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Steve, training for cave other than in a cave is bullshit. Only the worst moron or training agency would condone crap like this. Let me guess what agency this is? Steve Lindblom wrote: > > Tod Smith, if he is the person I am thinking of, is based up here in NE and > uses the quarry in Rutland VT (aka "Ginnie North" and one of my favor dives > spots) for most of his cave instruction. > > I've run into several divers there, who were trained there in the quarry, > all the way from cavern to full cave. I've always wondered how good an idea > this is since the quarry, while it allows some reasonably long penetrations > (1000' or so depending how much you zig and zag) is a much more orderly and > predictable environment than a natural cave - there's no flow, you have to > really work at it to create a silt-out and there's always room (lot's of > it) above to escape it if you do, and the galleries are arranged in a > fairly predictable manner unlike the tortuous passages of a natural cave > (the flip side is that some of the chambers are so big that you can loose > all reference if you are in the middle). It's great fun scootering because > it is so wide open, but doesn't teach you much for that same reason. I > don't think anyone who learned there is ready for "real" caves without some > serious additional work. It would be very easy for someone who had been > certified full cave there to get in way over their head in a natural cave, > let alone someone who had only done Intro. > > BTW, Tod puts his cave students in doubles/wings/backplate from the start. > I think most of us agree that's a good idea, but the downside is that you > end up with students who have done only the first part of the cirriculum, > yet are accustomed to diving in a configuration that allows must longer > dives than they are qualified or safe to do, which seems to have been one > of the problems in this case. I think we ocassional cave divers from up > north have to really watch it, since we often don't get in real caves > enough to keep our proficiency up, but when we get down there the warm > clear water makes it seem so easy that we forget it. > > >On March 6, 2000, at approximately 8:44 a.m., two Intro-Cave Divers > >entered Little River Springs wearing doubles and using Diver Propulsion > >Vehicle's. Neither diver had been in the water since September 1999. > >This was the first dive of their trip, and they had not been in Little > >River since March of 1999. Michael Hickey (victim), and Phil Iantosca > >(survivor), were certified as IANTD Intro-Cave Divers by IANTD Cave > >Instructor Todd Smith in November, 1997. The survivor stated that they > >had approximately a total of 200 total dives, and 70 of them cave > >dives. Both divers last known address is in Massachusetts. > > -- > 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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