Its been close to one month since the worst disaster in tech diving
history, an IANTD training dive, which left three divers dead, on a training
dive along a zero current
occulina reef at 250 feet, on a day with good  visibility ..

So far, George Irvine, Bill Mee, Robert Carmichael, Errol Kailachi, and
myself, have done a total of over a dozen dives, and are still actively
searching. We seem to be getting closer to the original description provided
by the lone survivor, Larry Roth.

We have amassed enough dives to create a considerably accurate map of the
reef, from .86 miles upcurrent of the Classic Barge, to well over a mile
downcurrent.


Why has Divers Supply not contributed to our search for the bodies so far,
and why did they attempt to prevent our search???
Some people have suggested
that DS is afraid we may find evidence which will be terribly incriminating.
Perhaps this is the reason they feel its appropriate for them to behave in a
manner which most of us find morally deviant, in that they show no public
responsibility for this tragedy, and feel its not their place to assist in
the recovery of the bodies.  Perhaps this justifies their position that
these people died because technical diving is dangerous.  Maybe what they
mean to say is that "their version" of IANTD structured technical diving is
dangerous. And is their shameful lack of respect for wishes of the families
of the dead divers, justified by  the potential liability they may face
later???? Someone needs to tell Dick McNatt that if you want to dance, you
have to pay for the music...
And after releasing Press Releases, in which
they claimed they were operating under the wishes of the families, and it
then became apparent that they had had no such communication with the
families, as they had reported, their intent becomes clearer and clearer.
We have learned of terrible violations in safety proceedures, voiolations
which occurred daily at this shop. We have learned of the mass marketing of
technical diving, by Divers Supply, in which the concept of screening seems
to be lost----in the case of the dead student, Mike elkins, the poor guy had
about 83 dives under his belt.
Apparently their instructor routinely believed it was safe and intelligent
to do technical dives with no float ball, and no safety diver, even while
training students with little experience. It would also appear that neither
Andre Smith, Divers Supply,  IANTD, or Tom MOUNT, are intelligent enough to
be aware of the severe reduction in gas exchange efficiency, which will
occur in divers with obesity to the extent seen in Andre Smith, or with
smokers, especially heavily overweight smokers. How can a training agency
like IANTD ignore such a fundamental element of physiology, particularly as
it could have contributed heavily in a tragic multiple death such as this
one----where Andre and Elkins were at extreme risk, in CO2 elimination, due
to their low VO2 max capabilities---which would have been incredibly easy to
test for, and in so doing, may well have saved Claypool's life, by not
putting him on a deep dive with two people who had less gas exchange
capability at this depth than was reasonably safe.  Tom, you need to get
real here---just because you surround your self with fat slobs in your
agency, and in those very close to you, is no reason to condone
certification of people who are medically unfit to dive deep. If you don't
agree with me here, I have an extremely good method of proving this concept,
and I'd be happy to share it with the group.
Back to the other issues.
Gear choices seemed to have been motivated by whim, fancy, or commisions on
a sale, anything but choice of what is best for technical diving. So Where
is Tom Mount while this is going on???? So Tom, Why haven't we heard you
telling us that IANTD would never sanction Divers Supply taking a new diver
with 83 dives to his credit, on a 250 foot trimix dive??? Why haven't we
heard you insisting that IANTD,  KNOWS that you don't match 4 steel 98's to
a wetsuit on a 250 foot dive, where any diver with even recreation skill
levels will know that the wet suit will lose all bouyancy, and the tanks
will be like sea anchors----Tom, surely this is NOT an area IANTD can omitt
from its training---surely you teach something in the way of intelligent
choice of gear for a dive being planned. Is this why you allow "personal
preference" in gear???
And where is it, in the IANTD handbook, where you explain how it is OK to do
250 foot deep drift dives with no float ball. My personal expectation of a
training agency, is that it would suggest or mandate certain proceedures in
a dive plan, that are likely to result in grave consequences if omitted.
Having no float ball and NO Safety diver, certainly sounds to me like a
violation of a Categorical Imperative. Tom, you need to either back up
Divers Supply and the behaviors and attitudes they represent, or you need to
Jump up and  say they were  WAAYYY outside the rules you have set up.  You
need to get clear on this before the shit really starts hitting the fan, as
if it hasn't already.
Dan Volker



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