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Hi Don: The purpose of my post was to establish a dialog about safety, which your post also contributes to. Thank you. --- "Don W." <donw_s11@sw*.ne*> wrote: > Robert wrote: > > > > Here is another one for the books. Not details as > yet > > but apparently.... > > You're right about no details. Body was just > recovered > yesterday morning (Wed). I was aware of this fact but failed to include it. > > > victim got narc'd and kept going down. > > Where did you hear this? The site is 5 miles from > my > house and I've dived it many times. I know some of > the people who were at the scene. While you _may_ > be > right you are jumping to a conclusion without any > facts > to back you up. It is more likely that the > student got vertigo (low vis) and descended due to > dis- > orientation or improper bouyancy control. Most probably everything you mentioned contributed to the accident as well. Follow up posts by others including one of the recovery divers verify the dive profile and equipment configuration, or the lack thereof, made this an accident looking for a place to happen. Do you not agree this was a senseless example of stupidity on the part of the instructor? From posted descriptions and one quote "It was a Open water class gone bad, not Advanced." additionally supported by the news paper article posted later, they had absolutely no business in this environment. Descriptions suggest it is a very advanced and perhaps technical dive. I have not dove Lake Travis but I have been in similar sites many times with similar profiles and conditions since 1968. > > However he got down there, he then became entangled > and > was unable to free himself. "No Knife," 'nough said! STUPID & SENSELESS! The instructor found > him > and was unable to free him. Did the instructor have a knife? Probably Not! A local instructor and > Divemaster > who happened to be at the scene found the victim > right after > the accident and were unable to recover the body. Why? Insufficient Air? Or, Should I say "Trimix"? > > > Gotta remember it hits everyone differently and > varies > > day to day and so on.... My point, 146 ffw, OW student, AL 80ft3 with standard air, Yeah, you bet your BP he was "Narc'd," as would most others without specific training in Deep Air which BTW I do not endorse any more than I do "Crack Cocaine." > > > The body of an open water diver lost at Windy > Point in > > Lake Travis has been found and recovered. This > > occurred in Travis County. Preliminary reports > state > > that an instructor and two students were doing a > "deep > > 100' certification" and the deceased student diver > was > > last seen at 140'. All were diving on air. > > > I am not > > sure, but I believe this is in Texas.... > > Lake Travis is close to Austin--The state capital. > > > Apparently this > > happened within the last couple days. > > The fatality happened over the weekend. The body > was recovered > Wednesday morning. Ok, I should have said "Few," days since it was Sunday. > > There have been several fatalities at this site over > the years. > The site is a rock ledge that slopes sharply down to > a deep > silt bottom. At the bottom there is an old pecan > orchard left > when the dam was built in 1936. There is a lot of > monofilament > stuck in the tops of the trees and lots of silt > built up in the > trees themselves. The depth that the trees are at > varies because > the lake is a flood control lake with a seasonal > variation of as > much as 80 feet, and 40-50 feet many years. The vis > varies from > 1 ft to 40 ft depending on the time of year and > conditions. The > vis right now is probably in the 3 ft range. Yes Sir Ree! Dive ops must be mighty slim for this to be a popular diving site.... Sounds like one I could only dive if I had to go get some poor student who had an "Idiot" instructor! > > A training fatality a couple of years ago occured > when a husband > and wife on the elective night dive portion of their > AOW got > disoriented and sank into the tops of the trees at ~ > 80 feet. The > wife paniced, shot to the surface and embolized. > She then passed > out and sank back down into the trees where she was > later found. > The autopsy found the AGE and cleared up the mystery > of what > happened. All the husband knew was that they hit > the trees and > then he lost contact with his wife. AGE was secondary to why this one happened. Sounds like another case of "Instructor Cranial Rectitis" to me. > > BTW, in both these cases, the fatalities were from > out of town > instructors bringing their students to Lake Travis > for training, > and not from local instructors who are familiar with > the site. I can understand that since I have lived and dived in North Florida for 30 + years. We see it here too! May I make a suggestion if it has not already been done? Post signs warning of the dangers at all possible entry points, in the local area dive shops, and send safety flyers out to shops in areas who tend to come there for the wrong purposes. Hope I don't come across as if I am busting your chops because as I said at the beginning, my purpose was to start a safety dialog about the incident so others would learn from it and maybe prevent another accident of a similar nature. It is a industry fact, 47% of all certified divers are on line with the Internet as opposed to only about 5% of the general population. Therefore, discussions such as this can be of an invaluable assistance in spreading safety messages. Besides, my insurance and equipment costs are already too high. Remember, things like this just drive the cost of diving up because of lawyers and insurance companies! Most especially in this day and time of multi discipline diving ranging from open water to technical. It's a different world these days! Again Don, and everyone else, Thanks for contributing! Think and Dive Alive! Robert G. > > Later, > > Don W. > ===== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.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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