Thomas,

Perhaps you can explain to us why Captain Deans does not have an accident
plagued track record?  What's the difference between his operation and the
one on which Tony Smith got killed?

Jim Cobb, Joel Markwell, Sean Cary and even Tony's Fiance, Susan Brill
figured it out, but you apparently don't see the problem here.  Either you
have not been around so called "tech" diving long enough or you are so
staunch an advocate of  "peronal preference" that the opening scene which
preceeded Tony's death was just another normal everyday gathering of divers
and not the obvious prelude to a tragedy that it turned out to be.

The obsession with "deep" is total bs and was the leading cause of death "by
deep air" until most people got wise to mixed gas.  The lack of even a
divemaster to pose the the obvious question of "who's your buddy" borders on
criminal negligence.  The complete lack of any form of safety diver violates
most of the common sense rules of offshore technical ocean diving. But what
do I know about this, inasmuch as I was not there to hear the tree fall in
the forest.

Just answer the first two questions.

Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas A. Easop <tomeasop@mi*.co*>
To: Tech Diver <techdiver@aquanaut.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 07, 1999 12:36 AM
Subject: Re: Look Again - was Re: Tony Smith Accident


>Hello List
>
>A few coments on the recent pontificating with regard to Tony Smith's
>demise.
>
>Bill Mee wrote:
>I also smell a high degree of twelve inch dickery here. A bunch of gun
>slinging every man for himself tough guys doing a “work-up dive” to 240.
>I
>can just imagine the scenario.......
>
>You ARE imagining the scenario, since you weren't anywhere near the
>divers that day. I don't think you have ever met any of them. You have
>some imagination. Stick to the science, that is your forte. Tony and a
>couple of the divers on that trip had been to 240 lots before, your
>imaginary group stress out is a bit exagerated, I think, but I am used
>to that from you. My imagination tells me that these guys were all
>excited about the dive, too eager to get in the water due to the great
>conditions which have eluded the northeast this year, and so mistakes
>were made.
>
>JoeL wrote:
>This accident we have here
>doesn't top out the Stupidometer, but it's up there. First, 300
>pounds?!!
>If I'm overweight and out of shape I don't dive. What I wonder is, what
>did this diver's instructor teach him? What did his peers/buddies say to
>
>him about his health and his rig and how forcefully? These are questions
>
>I'd be asking myself if I had been an instructor and dive buddy for this
>
>guy. I pity his family and friends and I feel sorry for this guy who
>will
>miss the rest of his life.
>
>We certainly do not need your pity. I was glad to know Tony, he helped
>me out more than once while kitting up on the boat, pointing out things
>that were not right and helping me sort it out. It is a real loss he is
>gone and I will miss him. I am very comfortable with the fact that he
>was an intelligent, very capable diver who didn't need me jamming "my
>way or the highway" down his throat. Let me ask you this (especially
>with regard to his weight which you seem to focus on): How do you speak,
>in person, to capable diver and great guy about his "health" (and how
>"forcefully") without sounding like an even bigger asshole than you do
>when I read what you wrote? Once you have him looking good and
>configured right do you then move on to his belief in Jesus or Buddha?
>Get real. His "health" had zip to do with this. Except for the weight
>belt, his rig was ok too, and nothing to do with this.
>
>Yes its a real shame that he died of simple mistakes and no one, not
>even himself, caught them. We all do need to learn from this. Lets look
>at the real issues. As Irvine likes to quote Parker: basics keep you
>alive. This is the lesson here. Test your bouyancy when you make changes
>to your config (like dropping the drysuit for a skin) before you are in
>open water. And do a predive check of your equipment and prebreathe
>right before every dive.
>
>Tom
>--
>The Guns and Armour of Scapa Flow
>1998-1999 Underwater Photographic Survey of Historic Shipwrecks
>http://www.gunsofscapa.demon.co.uk/
>
>
>--
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>

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