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how many people have to dive deep on air before we can stop the snake
oil salesmen from peddling this stupidity?
in just the past four months we've seen at least as many fatalities due
in part to deep air. we've lost people who were quite well known, and
recognized, as pioneers in the "technical diving community". we've burried
friends. yet it still goes on, the mistaken belief that you can be "good
deep on air".
not only are the charlotins selling snake oil (deep air), they're
killing people as well. some of you may remember Joe Odom's student who
bought it on the "first dive after training was over" (with Joe of course)
in the Bahamas a year ago. some of you may remember how many people Hal
Watts has buried (even in just mystery sink) over the years. some of you may
have been there when bird told a group of us "I was teaching a mixed gas
course at the nest and I was planning on diving it on air but the wife
caught me".
what is the point? for those who wish to explore the deeper waters there
is a safer alternative. many of those wishing to explore the deep, probably
should really be encouraged to stay on shallow reefs (or stay out of the
water), but the money is driving the instructors to teach incapable
students, and in some cases to make incapable instructors.
three "training agencies" offer deep air courses. the most blatant
offender award goes to Hal Watts and his joke PSA. They still teach their
"level stoned" where they'll drop you out in the ocean to 300' on air. Of
course, you're being tendered by two divers who are on trimix, they don't
consider it safe for their instructors to be on air with you (well, if it's
not safe for their instructors, how the hell is it safe for you)? also, has
anyone else ever noticed that hal's "level stoned" course takes you just
into international waters. i wonder if this was recommended by his legal
counsel. for those not wishing to attain this "nirvana", hal still offers
training to 240' on air down in zuber sink (sorry, forty fathom grotto, "the
worlds best training facility").
next up on the "better off dead" list has to go out to TDI. it's a real
shame because brett could have chosen to be a leader but instead his own
personal self induced drug addiction to deep air diving prevents this. tdi
actively teaches their "extended range" course where divers are taken to
220' on air, which is obvious stupidity to the enlightened. you can't teach
people to be good drunk drivers, and that is basically what they're trying
to teach. imho, i guess it's a good thing in one regard; drunk drivers
usually kill someone else, deep air divers usually kill just themselves.
IANTD follows up the trio. although Tom Mount has proven himself to be a
very polite, patient individual, the requirement that a student must take
the "technical deep air" course (or equivilent) prior to taking a trimix
course is absolutely unconsciousable. what we're saying is "you must go out
and play russian roulette before you can learn how to safely operate a
handgun". what kind of sillyness is that? IANTD's "technical deep air"
program "trains" (you know, back when i was in school, a train was something
that went on friday nights at wild parties) you to go to 190'. now Tom,
answer this, why would you want someone to go to 190' on air, but if they go
to 200' on trimix you want them to have an end of 130'? explain that one
please.
trimix (or heliox) is a very easy tool to use properly. there is no
mystique about it. there is no bullshit about it. if used properly it could
keep you from killing yourself. at depth you'll have a clearer head, when it
comes time to make a life or death decision that clear head might be the
edge you need. you cut down the oxygen toxicity risk by keeping the fO2
lower then 21%. you cut down the risk of CO2 toxicity and blackout. because
of the helium in the mix you don't need to have any special "half inch quick
flo hose". and, in the grand scheme of things a proper $35 fill is a lot
cheaper then a funeral.
and it's not just the agencies, but the instructors for the agencies.
when they go out and pontificate (god i love that word) to impressionable
newbies about how great it is to dive deep on air you wind up with idiots
like the two who died in coz last week.
now some probably are reading this going "yeah who the hell are you,
what do you know about deep air"? i've done my share of stupid diving. true,
i've never gone deeper then 250' on air, but that's as deep as i needed to
see how stupid it was. when you are so stoned out of your mind that you
can't feel your body from the waist down and you're not sure if you just
checked that pressure gauge or not, and you're not sure if there really was
2500psi or 500psi in those tanks, or how long you've been down there for,
and if you are going to black out or not, that's what deep air is all about.
it is basically self induced drug addiction, only, supposedly, without the
side effects.
physiologically speaking, there are some very bad side effects to deep
air diving that the training agencies either do not know about, or don't
want you to know about. things like dysbaric osteonecrosis caused by red
blood corpuscle rigidity when exposed to high ppN2's. gee, does this cause
problems? i hope joint replacement therapy in the future will be good enough
(and inexpensive enough) that it won't be a problem.
things like spinal cord and brain lesions caused by improper
decompression (not doing the proper amount of deep stops). can these be a
problem?
things like the increased risk of death. for what? for what? to save a
lousey stinking $35.
mike "i'm hiding from the creditors please if you don't mention my name
no one will remember me" menduno was right when he titled an article "deep
air is dead and so is another diver", only this past weekend it was 3. how
many will we have next weekend? how many will die during labor day weekend?
you know, the deep air training agencies should all call up ice-t and ask if
they can use the song "body count" as their theme music. - dick
--
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