Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
On Mon, 28 Oct 1996, heyydude@pi*.co* (Mr. Dude) wrote:
>George,
>
>When reading your post about your teams of three divers, a question came to
>mind, which I'm sure you know the answer to:
>
>Do you select team members to work together based upon their gas usage rates?
>
>I'm sure not all of your divers have the same rates, so do you classify
>them as to gas performance? Are these checks done before each dive (in
>case you've got someone with a minor chest cold that turns them into a
>Hoover)?
>
>Do you simply work until one of the three members reaches a certain point
>in his gas managment, and begin your exit? Or does each diver carry the
>amount of gas that he himself requires for the duration of the dive?
>
>You guys have some serious gas managment to work out for the kinds of
>exposures you describe, which made me wonder about the answers to these
>questions.
>
>Just curious.
>
>Kevin.
------reply
Dude, you are correct about this. They must have the gas management
skills to do the dives - the longer the dive , the more consistant and
controlled they have to be, which means that they have to be in better and
better shape as the dives get longer.
You will notice , by way of contrast , that the USDCT gang do not do
any
dives like this , as they are all incapable and unwilling to be in shape, so
they are sitting around getting fatter waiting for Dr. Bill Stone to figure out
a way to transport this gang of fat smokers into someplace they have no
business
going. But then Stone has as few dry cavers who are tough guys, but they have
no
experience with this kind of diving, a minor point that these characters are
omitting in their constant claims of 18,000 feet, and now 20,000 feet by Lamar
Hires, who has never done a deep dive in his life, or a long one, or is in any
condition to do so, or has ever done a deco like this - hope he does not get
killed trying to vent his frustrations with me doing something that is like
walking and breathing to me.
Which brings up point number two - we also have guys who can breath
with the best of them, but who have not yet gained the experience to go long.
We
are working with those guys to get them the experience in Leon Sinks Cave
System, someplace the USCDCT is not capable of diving.
Then , of those who can, there those who will. Of those, we then add
the part about being able to live through the deco - that is a must.
Then, of the four guys left that we are talking about, we have to
decide who can work and do this without using more gas, who can be by
themselves
and like it miles back in deep water, and then who can ride a scooter while
towing one, while carying two stage bottles at the same time, lay line , wrap
it
figure out what the best way to go is, and another guy who can move back and
forth between these two guys and keep the lnes of communication going.
In other words, JJ or Brent lay the line, Sankey or Casey stay in the
middle, and Irving or I do the survey. Rat can also do this, but he is usually
video. Kincaid can do the survey as well, but he is usually at school.
Casey quit, Steve usually has to work, Gavin quit, English quit, Main
quit, Exley , Parker and Sherwood got killed, Rat , Hagler and the others do
not
want to do the kamikaze stuff, Kincaid does not want to get bent, so that
leaves
me , JJ, Brent and Sankey, and the entire USDCT who think they want to do this,
and me, Brent, JJ, and Sankey who actually do.
Of those four guys, I will give you a clue what they can do: consistnt
long term breathing rates in the .3 range, and the ability to dip to the lower
.2's , under pressure , while doing the work, for hours at a time. At deco,
forget it - we use the same deco gas for a 2.5 hour bt as we used to for a 60
minute, and I watched Brent go for 200 minutes on 70 cubic feet of oxygen at 30
feet in a trough. I have seen us get seriously delayed and see JJ not use
anymore gas in his bottles on the way out than on the way in even thsough we
were struggling with nine bottles each and two scooters- that is what it takes,
but then nobody has any respect for that but us, since we are the only ones who
know it, do it, have done it, and alwasy will do it.
We do not check anybody's gas or condition - these are seroius pros,
and know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. Option Number One is used when
needed. Sankey and I will check each other for evidence of hoovery once in a
while. I cought him the other day in a B Tunnel set up dive sucking though
nearly 1700 psi out of a stage bottle to do a simple 20 minute bottom time at
300 feet, and was horrified. The pressure guage stuck on my bottle at 2300 psi,
and Sankey believed that was where I really was on gas, if that tells you
anything ( he did beat me, however, but was seriously concerned that I had
smoked him). In other words, we can do on open water gear nearly every dive
done
by the USDCT in the Wakulla One project, and can do all of them on two 80's.
No wonder they hope Stone's rebreather works - now they better hope the
Wizzard is seeing customers. - G
George M. Irvine III
DIR WKPP
1400 SE 11 ST Ft Lauderdale, FL 33316
954-493-6655 FAX 6698
Email gmiiii@in*.co*
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]