You wanted the facts. . . Here they are! On Saturday, August 30, I was on Darryl Ertel's boat, "Hang Time". All weekend we had been having electrical problems. Our first dive on Saturday was on the "Vienna". Upon completion of the dive, the boat wouldn't start. Jack Spencer of "Wreck Quest" came out and brought us a battery and jump started us. We went on to the "Sadie Thompson" for our second dive, with all electrical instruments, including radio, turned off to conserve battery power. Because it was rough that day, the bouy line on the "Sadie T" broke. We fortunately got the engine started and came in slowly. We entered the harbor and tied onto one of the fishing boats. As we were tying up, the "Hang Time" gel coat was damaged when "SCUBA Tank" came into the harbor at full speed, its wake forcing "Hang Time" to crash into the fishing boat. "SCUBA Tank" tied up at the dock immediately, while "Hang Time" remained tied and out of the way the entire time. Steve Ouellette came over to help tie us up, and sent me (I'm an EMT) to check on an injured diver on "SCUBA Tank." This was the first we knew of a problem. I ran over and found that there was an EMT from Paradise Ambulance already treating the diver, so I wasn't needed. Upon learning that "SCUBA Tank" had left a diver decompressing on the "Zillah", Darryl tried again to start "Hang Time", but could not. "SCUBA Tank" remained tied to the dock while the diver was being treated by the Ambulance crew, and was tied there for an extended period of time after the diver was taken in the ambulance. I have known Darryl Ertel for several years. He is a very responsible diver. I know that if he could have gotten the "Hang Time" started, it would have been the first boat out of the harbor. Todd Wright -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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