Christian,
Alan will have to confirm this, but I believe that Jane  had a pretty
extensive recreational diving background, and had probably far more time in
the water than had Derrick.

Derrick is the one we were referring to as a "wonder" instructor, since he
attained  his instructor trainer status without the "normal" time getting
experience in the process.  And it is a "wonder" that he could have been
allowed to do this, and now we hear his progress was all within the
standards--that no rules were broken----to me, this does NOT make things
better....to me, this makes things look worse, as no training agency should
be allowed to promote so quickly.   Experience on hundreds of 200 foot deep
dives should always preceed teaching status of technical diving.

Jane's transition to technical diving occurred too quickly. She had not yet
learned the skillful operation of a drysuit,  she was unfamiliar with the
new demands added by dragging 4 tanks along instead on one, her ability to
perform a gas switch appears to have been untested, prior to this final
dive. As Derrick's lack of training clearly indicates, Jane had NO SHOT at
handling the gas switching aspect of a technical dive. As a student, she
thought she was following accepted tech proceedures....unfortunately, only
the "worst" in tech diving, do a mix dive with unmarked tanks---and
apparently Derrick can now be a poster boy for them.  As Jane was placed on
this potential 300 foot dive with unmarked stage bottles, which ultimately
contributed heavily to her breathing the 80/20 mix instead of the 36 percent
mix ( or whatever stroke mix Derrick had set up for her) when she came off
of trimix, her mistake "should" have been caught by the other divers  in the
group, had the bottles been marked. Clearly her instructor should have been
able to catch this, as he should have been monitoring his student. But it
would appear no one taught Derrick that he needed clearly marked stage
bottles--either that, or he is a believer in "personal preference"----which
is the direction I think is more likely..... Apparently he had never read
the WKPP warnings about this stuff, and ignored all the advice available
from the Doing it Right crowd,  and instead, embraced the "doing it wrong"
crowd, and ended up killing a girl through his negligent care ( that's the
way I read this---you guys figure this out for yourselves).
Derrick advertised his underwater communication equipment as a tool he
employs to allow students to "express any problems" they may have in real
time......and he used these on the technical training dives.  Aside from the
FACT that they contribute to a dangerous CO2 buildup at deeper depths,
particularly if exertion is occuring, or anxiety based high heart and
breathing rate, they were just another indication of the need to sell more
gear, and to convolute and clutter a new student with every piece of shit
the store was capable of selling to the student.  As the com links may well
have contributed to a CO2 induced   nitrogen narcosis, and high anxiety
from the feeling each diver  was not getting enough air, this stupidity
needs immediate sanctions against it, before other unsuspecting students are
convinced  the com links may "help" them in an emergency.  Again, how would
a "student" know any better??? Should an instructor know any better???

Tom has accused me of fostering a "lynch mob mentality", with my attitudes
and posts so far.  He would like me to "wait" until his "board" goes over
the facts of this case. He does not understand why I can't wait for this
"due process"....The thing is, the facts ARE in.    Any facts not completely
known at this time, are not central to this case---and are for the purposes
of Derrick's present teaching status , ABSOLUTELY IRRELEVANT!!!!!!!    The
BIG fact, was that Derrick had plenty of gas left, and watched Jane have an
out of gas  emergency, which he  motioned for her to solve herself, at the
next stop higher, and then watched her sinking below him, with the full
knowledge she was breathing an oxygen mix, and still he did nothing but
watch her sink, and then watch her die.
NOW, WE ARE BEING ASKED TO JUST SIT AND WATCH---TO DO NOTHING, AND TO SEE
WHAT HAPPENS.   When I see a life threatening problem, I fix it, NOW!!!!

So who wants to go diving on whatever boat  Derrick takes students on this
weekend :-)

Regards,
Dan Volker

P.S.
Jim Mimms, It might be a good idea to ban him from your boat until Tom's
"action committee" takes an action.  You know I'm not kidding about life
threatening actions. Your business certainly does NOT need Derrick
......treat him like the leper we see him as, and it can only improve your
business. You know the danger  he represents---you saw the girl he was
responsible for---and you saw her dead.  And you've seen how Derrick dives.
You should have an easy decision to make, and one that will make us all
proud of you.



-----Original Message-----
From: Christian Gerzner <christiang@ta*.co*.au*>
To: NAUI 7874 <NAUI7874@ao*.co*>
Cc: TOM.MOUNT@wo*.at*.ne* <TOM.MOUNT@wo*.at*.ne*>;
techdiver@aquanaut.com <techdiver@aquanaut.com>; cavers@ca*.co*
<cavers@ca*.co*>
Date: Thursday, May 21, 1998 7:29 AM
Subject: THAT fatality and TechTraining (was Re: Does IANTD believe an
instructor should NOT pursue a sinking student?



>There is one aspect to this whole truly sad state of affairs which
>disturbs me, for one, greatly.
>
>A number of posts have alleged that the victim (and I use that word
>advisedly if with some reservation, the jury is not yet in) had logged
>less than 100 dives during the whole of her diving career. If this is
>true, and I guess Alan Pelstring could confirm or deny this, I seriously
>question how it can be that she was able to, "sanctioned" is perhaps a
>better way of putting it, take part in a course such as the one on which
>she died. If these allegations are NOT true, please hit the delete
>button right now, otherwise please excuse the bandwidth.
>
>I would think that Jane, and I do hope that I do not offend anyone's
>sensibilities by referring to the victim by name, like all the other
>relatively new divers I have known would have included her training
>dives with her recreational dives to a sum total of <100. Now Jane was,
>in this instance, doing a trimix course, which means that she would have
>previously done a EAN course, and before that a master diver course, and
>before that ... you get, I trust, my drift. All of these require
>training dives under supervision.
>
>So just how many truly recreational dives did Jane, and the rest of the
>Janes of this world for that matter, actually do before she embarked on
>her Trimix course? Just who, or which organisation within the parameters
>of its criteria, was it that allowed/permitted/sanctioned her
>participation on this course? Exactly what are/were their criteria?
>
>Excuse me, but am I the only voice in the wilderness to suggest that
>less than 100 dives (including training dives) is not exactly a panacea
>for qualification for a demanding course such as this?
>
>I, for one, think it most unlikely that ANYONE has the necessary
>experience to undertake this kind of activity with this number of dives
>under their weight belt. NOBODY, not even the WKPP and I am sure that
>they would agree with me here, CAN TEACH EXPERIENCE indeed I much doubt
>that the WKPP would remotely entertain instruction at this level to
>people this experienced, or rather, to people with so little experience.
>
>So, OK, the usual disclaimers. I don't know from diddly squat the real
>criteria of the various training (at whatever level) agencies, nor those
>of the WKPP. As well I am, even though it is as a result of a particular
>incident, speaking in generalities. Nevertheless I do know what I
>demand/expect of my colleagues in my far more humble and limited sphere
>of diving and I do know that a <100 dive experienced diver is not in my
>book, nor that (and I am sure that I can speak for them in this
>instance) of my peers, particularly experienced.
>
>May I also take this opportunity to add, for what little it may be
>worth, my belated condolences to Alan Pelstring and Jane's family and
>other friends.
>
>Christian
>

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