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While not an recompression situation, I was on a boat this summer off NJ
where the mate caught his finger in the anchor chain, nearly severing it
completely off.  After much deliberation, we opted to head in, as opposed to
the CG sending a boat to get him.  We ended up rendevouzing with a chopper
while enroute to our second dive site, somewhere between "where we were" and
"the way in."  Once this plan was set, rendevous time was about an hour,
with chopper coming out from Atlantic City.  The patient was fine, no sign
of shock, but he did lose a lot of blood, though maintaining his sense of
humor:  he chose to wear a "Damn shark" t-shirt with lots of "blood stains"
(some real) and bite marks out of it.

I had never experienced a chopper retreival, interesting.  All dive gear
(not tanks) had to be moved below, benches removed from after deck, antennas
lowered, and as chopper neared, ALL divers had to go below before litter was
lowered.  One mate, and maybe the DM assisted loading victim onto litter on
deck.  Conditions were perfect for the recovery:  Lake Atlantic, no wind, no
waves, nice sunny day.  Had it been "ugly" out there, they might have opted
to have an ambulance waiting at the dock, since it did not seem to be a life
threatening situation.  Perhaps another hour or less to the hospital, and I
have no idea how long before he was in surgery?  I heard third or fourth-
hand that his finger was successfully reattached, and that he had about 80%
use of it.  I hope this is true.

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