortunately, I had to sell 
them for next to nothing, as the poor bastard not only followed these strokes
to 
his death, but he bought the wrong crap at their recommendation. I tried to use 
these tanks as stage bottles, but they were hopeless (genisis 120's). I could 
have gotten Nick's gear - he had a nice faber 95 that I could have used for an 
oxygen bottle, and a poseiden first stage, but I did not leave enough mix in my 
tanks to get down to where he was trying to  set a depth record on air (Kincaid 
and I had just done a mix swim dive, and were too low in our al 80's to do a
450 
bounce cleanly). 

   Besides, it is much more macho to do things the wrong way. A tough guy like 
Bret or the others can handle more nacotic mixes and higher ppo2 than a weenie 
like me, or certainly the newer people. Just look at all of the cave they have 
explored this way and all of the great things they do. These guys have great 
breathing rates too, they can beat most students, while maintaining their
status 
as beached whales - no need to set a good example there either.

    Yeah, Pete Hazeltine if full of shit - let 'em pay their money and take 
their chances. Get one of those swiming pool rebreathers and do some metalbolic 
roulette, and then go have a deep air dive - you don't have a hair on your ass 
if you can't take that.

 

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