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Scarlett, this is the kind of blithering stupidity that is taught out
there: air diving , bullshit deco gases, and operational deficiencies
like leaving the deco gas on an anchor line while in the ocean, and the
standard "screw your buddy" attitude of the idiots who teach diving.

 If the correct proceedures were taught and the correct gases used, and
the correct gear and bottles used, there is never any reason to not
carry adequate deco gas to get out of the dive, and there is no reason
to do a dive that requires enough mandatory deco to produce this kind of
accident. There is no reason to do a single one hour bottom time at 170
when two 30's would be far safer from an ocean logistics and
decompression point of view. Using the correct trimix would also be a
real advantage here from every aspect.

 It is clear that the lack of buddy diving, the lack of a good plan, and
the lack of a good response are all SOP for the kind of training that is
out there, and you answered your own question when you named her
"instructor". 


Scarlett Anderson wrote:
> 
> It has come to my knowledge that in August this year there was a girl from
> Sweden diving with Captain Gordon Smith and two other "experienced" divers
> on some wrecks outside North Carolina.
> 
> The divers were all diving on air to 170' and had planned to deco on EAN80,
> which they had left on the ascent line. They had double tanks, which was in
> their opinions safe enough to dive solo, not in a team but at the same time.
> 
> The dive went fine, they had about an hour of bottom time as they started
> their ascent along the ascent line. The girl was the last to leave the wreck
> and as she began her ascent she noticed the accelerating strong currents.
> Suddenly she lost the ascent line...  She had no lift bag (deco buoy) and
> all her deco gas was left on the line.
> 
> At the 30' stop she figured that she had enough bottom gas to do all her
> deco, but when she would be done she'd probably end up in England, so she
> decided to surface and risk a DCS hit instead.
> 
> It took the boat 15 minutes to find her, and at that time she could not feel
> the rest of her body anymore (she suffered from a DCS type 2). As there was
> no helicopter transportation available to a chamber, the crew decided to do
> an in water recompression, which was quite successful and after that she
> breathed oxygen the five hours it took the boat to get to shore. Finally at
> the hospital they did the chamber trick on her several times but her legs
> were still not OK until this last week actually....
> 
> However, this girl had had no technical diver training (other than a EANx
> Cave certification with Bill Ostreich).
> 
> I wonder how it is possible to let a person without any sufficient training,
> to do a pretty advanced wreck dive in big waves and strong currents, without
> ANY kind of supervision, not even within a team? Of course the diver herself
> should have had some kind of sense in the first place, but what worries me
> most is that nobody questioned the level of education/training, not the
> captain, nor the "experienced" divers.. How come?
> 
> /scarlett
> 
> Ps. Sigmund asked me to send this to you

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