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At 09:31 AM 6/17/96 -0700, Lori wrote:
>Based on the description of what had to be done to get the underwater
>marathon going "4 hrs sleep, no experience in are, tides, currents,
>colder water, exertion,etc." it's seems to me that this dive was not
>very safe and probably should not have been made. Bob may be lucky that
>he only took a minor DCS hit, but I find it very ironic that a
>fundraiser to treat and teach indians about DCS was done by placing
>divers in conditions that don't seem very safe from a DCS point of view.
>
>Just my $0.02
>Lori
To whom it may concern,
Of course there is nothing that I could ever do that wouldn't draw
criticism from some quarter, and that's ok. It's part of doing this job.
Foremost, I believe that a person should keep their word, whatever
the obstacles, and let the chips fall where they may. Yes, this marathon was
risky... so I limited the participation to myself. Should I tell you of the
time when our crew stayed up and diving for 76 hrs? How about the time the
door was kicked in and a man shouted that the bell cable had parted and two
divers were marooned? I was a little bit sleepy that time. Frankly, this
marathon was less risky than many of my fourth world investigations have
been...at least I was in my own element with a world class crew at my side.
Anyway, I've chosen this issue to stand on and I'm accepting all risks that
would block my path.
I'm no stranger to pushing a dive to it's limits, but as a
professional, I've always saved enough strength to rescue myself if things
go sour. Furthermore, we had an inflatable chamber on our boat.
As it were, I was able to make a high profile safe choice. Was it
fatigue, lactic acid, dehydration or subtle bends? I didn't really think I
was bent. In fact, I've never been bent...and I measure my number of dives
by years under pressure, as do many of my compatriots. Still, as soon as I
realized that I was forgeting even more things than was usual, that I was
stressed into constant irritability and felt confused about lining up the
day's priorities... I called the doctor and started breathing on a jug of
welder's oxygen. It was the proper choice. My head cleared and I felt better
after 25 minutes. I still felt that my symptoms were that of extreme
fatigue, but I went to the chamber anyway because I had a reasonable doubt.
That's professional, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to profile this
issue now. Izdepski
Rocky Daniels
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