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Many people now say the I , we (WKPP divers) have a "higher risk
profile" that allows the results we get. This sounds real good, but is not the
case. We simply do things in a manner that allows them to be done easily.
I was just exchanging email with one of our divers, a guy whom we have
been moving along in our system as he has progressed . He came to us with
useless gear in a mess, not really knowing much even though he had been diving
and cave diving for a while (he was , however, doing exactly what he had been
taught).
This guy is a grad student, and Jarrod and I were really upset when we
found out that he had spent (read wasted) a lot of money on bad gear. In fact,
JJ called up the purveyors and complained, uncharacteristic for JJ, more like
what I would do ( I am sure he did it more nicely). Jarrod figured the guy had
not eaten for a whole semester just to buy the light .
Anyway, like we always do, we reconfigured this guy, lent him some of
the good stuff, let him use our scooters, took him diving and mixed him in with
the pros . Now we have an excellent diver .
He wrote me and said he went to Madison for the first time, and was
amazed at how easy it is to get to the end of the upstream Cortyard with a
stage
and hundreds, not even hitting thirds. He figured it is a perfect 121's dive.
Personally, I would use hundreds because they fit through tight stuff better,
and two scooters for more speed some redundency.
The point is that it "seemed" easy to our guy. Why is that? I think
the
guys with the "high risk profile" are the ones who have the sloppy gear, are
out
of shape, use the wrong gear, exhibit "personal preference" rather than
attempt
to match buddy, and who can not understand why being able to go long distances
on little gas is safer than trying to drag it all with you.
Take the "Klingon Cruiser" of Wakulla '87 fame: an AquaAepp scooter,
normally the fastest, longest burning scooter in the business (too expensive
for
me), turned into a horrifying unwieldy super buoyant nightmare by attaching
several accurex fire-fighting cylinders to it. This had to be compensated by
adding a huge weight, and the resulting mess was so slow as to actually require
the additional gas just to take the scooter with them.
This is what we call the "Space Shuttle Effect" (where you need the
extra tanks because you have the extra tanks) , combined with one dimensional
thinking. Now, what do you think happens when the scooter fails, and all of
your
gas is attached to it? You can stay there and breath it for hours.
Let me ask all of you: who has the high risk profile, in your
opinion?
George M. Irvine III
DIR WKPP
1400 SE 11 ST Ft Lauderdale, FL 33316
954-493-6655 FAX 6698
Email gmiiii@in*.co*
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