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Howzit list, Any comments from the list on the following story?? At the end of the day he was lucky..... Fabrice. Subject: 202,5 m a Dahab en Mer Rouge Mon pote Jambo d'Hurdada m'a demand� de faire suivre, il s'excuse il a pas eu le temps de traduire: NEW RED SEA OPEN WATER TRIMIX RECORD We are very pleased to inform you that on the 17th of February 2000, the Red Sea record was broken at the Blue Hole in Dahab, with a depth of 202.5 metres. The dive was performed without the use of descent or ascent lines and all required gasses including bail-outs were carried by the diver. We are delighted to report that twenty-six year old TDI Trimix Instructor "Bungy"(Ben Reymenants), is in good health, with no DCS, HPNS, Narcosis, or convulsions. The dive was supported by a team of 7 TDI Technical Divers and surface support, all, of course, under the supervision of the one and only "Masterleigh" (Leigh Cunningham, TDI Extended range Instructor and Technical Dahab Guru!). Over to Bungy.... Introduction; October 99, Blue Hole, Dahab... "At 127msw, descending fast, I sense a buzz in both my hands and pressure on my eyes. High Pressure Nervous Syndrome (HPNS)? Isobaric counterdiffusion in my contacts? Until today I have not received any concrete information regarding the latter. I slow my descent and softly touch the sandy slope at 151msw, further down the slope I can see a dark shade, a dusty thermocline, or the final drop to 800m? This is the moment I knew I would return to this mystical place.." 17th February, 2000; The Return to the Blue Hole "..Four months of planning and training later, I am back! This time, however, without my lenses and with a slower planned descent rate. My eighty kilo dive rig gets loaded onto the pick-up and the usual desert trip begins. Each diver diving the Blue Hole has to leave his name and passport number at the police checkpoint (just in case!?. Dahab has an extremely calming atmosphere and I felt very relaxed, almost as if I were on auto- pilot mode." 10.30a.m; The Blue Hole " The Blue Hole is best described as a giant sink in the reef with access to the outer reefwall through an arch ~ a natural opening from a depth of 55msw to 120msw. The sun was at a perfect angle to lighten up the southern outer wall and shine through the arch to mark my entrance point into the Blue Hole." The Dive; "Final pre-checks done, I deflated my BCD and began a rapid descent to 40msw, where I switched from my travel mix(EAN30)to my intermediate trimix (14/31). I made a final check and left the last support diver at 60msw. At 100msw I made my last switch of the descent to my bottom trimix (8/62). My regulator was working extremely smoothly due to the high percentage of heluim, but sounded like a train!! As expected, at 150msw I reached the dark, dusky thermocline and made a bouyancy check. I adjusted my descent rate to 10m/min to try and prevent the onset of HPNS. At around 160 metres the dustcloud began to clear and the visibility became absolutely breathtaking! In front of me I could see the whole slope stretching at least another 80 metres. Several unfortunate divers have found their resting place here, trying to keep my mind clear and focused I ignored them and started finning out. After a drop of 12 minutes I touched another sandy bottom, my computer showed me 202.5 msw, I felt very small, it was too big to grasp...Bottom depth reached, I inflated my wings and started the ascent. This initially went slower than expected due to the smaller pressure differences at that depth, and because of the tank drag. I continued to inflate and started finning to keep up with my runtime. This cost me quite a lot of gas and the pressure gauge dropped quickly.I was relieved when I finally reached 100msw, I switched back to my intermediate trimix, and continued my ascent. In front of me I could see the vague blue of the arch waiting for me. I entered the Blue Hole escorted by 6 giant tuna's..a very impressive entry!! At 60 msw,I shook hands with Master Leigh and the rest of the safety divers and began the long and slow process of decompression.Fortunately there is no current inside the Blue Hole which made it easier to hang on to my reel and doze a little. Half an hour of O2 at the surface made the tiredness disappear, and I was left with a feeling of awe and disbelief..." Gases Used: Bottom Manifold: 8/62 Intermediate Tmx: 14/31 Travel: EAN30 Deco: EAN70 100%O2 at 6msw, 3msw and surface 30% drysuit inflation -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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