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George has hit the nail on the head. Your actions were completely irresponsible. Under no circumstances should you ever leave divers in the water. The only circumstance in which this would be allowable would be if you could get another vessel on the scene to stand by and assist the decompressing divers. Your contention about the "Auxiliary Coast Guard" is absolute baloney. The "Auxialiary Coast Guard" has no statutory authority (although they would like you to think they do) and is comprised of volunteers with power boats, with nothing else to do, who dress up in Coast Guard uniforms. The Auxiliary Coast Guard are a joke and should perform their free boat inspections at the dock where they belong. Tell the examinming officer (a real Coast Guardsman) and judge at the administrative hearing about this nonsense and see what the result is. When you lose a diver or have divers in distress the responding Coast Guard station will always ask you to stand by. When divers are lost off of drift charter boats (a common occurence in south Florida) you get a massive "Securite" alert requesting all vessels in the vicinity to stand by and render assistance. By "abandoning" divers in the water you are asking for real trouble. When this type of complete stupidity happens here in South Florida, which it does with some regularity, the charter boat operators who leave their divers get in all kinds of trouble. As for your bent diver. This is fine example of the sort of idiocy typical of most sea going socalled "technical" charters. These events are characterized (down here at any rate) by a boatload of personal preference types, all with different dive plans, deco profiles, gear configurations and bearded fat slobbery. These dives are "charlie foxtrots" waiting to happen. Offshore technical dives are more dangerous and complex ( in most circumstances) then extended range deep mixed gas cave dives. Under these circumstances it is even more critical for everyone to be on the same gear and deco plan so that everybody is out of the water at the same time and you don't have the sort of stupidity which has started this thread. If all of your guys were topsides then it would have been a simple matter to take the bent diver in to shore instead of having to leave people in the water. Our experience is that those doing all of the extra deco are probably doing the wrong profile anyway and should be willing to blow off some of their precious little deco in an emergency. We have witnessed this "not willing to blow off deco" syndrome on numerous occassions. Most of the "leave dead buddy" in the cave situations involved people who were afraid that if they brought the dead buddy (generally the dead buddy isn't really dead yet) to the surface they are worried about getting bent. This is total bs. You should listen to George on this and learn a valuable lesson. Do it Right next time. Bill Mee G. Irvine wrote: > > This is bullshit - you got "ordered" based on your bullshit information > and your charlie foxtrot in progress. The fact is that you and the rest > were suprised by all of this, and acted accordingly - try learning > something, like how to plan for cointigencies, instead of blaming > everybody when you clearly look like moron in this case. The kind of > judgement you showed just plain sucks pal, and you need to wake up and > do something about it, before you end up kiling somebody with stupidity. > > What is the deal, is there some secret labotomy that is required to run > a dive boat, or is that just to be in the dive business? I never wnat to > hear a charlie foxtrot like this again with the blaming and the escuses > and this kind of outrageous irrepsonsible stupidity. Go look in the > mirror and get honest with yourself , and think this stuff through in > the future. > > Underwater Outfitters wrote: > > > > George, > > > > Before you going making your claims as to who is a stroke maybe you > > should know some facts, as I know you were not diving with us that > > day. > > > > I was operating the vessel in question and I will not, nor have I ever > > left a diver in the water and I would not have left the diver (ONE) > > that was decompressing except that I was ORDERED by the U.S.C.G. > > Auxillary to leave, as I was less than three miles from shore and > > another boat was responding to pick up the diver (ONE) who had 22 > > minutes of deco.left. > > > > The diver who was bent was in no shape to get himself back in the > > water and he was out of his gear before we knew that he had a problem. > > We first tried to administer oxygen with his oxygen regulator but he > > could not hold it in his mouth. How the hell was he supposed to go > > back in the water when he could not hold a regulator? The time that it > > would have taken to get him back in the water would have been longer > > than the last diver had to decompress. > > > > After being TOLD TO LEAVE, we had the diver to shore in under 10 > > minutes were there was medical personnel waiting. Is not prompt > > medical treatment for anybody who is injured proper prodical?? > > Obviously, my boat is not the same slow tug that you dive from as I > > went back out and picked up my diver, beating the responding boat that > > was supposed to pick him up. (Not your fault guys, you did your best > > and I thank you). > > > > The stroke in this story is Darryl Ertel who cut me off coming into > > the harbor, unloaded his boat and sat at the dock instead of > > responding to the Coast Guard request for the closest vessel (which he > > was) to assist and pick up the diver that we were told to leave. > > > > For your information, the USCG, several charter operators and divers > > (even the one left in the water) who WITNESSED the event praised us > > for our immediate response and our professionalism in handling the > > emergency situation. > > > > Captain Mike McKay > > > > At 11:38 AM 9/8/97 -0400, you wrote: > > >Jeff, we are hearing that the dive operator left people in the water > > >and ran the bent guy in, rather than sticking him back in the water > > >until the rest of the divers were up. > > > > > > Sounds like you guys have misused the workd "stroke" - the stroke in > > > > >this situation is clear. Let me use the word in a sentence: " Only a > > >STROKE would leave a diver in the water. Rule Number One applies to > > dive > > >boat operators, as well as divers. > > > > > > When you guys are discussing a charlie foxtrot, which appears to be > > >the dominate topic of conversation up there, try to remember that > > being > > >bus-driving stupid is not considered an attibute to most people. > > > > > > You strokes need to think your plans all the way out before you rush > > > > >out to risk people's lives, and you need to leard to understand this > > >stuff before you run aorund like headless chikens . > > >-- > > >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to > > `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > > >Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > > > > > > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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