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This is what I found on dejanews about Tony Smiths unfortunate death. Recently I dove out of hatteras in 85F surface temp waters. I still used my drysuit as I did not have any idea of what buoyancy characteristics my gear would have using a wetsuit. What posessed Tony to use a weightbelt with steel doubles with a skin and why nobody on the boat questioned this is a mystery to me. I really hope you guys read this carefully and learn. This death should not have happened. -------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Recent Fatality Sea Gypsy North Carolina Date: 1999/07/02 Author: Michael Blitch <mblitch1@ta*.rr*.co*> Posting History On 1 Jul 1999 17:09:44 -0500, tfkelley@wo*.at*.ne* (Tom Kelley) wrote: I'm trying to find as much info as possible about the recent death of a = friend=20 >of mine diving in North Carolina on Sunday 6/27. Not looking for blame = - just=20 >as much as I can find out to put this to rest for me. His name was Tony= Smith=20 >and he was diving with the Sea Gypsy. Any info would be appreciated. Below is some of the correspondence about the accident that was posted on a private e-mail list. Someone was also looking for info on their friend and got the details. Also quoted (besides the accident info) is a short message from the person who asked for info in the first place (apparently the fiance of the deceased). The e-mail address and names of the poster have been deleted due to privacy. Ask me if you need it for some reason. Remember, accidents can happen, but complacency kills. ************************************************************* =46rom: ************ Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 02:44:00 EDT As always - the members of this list are outstanding. Thank you to those who conveyed condolences, and to those of you who helped with info. What I discovered was VERY distressing, but somewhat predictable. Tony has been diving 10+ years, is Full Cave/Trimix trained, and crews on the John Jack for Capt. Zero in Staten Island. He did 60-80 tech dives a year, if I remember right...(how many nights was he gone...sleeping on the boat?=20 :-) . Last month he came back from his Dream Trip - Truk Lagoon, doing=20 amazing dives on the deeper wrecks. He tried to dive as much of the DIR configuration as possible for him. But DIR is also a philosophy and mindset, not just a gear configuration.=20 Unfortunately, he was NOT always as attentive to details as he could have been (therefore, I wouldn't usually dive with him), and it caught up with him...... I am somewhat reluctant to post these findings, because they display utter strokedom, but I know that you will read both, shake your heads in disbelief, and begin to feel my frustration at this senseless waste of a precious life. =20 He DID get shown George's tapes - 6 of them - multiple times! We had LONG discussion/debates about scenarios, etc. He DID practice reaching his valves.=20 I converted him from deep air to gas. And it all came down to carelessness. =20 Utter stupidity. I just hope he dropped like a rock, quickly blew out his ears, and got knocked unconscious. None of us want a dear friend, even when being a stroke, to suffer. If more divers would listen to George and JJ.....we wouldn't have tears on our keypads as we permanently delete e-mail address from our "diving buddies" directory..... Thank you all for your support,=20 S**** B******** << "I am writing this and I am sad to say it really happened, buck just called me with the facts.A new York tech. diver, who was trimix certified and very experienced put his gear together, charged his regulators, and then turned his tanks back off. This was done on the ride out, this was also his first dive this year without a drysuit.When they anchored the wreck the diver put his steel doubles on, his aluminum 80 was clipped to his side, he put his weight belt on,over his dive skin, he put the crotch strap on over his weight belt.See the problem yet, he jumped over the side without turning his tanks on and being about 30 pounds negative if my math is right, he couldn't ditch his weight belt , he apparently couldn't reach his valves either. They found him on the bottom with 4000 psi in every tank, and all tanks were turned off." This second one sadly tells of even MORE mistakes.... Subject: A Preliminary Analysis Date: Mon, 28 June 1999 06:39 PM EDT =46rom: ***************8 Over the weekend a "technical diver" lost his life along the NC coast. The following information is based on local news reports, comments from the physician that completed the postmortem examination and discussions between the boat captain and US Coast Guard on the marine radio: Diver had been diving for approximately 10 years. The dive was to be a=20 work-up dive for an upcoming tech dive to 230 FSW. Maximum depth at the site is 135 FSW. The victims exposure suit was a dive skin. Victim's weight was estimated at 300 pounds. Victim was wearing 12 pounds of lead on his weight belt. The diver was equipped with double, high-pressure steel tanks (mix not reported). Victim was carrying a stage bottle (tank size/material and contents no reported..... stage bottle was reportedly found several feet away from the victim). The unofficial report is that the diver entered the water at approximately 11:30 AM. His tanks were not turned on. His low pressure inflator hose was not attached to his inflator/deflator mechanism. The diver entered the water, slipped beneath the surface and was not seen again. After all other divers were onboard it was noted that the victim was not present. The divers were apparently diving solo. Analysis: There appear to be several problems that may have lead or contributed to the fatality.=20 -The diver's choice of tanks was inappropriate for the exposure suit he was wearing. The diver would likely have been near negatively buoyant without the addition of the weightbelt. Such a configuration could prevent the diver from making an emergency ascent to the surface. -Apparently the diver failed to do a basic systems check before entering the water. Obviously the diver was not aware that his tanks were not turned on. =20 One can only assume he also didn't realize that the low pressure inflator hose was disconnected. (I have seen divers enter with the hose disconnected "because the inflator leaks a bit/free flows until I get a few feet under the surface.") -All the divers involved chose to dive solo rather than executing a team effort which would have greatly reduced risk in the event of a problem. -Divers apparently failed to file a dive plan with the boat crew. Crews can become aware of problems before it's too late if they know when to expect to see divers returning to the deco lines. -The dive boat crew may have failed to do a quick visual check of the divers' equipment before entering or the diver may have entered the water before completion of the pre-dive briefing. Summary: This type of accident simply should not happen. No diver should ever be in such a hurry to enter the water as to skip a basic systems check of all life support gear. Regardless of experience and certification level, always perform a pre-dive safety check, use equipment that is appropriate for environment/compatable with the entire system and apply team diving=20 techniques.=20 It will be interesting if the diver's certification is reported in the near future. It may also be interesting to find out if the diver had previous experience diving technical style gear configurations. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/trimix.html -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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