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This is crap. most important person is your buddy. That is the most basic rule in this environment. Thank you for the warning, I doubt you'll find any buddies after this statement. At 02:48 PM 9/9/1999 -0400, you wrote: >I think some of you are missing the point of the "most important person" >concept. Mr. Rennaker is just being honest about basic human nature. >When things are the worst we all revert to our survival instincts >despite the best intentions. Recent case, the Jackson Blue incident >also detailed in the Journal (and let me emphasize that I am not sitting >in judgment of these divers), >three divers entered the system. At maximum penetration they had a silt >out and lost communication with each other...they became solo divers. >Two of them were able to regroup attempt a search and then exit...the >third was left behind. As the two exited their stress levels were >obviously elevated with self preservation being the priority. When they >reached their safety bottles, three full 80cf at 1000', neither diver >elected to pick up the bottles and go back in to search some more....the >thought of getting out was paramount and understandable. In all cases >self rescue is better than buddy rescue and should be taught in that >order. >As for solo diving, it should be made as a cognitive choice not as an >outcome of circumstance. The divers at Jackson had no intention of solo >diving, but for a time it occurred. Mr. Rennaker's article eludes to >these types of scenarios.....swimming or scootering too far apart, loss >of visibility >without touch contact, long one-man restrictions, stressed or task >overloaded diver....these scenarios are "solo dives" and should be >avoided if you are not prepared for them. The other type of solo diving >is intentional, even if a "buddy" is in the water. Small system >exploration being the best example. It requires special gear, training, >and mind set. Solo diving can and is being done safely on a routine >basis by a small number of experienced cave divers. They just don't >advertise or promote the activity...solo diving definitely is not for >everyone, but neither is cave diving for that matter. >Lee Gibson >Matt London wrote: > > > I was also appalled at this article and Mr. Rennarker and his > > insistence on his "most important person" concept. The lack of proper > > buddy system procedures, communication skills, equipment knowledge and > > configuration, dive planning and the basic diving skills that is so > > obvious in cave diving today is the direct responsibility of the > > instructors handing out the certifications. Many people today seem to > > be more interested in collecting "C" cards ASAP then learning the art > > of safe cave diving. With all due respect it is my opinion that Mr. > > Rennikers article is a prime example of what we don't want to teach > > our students. Best regards M> Thailand's deep cave exploration at - > > www.divefun.com/tcdp/ ---------------------------------- Kevin Connell <kevin@nw*.co*> NW Labor Systems, Inc http://www.nwls.com Who is John Galt? ---------------------------------- -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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