John,

You and your pal Innes McCartney need to stop being so defensive and thin
skinned and wise up to what is going on here. Up until the publication of
the Lusy 99 web site we really hadn't paid much attention to diving events
in the UK, aside from the regular Inspiration death count. It is clear that
in the shipwreck department you guys have no shortage of good material,
thanks to 500 years of empire and two world wars.  All the more reason to
heed the basic message of DIR.

In fairness, there were some things right about the Lusy expedition, such as
the floating deco system,  the copious use of safety divers and the
availability of a chase boat.  Unfortunately, the gear situation was a
horrifying mess and it was a miracle that no one was either killed or
injured. I looked over the bios of the players on the website and read the
accounts. Nobody is suggesting that any of you guys are pussies or not
tough. The problem is written all over your web site and don't feel bad,
because we have the same problem here in the US.  Everywhere you looked you
observe the same IANTD nonsense.

Consider the following:
1.) I did not observe a single visible MOD on any decompression stage
bottle. (Implicated in several deaths stateside too numerous to mention)
2.) Stage bottles were rigged on both sides. Extremely bad idea. BTW is the
high oxygen on the right or left? (Ask the late Jane Orenstein)
3.) Oxygen pony bottle strapped to back tanks. Unbelievably bad idea,
(Implicated in at least one or more deaths. Ask Tom Mount who Andy Bator
was).
4.) Whose idea was the scooter cage? This is regularly observed at stateside
cave diving stroke pits. Maybe these were not scooter cages, but collecting
frames for the automatic gathering of artifacts.  If this was the case you
have my apologies.
5.) Solo diving an electronic closed circuit rebreather. Who was Rich
Stevenson going to share gas with at the bottom? (I don't mean his deco
gas).
     The other divers were correct to be disturbed about this problem. I
notice that AP valves was very pleased, though.
6.) Thanks to your lovely Proplanner, complements of Gurr and IANTD,  there
was no intermediate gas change from 200 ft on up to 100ft. You guys breathed
the bottom gas alll the way to 100 ft.  Who was the genius who figured that
one out? Despite all the talk of deep stops there really were none to speak
of other than the slightly less than 30fpm ascent rate.  and you wonder why
almost everyone got "skin bent" ? Although I will bet that there were some
cases of edema and tissue swelling.  Thirty minutes at 300ft is right at the
limit where you will start to encounter these symptoms if the deco isn't
done properly.
7.) What on earth was the 70% EANX all about? You should have transitioned
to EANX 50 at 70ft instead of breathing 35% up to 40ft.
8.)  Whose bright idea was it to swim at 93m? With all of the clap trap and
gear mess this was not a smart idea. The zepps were closer to the right
thing however I have visions of all of that gear mess and hoses and general
cf caught in the prop. It was probably better that you didn't use the zepps.
9.) You guys need shell suits. Neoprene compresses to paper at 93m and
provides virtually no thermal insulation.  Rich Stevenson disclosed that you
were using air as the suit inflation gas and so I am not surpised that you
got "skin bends". At least Stevenson appears to have used a shell type suit.
10.) Who or what was the doubles rig with the two stage bottles attached.
Was this some sort of alternative sea anchoring system?

This question is for Innes.

You came off the bench frothing at the mouth over meddling cave diving
Yanks. Seems you don't like the colonial influence. If this is so why have
you let yourself be hijacked by some of the worst US spawned so called "tech
diving" influences? I thought that the "for export only" sticker applied to
third world cesspools not the motherland.

Please use this forum as a venue to discuss your belief system; however
bizarre this may be. I personally, as well as many others on this discussion
list, such as Mr. Cobb and Mr. Irvine, would like to hear about how the cow
ate the cabbage. I suspect that the "oxygen pony" was really a Jersey Up
reel in disguise and the "Buddy" Inspiration was really a mock up.  I know
this because the accessory shovel that Stevenson got with unit was no where
in sight.

Best regards,

Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: John Grogan <john@ro*.co*.uk*>
To: John Thornton <John@sc*.co*>
Cc: techdiver@Aquanaut.com <techdiver@Aquanaut.com>
Date: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 11:38 AM
Subject: Re: "Cave Diving Scum Asshole"???


>>Nice to see the development of your sense of humour and your ability to
>>copy the DIR tag team tactics on the net, Your lack of info amazes me
>>for someone who is so correct at all times, sad really but to be
>>expected I suppose. Are you a "Frog"?
>
>
>John, I'm not a "frog".  Everytime you guys are challanged on something you
>always come back with something like DIR tag team tactics or DIR being like
>Nazism or some other crap.  I really hate to ruin some of your conspiracy
>theories, but us DIR types do not call each other up to discuss the best
>tactics for dealing with you guys - we've got more important things to do
>with our time.
>
>I'll tell you what, why don't you air your side of the "Hampshire" story.
>Don't forget to include the bit about the photo which you guys took of the
>loot, the visits you get from the Police on the quayside, the Navy finding
>out about your adventures and the ensuing dealings you had with them on
>this.
>
>John - here is your chance to air your side.  Are you going to take it or
>just sit back and accuse us DIR types of being Nazi's again?
>
>John.
>
>--
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>

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