Well said Janet!  I can verify the methods used on the Wahoo.  I
have logged many dives on this boat over the past 5 or so years and they
have a great system.  I wasn't around for any of the situations
referenced but I have experienced the changes made because of them.
They do go to everyone on board and personally check with them.  One
time after a tower trip I was in the shower.  They apparently wouldn't
take my buddies word that it was me in there.  Actually banged on the
door and had me yell my name out to them so they could check it off the
list.
	
	Truly a class operation. If you haven't experienced it as
compared to other operations in the North East I'm afraid you can't
comment.
	
By the way, Hi Janet and Hank!
Safe diving,
Art.
art.paltz@r2*.co*
Last Dive 12/13/97, Mohawk, NJ 70ft/50 min bottom time, 48 degrees F,
28% bottom mix
      	    -- Finally, cold water again!


	>>
	>>will....... worse safety record compared to who ? YOU ?
	>>
	>>	 this summer you may have heard the sailboat calling us
when matt
	ore did a 50 minute drifting decompression after his second dive
of the
	day . the dive was on the hilton  castle about 90ish feet deep .
matt
	sent up no lift bag , was solo diving and ended up quite a way
down
	current (mild current ) .
		 drifting decos are not the normal method in the
northeast ,
	occasionally someone may send up a lift bag and tie it off on
the
	wreckage if they can not find the anchor line  or even just
drift with a
	bag on the surface 
	..	 there is a good chance that if you do a drifting
decompression
	with no bag , safety sausage or other indicator that you will
drift away
	and the dive boat will not see you . next stop... england ....
Very
	dangerous  
		 I commonly dive (taking turns with an other captain )
and spend
	two to three hours under water , some bottom times are over an
hour.
	Many( most ) of my crew and customers do long dives like this
too. so
	there was no reason to assume that there was a problem when matt
was
	underwater for two hours. If he had tied a line off everything
would have
	been normal ( had a reel ). I even somtimes shoot a bag and hang
on a
	reel  so my neophite customes wont kick the heck out of me , or
drag me
	off my depth on the way down for their second dive or when they
do their
	safety stop .
		we have a" sign in sheet " like all the other dive boats
here in
	the northeast , and we check each individual person out so we
can be
	certain that everyone is back before we leave the wreck   . just
like
	every one else here in the north east    ( by the way  the coast
guard
	requires you to check people on and off the boat even if they
are going
	onto land or on a dock )However we do not check air pressures(
except to
	be sure air is turned on ) , enforce no deco limit diving (
hypocrisy
	every one knows we do extended range trips ),or force people to
dive
	together that don't want to . we just ask everyone to plan on
being back
	aboard at a specific time so we can get back to the dock in time
for
	.....fills ,  other charters , etc. 
		Matt had not exceeded the "be back aboard " time and
other people
	were still diving  so there was no reason to suspect trouble . I
think we
	had about thirty divers that day ( a little crowded) 
		I think it is unreasonable to berate me or any captain
for this.
	If divers insist on sneaking away under water . The only control
i have
	over people is not to take them diving if they insist on unsafe
practices
	..I cant tie a rope on each diver and winch him up when times up
..  
		The other incident i think you are making reference to
is the sal
	nobel incident . This happened many years ago . We have taken
steps to
	make sure it cant happen again This is what i recall about the
incident.
		 He kind of snuck aboard . we had two groups,  three or
four
	people  in each group.  A light load for the wahoo . we went to
my
	favorite wreck  the oregon , 80 to 128 feet deep .we stayed
there for two
	dives . since we don't take walk-on's sal claimed to be part of
one of
	the groups , each of which provided its own dive master.
		several things went wrong to cause the incident  to be
able to
	occur . 1) one person did not sign in   ( this threw off the
total count
	)  2) we asked each dive master if all of their group was aboard
( sal
	was not in ether group ) 3) we did a" head count" instead of
individually
	speaking to each person and checking his name off ( the count
was off )
	4) sal did not return before the departure time , did not return
to the
	anchor line to decompress and did not  send up a bag. He tied a
line to
	the bottom and decompressed with up tension on his line .( it
got quite
	choppy so we did not see bubbles ) SO we left .....about 40
minutes after
	we asked everyone to be back . and sal got left in the ocean
	.....fortunately a sport fisherman picked him up shortly after
he surfaced
	.. 
		What we did to make sure this never happens again is to
ALWAYS
	speak to each person and check  them off our own  sign in sheet
.. never
	use a head count as a departure count  , never take the word of
the
	instructor or dive master of a group that all there people are
back,
	Double check the sign in sheet count with separate crew counting
to be
	sure we have everyone . 
		I think the wahoo's safety record is very good ,
considering the
	exposure we have . The thousands of divers we take each season ,
in
	challenging conditions the open real ocean , not  shallow calm
clear
	caribbean waters one mile off the beach. 99% of all the dives
are in 110
	feet of cold water or greater.

		It is easy for people to be highly vocal critics if they
do not
	understand the scale of the operation . I conduct more man-dives
in one
	weekend than most small charterboats do in a season .  William
conduct
	<<10,000 man-dives in similar water  and let's  see your record
of
	<<incidents.  
	<<
	<<
	<<

--
Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.

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]