The student had 83 dives?  I don't have it in front of me, but I'm pretty
sure the IANTD 97 standards stated 200 dives minimum to enter the trimix
course.


---------------------------------------
Kevin Connell <kevin@nw*.co*>

Northwest Labor Systems
http://www.nwls.com
---------------------------------------


On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, Dan Volker wrote:

> 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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