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Reading this mail from Divegirl magazine it is clear how they can come up with such idiocy. The absolute cracker is that they have Jim Bowden talking there and I know at least some on this list know the story about how *good* he really is with the girls... Nice collection of speakers they got, must have been very, very interesting... THOMAS ----- Original Message ----- From: Teresa Telus <tt@ke*.gl*.co*.uk*> To: <scuba-uk@dr*.ne*> Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 4:29 AM Subject: DG2000 > DG2000 Conference > > It's not often that I bother to write about items related to diving but the > DiveGirl Conference on Saturday was excellent and although well attended, > many people missed an extremely interesting and informative day. > So below is a summary (biased to the parts I found particularly interesting > or unusual) of the talks and workshops I attended with a list of the other > events. If I've got any explanations or facts wrong, which I am bound to, I > apologise now. > Some of these talks took place in the Main Hall (MH) and others were > workshops (WS), each was about 45 mins to an hour in length and two > workshops ran alongside events in the main hall. > The DG2000 conference managed to cram so much into one day in a venue where > there were loads of bars serving drinks, coffee and food. Yummy. > Whether you're male or female, if you missed DG2000 this year then don't > next year, far better than any of the dive shows for workshops, information > and talks and with a sense of humour. > > The conference: > > (MH) Jill and Paul Heinerth talked about their involvement in the Wakulla2 > project, including the technology and techniques used by the group. It was > interesting that although these guys have dived for years and are expert > cave divers, they trained for hours as a team before going into the caves, > simulating failure scenarios, diving with and testing the kit configuration. > Jill explained the sonar mapping device they were using, drawing an easy to > visualise analogy to throwing spots of paint out at regular intervals. In > confined areas they had a dense coverage of samples (well painted) and in > larger caves the signals were further apart (paint more dispersed). The > resultant 3D map of the cave system transposed onto a photograph of the area > was quite mind blowing. > The planning as well as the technology used in the project was awesome. Once > their rebreathers had been assembled and thoroughly checked they were > rechecked by another person, similar to the second checks performed in the > aircraft industry. There was great physical stain on the divers, with long > in water times and hours of decompression. When you read about these dives > you often don't realise this and it was interesting that Jill said she often > felt quite sick after long dives and decompressions. Jill is an entertaining > speaker and her talk was excellent. > > (WS) Dr Ann Kristovich and David Crockford spoke about DCI, treatment and > management. Both speakers saw DCI as a 'sports injury' that can happen to > anyone and both agreed that divers should AGGRESSIVELY hydrate before diving > (this means hydrating from the day before) as wellas after diving. Dr > Kristovich was particularly interesting. In her diving environment treatment > of DCI by In Water Recompression is the norm because of the distance from > hyperbaric chambers and she explained the procedures they follow and > equipment used. She also spoke about management of DCI if IWR was not going > to happen, including the drugs used for reducing swollen areas, the > intravenous fluids they give to hydrate the casualty, and the use of oxygen. > Interestingly enough when questioned, she said that if the journey time to a > recompression chamber would take longer than 30 mins, then she would use IWR > instead. She also said that during IWR they keep the casualty still in the > water (there is always a safety diver with the casualty), but during regular > decompression they maintain light movements and that they use full face > masks for IWR. There was a lot of food for thought in her talk and I meant > to also ask her about diet and use of antioxidants, but didn't get time. > David Crockfords presentation was also interesting, reinforcing Anns message > of hydration and use of oxygen. He spoke about the tables they use at DDRC > to recompress DCI casualties and the importance of recognising symptoms of > DCI when casualties that are in denial that they have DCI. > > (WS) I want to go to Mexico. Jill Heinerths workshop on getting into cave > diving was so inspiring. Her slides of Mexico were beautiful, the water is > warm, the caves can be shallow and there are places where you can snorkel > for hours.... The front row was filled with a contingent from the British > Cave Diving Group, including Rick Stanton and Martin Farr, who were > supportive of this excellent day. > > (MH) Christina Campbell spoke about her involvement with the 'Starfish > Team', a group of like minded divers that dive together. She, like Jill > Heinerth, spoke in length about working as a team. The Britannic project was > one of the examples she used of the different tasks that everyone in the > group performed, both before the trip in planning, during the trip in > logistics, on the boat and during the dives. The importance of team work was > highly stressed and many clubs and divers should be inspired by the way they > work. They had worked on the Britannic expedition for some four years before > they dived it, had researched and planned it thoroughly leading to a > successful trip. An interesting presentation with some good video of UK and > overseas diving. > > (MH) Dr Ann Kristovich and Jim Bowden spoke about the diving they are doing > in Mexico and the exploration of the area. They have set many deep diving > records. They had some fabulous slides of caves (both dry and flooded) in > Mexico, which were inspiring. Interestingly enough their dive team has a > large contingent of women. > > (WS) I took the opportunity of going to a workshop about Womens Diving > Research at the DDRC, given by Marguerite St-Leger Dowse. This was divided > into three main sections: > - do women have a higher incidence of DCI than men > - does diving effect the unborn > - how does the menstrual cycle effect diving. > Statistics is a science on its own and it has been difficult to get > meaningful statistics for these three areas however the DDRC is considered > to be the world leader in dive statistic on these subjects. To summarise it > would appear from statistics that there is no evidence that wome have a > greater incidence of DCI than men. They dive as deep but their dive profiles > would seem less aggressive. There are no proven statistics about diving > while pregnant, but the DDRC recommend that if you want to make certain that > diving is not going to effect your pregnancy or child then don't do it. > Finally it appears that statistics seem to be suggesting that you may be > more prone to DCI during the first 3 (or was it four) days of your menstrual > cycle, where the first day is the day you start your bleed. I do not know > how many examples that have, but it can not be a very large sample. More > work is currently been done on this and results are likely to be published > in 2001. During the discussion people asked about whether there was any > further data about the incidents of DCI on the first days of your menstrual > cycle, did the DDRC have information about whether pain killers were being > taken, were they taking the contraceptive pill, did they have large blood > loss, poor sleep patterns, etc. This information is not known, but further > research and analysis of research is being performed. > > (MH) Close of the proceedings and an opportunity for anyone to talk to > manufactures and agencies in an open forum. > > What I didn't go to: > (MH) Natasha Abels, video of her 180m dive > (MH) Lizzie Bird the BSAC National Diving Officer talking about 'Getting to > the top' > (WS) Jeanette Plant, Rebreather Instructor talking about Rebreather diving > (WS) Nigel Jarvis, conservation in the Red Sea > (WS) Kevin Gurr, head of IANTD UK talking about technical training. > (WS) Donna Hicks and Lindsay Fricker, between them PADI, IANTD and BSAC > instructors talking about becoming an instructor. > (WS) Linda Dunk, underwater photography > (WS) Erica Hoffman of PADI on becoming a scuba professional > > t2 > > > > -=-=-=- > [ Scuba-UK: Details @ http://www.drogon.net/scuba-uk-ndg/ ] > [ To leave the list, send "unsubscribe scuba-uk" to majordomo@dr*.ne* ] > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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