-----Original Message-----
From: Taylor, John <john.taylor@cs*.co*.uk*>
To: 'Dan Volker' <dlv@ga*.ne*>
Cc: techdiver@aquanaut.com <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 1998 8:20 PM
Subject: RE: 2nd Press Release by DS



>Dan,
>
>excellent summary.
>
>Some questions:
>
>Point 1:
>
>When is the safety diver put into the water?

They should go in at the predetermined point that the divers will reach
their first safety stop. If we say we will do 26 minutes at 260 fsw, then
around 27 minutes later, the safety diver should be making their way  down
the float ball line to the predetermined first stop depth.

>
>On an extreme dive of long duration, would the safety diver be at the
>deepest stop from the start of the dive?

They should be at the first stop, since if there was trouble , the safety
diver needs to know about it immediately.  During the entire dive is not
usually procedure, though with students in the water, I would consider it
smart for IANTD or TDI to mandate this on all instructor/student training
dives below 200 feet. In areas where there is a large current, this may
require a scooter for the safety diver to maintain position overhead of the
divers---skin friction drag on the bottom can create significantly  less
current on the bottom, not to mention the occasional shear currents where a
surface current carries the safety diver south, while the divers on the
bottom are carried north. I would say a training dive should be aborted in
this scenario.



>
>Is this the reason for the "float ball" in point 5?

With no float ball, there  is no way for the boat to follow the progress of
the divers below, and for the safety diver to be able to expect to be in
position when and if needed.

>
>If so, what about dives where a shot/anchor line is used?

If you are saying do you need a safety diver on a non-drift dive, yes of
course.

For situations where you start with a weighted float line, and want to drift
once at the bottom, plan on losing the weight, or sending it up with a spare
lift bag.
>
>Is there a possibility of tangling from multiple floats?

You just use one main float ball per group of divers.  If someone leaves the
float line on ascent---at a stop,, and deploys a lift bag, they should be
down stream, but if this is done right, there are not too many reasons for
multiple floats.
>
>Point 2:
>
>I am interested in knowing how one can determine the exact amount of
>negative buoyancy a wet suit (i.e. uncrushed neoprene) can have at
>depth.

I have a simpler solution. Just assume it will have no buoyancy at all on
the bottom---say 260 fsw---why get carried away with whether its 1.236
pounds positive or whether its 2 pounds negative-----the real issue is how
heavy your tanks and other metal gear is. And what is the lift capacity of
your wings.


>
>Point 3:
>
>Given rule of 1/3rds, this implies one instructor per student? How many
>tech courses does this actually happen on, do you think?
>

The question really is, how many tech courses are taught by guys who are
teaching dangerous habits... How many are taught with the  military
single-mindedness that  orders a student what to do, but never explains why.

I have concerns that there are many tech instructors,  who would be unsafe
tech diving buddies---and they will kill people who trust them. It would
seem, a big fat slob who smokes and has the cardiovascular efficiency of 95
year old wheel chair patient,  can have a tech instructor card.  This does
not bode well for physical screening.

If Tom Mount or other training head reads this, I'd like to know when they
are planning on mandatory physical screening---at minimum for a  PFO and a
VO2 max test.    We should take a dozen WKPP divers ---each engages in
serious aerobic conditioning, measure them for VO2 max, and set a minimum
tech diver standard about 15 or 20 % lower than average for these guys. All
instructors will need to be tested yearly to maintain their tech  card.
This will save the life of some huge lazy guy ( or even some little wimpy
and sedentary guy ) who wants to look cool at 250 feet, but whose body can't
handle the CO2 processing requirements,  or the offgassing efficiency. Tom,
if you want to stop the approaching "flood" of "Never Evers"  ( just like
the ones at the ski slopes who are put together as impossible to teach ),
and you want to prevent more "World Records" for IANTD,  in multiple ,
tragic , diver deaths, this would be a good time to put your foot down. Tech
divers should be more like athletes, less like couch potatoes. While this is
pure conjecture, it looks to me like John Claypool died trying to help two
hopelessly unfit physical specimens out of an impossible situation for
them---his heroic effort killed him.  I wish John had know George's rule
number one.

>thanks,
>
>>JT
>
>--
>John Taylor, Marketing and Trading Systems, IT Development
>Credit Suisse Financial Products (Hong Kong) Ltd, 13F, Tower 3, Exchange
>Square, Central, Hong Kong
>Office: +852 2101 6927, Fax: +852 2101 7778, Mobile: +852 9031 6397,
>email: john.taylor@cs*.co*.uk*
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dan Volker [SMTP:dlv@ga*.ne*]
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 1998 10:24 PM
>> To: Tech Diver
>> Subject: 2nd Press Release by DS
>>
>>  Divers Supply feels they have been the butt of malicious intent on
>> the
>> Internet, as evidenced by their 2nd press release.
>>
>> As far as I can see, the bulk of the discussion was about how this
>> dive
>> could have been safer, and how other divers in the future can be
>> prevented
>> from falling victim to a needless death.
>>
>> Among Major issues for the future, which have been brought out in this
>> incident:
>>
>> 1  If you do a tech dive, YOU HAVE A SAFETY DIVER Period. There is no
>> excuse
>> for no safety diver in the water at the point of the first scheduled
>> stop---or within a few moments of this.
>>
>> 2. A diver's weight on the bottom needs to be calculated, prior to the
>> dive---this means the exact gear config( including wet or dry suit)
>> must
>> have a known positive or negative buoyancy associated with it, and the
>> lifting capacity of the diver's wings and backup must be known.....and
>> a
>> procedure for backup deployment must be known by  each tech divers.
>>
>> 3. Gas choice and gas management for a student, by an instructor----in
>> a
>> teaching dive, supervision is expected and mandatory.  In the event of
>> a
>> student running out of air, the instructor is responsible to solve the
>> problem with his own gas supply, should the student's have been some
>> how
>> catastrophically lost----or not monitored by the instructor, and
>> allowed to
>> reach zero volume. The instructor / student relationship needs another
>> definition session, as it relates to tech diving.
>>
>> 4. Stores need to be concerned about selling tech gear that has a high
>> failure rate----just as  an aircraft company may stop selling a line
>> of jets
>> if too many crash---or as Ford  was forced to stop selling the Pinto.
>>
>> 5. Boats need a float ball to follow, in order for a  safety diver to
>> be
>> effectively deployed at the proper time. If the tech divers are unable
>> to
>> pull the float ball, they are unable to complete a safe tech
>> dive---since
>> they will have no expectation of  having a safety diver check them out
>> on
>> the first few deco stops.
>>
>> If these rules had been followed, we would not have 3 dead divers in
>> WPB.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Dan
>>
>>
>> --
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>

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