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Date: Mon, 4 Jul 1994 00:30:43 -0800 To: scuba@uc*.be*.ed* From: scuba@uc*.be*.ed* Subject: test Amazing where a sinuous and tangled flaming string can lead. Please note - I am posting this at a remote sight, and do not have copies of the original responses to quote. First let me reiterate my point: I did NOT state that all deep/solo diving/divers is/are bad. I -responded- to a post that claimed extremely deep/technical diving is automatically solo diving. I stated that I believe that the deeper or more hazardous (cave,wreck,ect) a dive is, the more you are dependent on your equipment and good fortune, and thus the more crucial a competent partner and plan are to handle whatever problems might arise. Zero vis diving is a totally different issue, usually done by pros recovering bodies, archeological artifacts, ect. Com. links are also another issue. OK, I admit, the astronaut comment was overly sarcastic/sardonic and I'm sorry, but I was trying to make the point that this type of diving is extreme to the point of requiring huge government/military funding, tech, competance. & training. I would love to hear intelligent technical discussions of the methods and equipment necessary for this type of diving. Furthermore, if the poster tells me he has 100 hours solo diving at 500-900 feet without support or communication, I will be awed into silence. I understand the appeal of solo diving. If my (I wish) Deep Ocean Engineering ROV comes across what must be an alien spacecraft, or I'm informed a navy subs crew is trapped - at 900 feet, and I have only one diving rig capable of going to this depth, I'll be down there faster than a lead pipe tossed overboard. These are the exceptions that prove my personal rule. I know that there are newbie divers who have just passes their certification agency's video tape home diving course and telephone test with a friends' help (yes, home cert. courses exist), and done their first and only 3 shallow "ocean" cert. dives in some calm clear warm tropical lagoon paradise. And the boat captain of your anticipated deep water wreck penetration dive has just assigned him as your buddy. (And yes, he insists he's extremely experienced.) After a few near death experiences from these types of buddies, you might never want to dive with -anyone- again. To the discussion of what should/shouldn't be said here I say: ABSOLUTELY NO CENSORSHIP. Freedom to discuss any issue is this newslist's greatest asset and we should be allowed to rationally and intelligently discuss -any- topic. The net will change the world when access is global and total. The new subscription response from `techdiver-request@opal.com' contained this newsgroup's disclaimer notice. Would someone please repost this for everyone as I don't have a copy with me. Also can someone who knows post the exact legal history of liability and legal precedent concerning newslists and the net, so we can have a definitive answer to this question. I've heard of two accidents with buddy behavior so utterly pathetic I've been unable to forget them. One was mentioned in the Undercurrents: A diver who was attempting to disable/destroy some poacher's illegal lobster traps became entangled. His buddy, instead of making any attempt to free him, left to go get help. When help finally arrived, he was dead. In another incident an instructor and student where ice diving through a hole in a inland lake. The student was attached to a safety line, the instructor was not, but was holding another line attached to the student. After penetrating about 100 meters the instructors regulator failed. He tried to breath off of the students air supply but couldn't get enough air. When faced with this problem the student turned around and fled, swimming & pulling himself back as fast as he can, leaving the instructor behind. He described how long it took and how difficult it was to get back. When he gets back, he tells what had happened, and before anyone is suited up to go to the instructors aid, he bobs unconscious (no heartbeat) up through the hole. It turns out just before he had passed out, the instructor had wrapped the buddy's link line around his wrist, and had been unknowingly towed back by the student. Further investigation reveals that their regulator systems where not ice rated. He lived, barely. These examples seem to indicate that the typical inexperienced person's immediate response to the unknown is to FLEE. So, Rich @ Hawaii, thanks for the reply, and will/can you please share with us your bad buddy incidents (changing the names to protect the guilty) that lead to your incidents, so we can all learn how to to avoid them in the future. Finally I will say that I respect Sheck Exley for what he was: a pioneer who was driven to accept challenge and walk a unique path - by a need known only to himself. Without people like him, we would still be all be living in caves instead of diving in them. Well, I'm taking up to much bandwidth....Signing off....Mark. "Unreality of the true source of powerlessness. What we do not understand, we cannot control." - Charles Reich The preceding is solely my opinion..Don't bother suing, my net $ is negative.
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