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Denis, Smithers is a new "cave diver", as you can see by his comments. Without knowing anything about this, but being in a slightly different position than Smithers with regard to cave diving , I will make this one comment: "experienced New York cave diver" is an oxymoron. Cave diving, like flying a helcopter, is extremly dangerous unless you do it all the time. My further opinion, again , without knowing a thing about this accident, is that we need three things; 1) more spread-out training ( amounting to more training and "absorbtion" time, 2) we need to have groups that people who learn this game can dive with ( not WKPP, but simple diving circles to get time on the job), and 3) we need to enforce this before cave diving becomes an anachronism. The "instructor" community, which includes the NACD and the NSS , both of which are nothing more than instructor organizations, need to get busy with a cohesive plan to clean up this sport and make it safer and more fun for those whom they encourage to take their courses. Denis J. Burlage wrote: > > Will, > > It disturbed me to read your speculative post regarding the cave diving > fatalities at Madison Blue. You should be able to realize that a tragedy of > this scope it too significant and sensitive for idle uninformed chatter. > > Your opening caveat safety net statement "...this is now third hand, so take it > for what it's worth.", says it all and confirms my perception or your > speculative statements. All else that follows your post is conjecture or > merely gossip and should be left out. You have done yourself and the other > readers of this list a disservice with your unconfirmed reporting of this cave > diving tragedy. > > Suggest that you stick to the facts or say nothing. Better yet, wait for > someone that actually knows the facts to come forth. > > Denis Burlage > > William Smithers wrote: > > > On Tue, 19 Oct 1999 Jbdvr@ao*.co* wrote: > > > > > does anyone have any info on the fatalities of two cave divers at madison > > > blue yesterday? > > > > Yes, although this is now third hand, so take it for what it's > > worth. One of the guys was an aquantence of mine, and I've > > done a few cave dives with him. He was a close friend > > of my cave partner, so I got the call early. Apparently > > Lamar Hires did the recovery (I don't know who else). > > > > They actually did the dive on Saturday, and weren't found > > until yesterday. They went 1800ft back (that was apparently > > the plan), and through a restriction that had a spliced line. > > Well, they passed that point and were coming back out when > > they saw that the knot had slipped, and the lines had > > come apart. Madison is apparently high outflow, so the > > downstream (toward the exit) side of > > the line blew a couple hundred of feet downstream, and they > > had trouble finding it. By the time they did, gas was low, > > and they ran out of gas 800 ft from the entrance. > > > > That's a bad day. Both were experienced cave divers. > > > > -Will > > > > -- > > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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