Bruce,

The death parade continues unabated. I wonder what we will find out this
time around?  We do know for certain that another young life has been
sacrificed on the altar of socalled "tech" diving.   I think of the
grief his family and friends are suffering, and will continue to suffer
long after the tragedy is conveniently forgotten.  These thoughts are
crowded by the sea of misery shared by the families and loved ones
killed recently by rebreathers in the UK or the families and friends of
this past years technical diving deaths in West Palm Beach and Ft.
Lauderdale.  When the wives and families of the dead write to us and
continue to live and relive the grief and horror of these deaths it
gnaws deeply at your conscience and sickens you. 

It makes you even more ill to know that the practices and methods which
often contributed to these deaths are still in force. This contradicts
every norm of civilized behavior and common sense yet we still do not
see the training agencies and teachers adopting the proven methods and
practices which will ameliorate these tragedies. 

What caused or contributed to the death of this young man?  Will we hear
that "deep air" or the suicidal practice of diving with mix in a stage
bottle and air in the back caused it?  Will we find out that he breathed
the wrong gas from a stage bottle not properly marked with the MOD? 
Will we find out that this was a cluster caused by convoluted
equipment?  Were the usual bearded, pontificating, step aside for the
experts, pendulous gutted cast of characters on board the boat, pizza
stained Doria shirts and all?

Who is to blame?  …. After the last Doria death Irvine wrote the
following terse expression of absolute frothing, spitting frustration:

>The preoccupation with "depth" is another big mistake you are
>making in instruction. The way you are teaching decompression is all
>wrong. The understanding of the true risks and how to minimize them is
>totally missing from tech instruction. The screening is incomplete and
>improper. The understanding of this is nil. The rebreather end of the
>game is out of control. The rest is ridiculous - look at the track
>record.

When you see who is doing the instruction you are not surprised.  Just
to prove my point I have included comments below written by an
instructor, who had a fatality occur on his watch in Lake Wazee.  This
is so dangerously stupid that you want to garrote the individual who
loosed this cretin on the innocent.  Still, this is the tip of the
proverbial iceberg. 

Go ahead, argue with us.  Tell us that we are the problem with tech
diving. Tell me that people will only listen to this message if we are
polite in the delivery. Nonsense. Blind yourself to the tragedy until
the shadow of death crosses your path or listen.



Bill




Bruce J. Belschner wrote:
> 
> The only correction is that the boat was the SEEKER.
> 
> Nanci LeVake wrote:
> 
> > >From: "LARRY CHARLOT" <lcharlot@jp*.ne*>
> >
> > >Nanci - this is a clip from the Sacramento Bee (origianally from
> > Associated Press wire service).
> > >
> > >"NANTUCKET, Mass. (August 4, 1998 10:36 p.m. EDT) -- For the third time in
> > three months, a diver exploring the wreck site of the Andrea Doria has
> > died, Coast Guard officials said. A 32-year-old recreational diver from the
> > charter dive boat Sea Inn surfaced unconscious near the site 46 miles south
> > of Nantucket around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
> > >
> > >The boat's crew members administered CPR to the diver until Coast Guard
> > rescuers could transport him by helicopter to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.
> > >
> > >He was declared dead on arrival, authorities said.
> > >
> > >The Andrea Doria, a luxury Italian ocean liner which sank more than 40
> > years ago after colliding with a Norwegian freighter, is known as a popular
> > site among experienced divers."
> > >
> 
> --
> B2
> ======================================
> Bruce J. Belschner
> --------------------------------------
Subject: 
        Re: dumb ass
  Date: 
        Tue, 5 Apr 1994 09:19:11 -0400
  From: 
        "Greg Zambeck" <gzambeck@us*.ne*>
    To: 
        <kirvine@sa*.ne*>


Boy George I was wondering how does a customer feel when he spends
3500.00
for piece of equipment that he does the consumer product testing on.

Let's face it george you didn't do the product testing that should be
done
and you still don't.

You got caught in you lie when you denied it last year.

Then to have Tom Mount tell us about his scooter that burner out a motor
is
30 minutes, after the switch fell off.

But the best part was when you started offering your customer's a
dielectric oil filled motor.

Spend 3500.00 just to find out your scooter should have been built with
technology that's been around for twenty years.

Now who feels like the Dumb Ass?

----------
> From: Katherine V. Irvine <kirvine@sa*.ne*>
> To: gzambeck@us*.ne*
> Cc: techdiver <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
> Subject: dumb ass
> Date: Friday, July 31, 1998 5:49 AM
> 
> Advertised "capasity"? How about 18 G's in a cave, dumb ass? BS
> coming from a known stroke like you is intolerable. There is stupid, and
> then ther is ........
> 
>    Greg, YOU are the posterboy problem child of tech diving , the ROOT
> of the problem: a moron who does nothing and has all the answers, and is
> an instructor. Your mental "capasity" is scary. Luckily, you come onto
> this list and say some of the stupidest things ever said, hopefully
> warning off any potential students before they end up on the bottom of
> Lake Wazee. What is your personal body count these days, big guy?
> 
> 
> --
> Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
> Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.

Subject: 
            The Ultimate is sheer stupidity
       Date: 
            Thu, 23 Jul 1998 07:27:32 -0400
       From: 
            "Katherine V. Irvine" <kirvine@sa*.ne*>
Organization: 
            DIR
         To: 
            cavers@ca*.co*
        CC: 
            techdiver <techdiver@aquanaut.com>


The first prize-winning piece of stupidity again goes to the usual
suspect. THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG OUT TEHRE - THIS GUY IS A DIVE
INSTRUCTOR. He is so stupid that he does not realize why what he is
recommending will not work. Can somebody please explain to this guy what
the score is . There is stupid, and then there is.......

At 09:15 20/07/1998 -0400, "Greg Zambeck"  wrote:

>Hate to burst your bubble but the dive have a colored tanks, content
>stickers, label for the gas mixtures and a green regulator bag on his NXT80
>and orange regulator bag an the NTX36.  All three gas mixture had different
>regulator styles to distinguish the mixture in a silt out.  Tape was used
>to mark the tanks after being refilled on the boat.  You need to read the
>information closer.  Mr. Ramio wasn't on the boat and doesn't know this
>diver, who was meticulous on marking his equipment.

Sid.Dive@Ib*.Ne*
Toronto, Canada

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