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Dan, I've been quietly following some of this thread when I have a little time. I just have a couple questions. Everybody keeps talking about the amount of gas he would have needed to go get her at 250 +/- as this was his primary excuse. Why would he need to go all the way down to get her? Didn't she slowly sink past him at 30' after she had already been in deco at 20'? A complete moron should be able to figure out that there was a problem and catch her way before she even got close to the bottom. An unconscious person sinking is still way slower than a conscious diver commited to descending as fast as possible. If he couldn't catch her passing him then he should have still been able to catch her way before they both reached any form of real depth, even if (being the moron he obviously is) it took him a little time to figure out what was happening. An IT shouldn't even have to think about a situation like this, it should just be a natural reaction! One side note for those interested: Although I agree with the information I've seen this idiot is guilty of manslaughter (maybe even murder) I can't agree with the logic that since he was a member of IANTD Tom is guilty of murder also. Tom is a good person and from the long conversations I've had with him I do believe he is genuinely commited to safety but he is saddled with the responsibility of running (and owning a good chunk of) that organization. It has grown into a real agency and accomplished their goal of introducing many worldwide to our nich in this sport. Such growth can't come without problems, it is impossible for him to personally verify every instructor's abilities, knowledge, experience, morals and how he would react in a real situation. Anybody can fake a logbook, act right in front of his IT, answer the questions properly and do everything expected in a controled situation but it's nearly impossible to discern how deeply his commitment really is when the shit hits the fan. This is true in any profession. Even somebody as commited as Errol or JJ (sorry guys I'm just using you as an example ;^) who does everything right had to come into IANTD at one point in time presenting an initial risk. Nobody can verify their true integrity unless a real situation happens and this may take years or even a lifetime to actually happen. Even the really good guys could end up being a timebomb if never really tested. A real problem I see is this guy's training & knowledge was faulty to begin with or else he completely ignored his ITT. This is the real problem and it seems as if his ITT is someone who should be examined to see if he trained this guy properly or not and whether Derrick actually was teaching and doing as he was trained or if he ignored his IT and did his own thing. Now if IANTD doesn't come down hard on either of these guys (after they have actually collected all the facts)then my opinion will probably change. I understand IANTD is a corporation with many shareholders Tom doesn't own it therefore he has to answer to many others for his actions. At 07:07 PM 5/18/98 -0400, Dan Volker wrote: > Tom, >When I talked to the investigator on Jane's death, on Friday, he told me >that Derrick swore to him that he and the students had a conversation prior >to the dive, about how "if something happened to any of them, the others >would have to leave them" ---as if buddy breathing or helping another would >be life threatening. >Tom, do you believe this actually happened---that an IANTD instructor could >have had this kind of a conversation with his students prior to a dive...., >or do you think these guys are just lying to the cops??? Do you think >Derrick is just saying he was afraid for his life, and that is why he would >not go down after Jane, because he thinks its a convenient way to avoid >criminal prosecution? Or do you think you could have an instructor trainer >working for you, who is actually afraid to do a five minute long , 259 foot >deep dive, to save a girl's life. Please answer this. > > > >After George Irvine and Robert Carmichael located Jane on their first 20 >minute bottom time dive, but needed to return to the surface for more gear >to lift her --she was heavier than anticipated...., George went back down on >the second dive and used 400 psi on the actual recovery dive, I used about >950 psi( but from just a single stage bottle, as I was not on doubles---but >George had a scooter, and I had to swim fast enough to keep up with him .. >and MUCH FASTER than Derrick could ever swim, even if his life depended on >it) So while I used about one third of the gas Derrick had left, I used >this much swimming at close to full pace for depth. He would have only had >to drop to the bottom, inflate her drysuit, and or/his BC, and then head >up, saving Jane's life. He would have had no real exertion, and should have >used far less than I did. He could NOT have perceived risk to himself, >provided he was actually a trained technical diver. We could duplicate this >with dozens of technical divers, and each time, the diver would come up with >no where near the 1500 psi use that Derrick had available to him. > >I suspect you will agree this is an issue of poor training on Derrick's >part---or cowardice--one or the other. Tom, this was a "bounce" dive that >he was faced with. . Again.... Derrick would only have had to go straight >down--unlike George and I, as we had to descend up current, drift in , and >look for her. Derrick would Not have needed anywhere near as much search >time as we did. He had 1500 psi in his back gas---low pressure >doubles---that's a huge reserve for the mission. > >Was he negligent. Was he stupid. Was he a coward??? Was he untrained in >technical diving? >Or did he just not consider the death of his student worth the small risk of >doing more deco?? >Is this another case of decompression paranoia? > >Dan Volker > > >-- >Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. >Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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