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OK, I was going to try reeeal hard to not say anything... First off, if you look at the previous day's report from that paragon of news, Long Island Newsday, that this article came from, there is actually some information about what happened. The article Paul quoted was written by some ex-Berkley radical newsperson type who apparently washed up on the beach in LI and ended up writing stories about the usual suburban BS... But anyway, I stray from the topic at hand. What we see in the previous day's article was that Mr. Scholl was indeed the boat monkey tasked with "setting the hook". For those of you not familiar with NE diving, this means that after the captain had caught what he thought was the wreck with a grappling hook, Scholl went down to confirm this, tie the hook in more securely, then signal the boat that the "pool is open". The tradition is to take a styrofoam coffee cup down and release it to the surface when ready. From the information I could find, this part was routine, but then when the first divers got down to the wreck, they found him dead. Why this happened is still speculation, but since Paul wants to learn something, again, look at the Sunday article. "around 6 feet tall and weighed about 275 pounds" I don't have my charts with me, but I think this exceeds the BMI standard of 25 to a considerable degree. 42 years old, this was one of the first weekends of the dive season (only a couple of boats, mine included, had been out the weekend before due to awful weather). Purely speculation, but a reasonable scenario is that at 42, the old coronaries had seized up over the winter, he was OK initially, but after a few at 110 feet in 40 degree F water (5C), they shut down on him. This doesn't mean it isn't a tragedy for his family and friends. It doesn't mean (necessarily) that having a buddy in the water with him could have made a difference. However, the probability is that someone who stops breathing at 110 feet isn't going to make it no matter what anyone does. If you're over 40 and not doing major aerobic exercise on a regular basis, 4 ATA with 3 meter vis and near freezing temperature is not the place to find out how much stress your heart can take. I (being 45 myself) have been taking note of the fact that many of the diving deaths in the NE have been in 40 something males. Since I intend to dive and live long enough to take my revenge on my sons by being a cranky old bastard who sits around complaining about everything, I am the first one out of the house every morning on my way to work out. I would highly recommend looking at the GUE site for suggestions on physical conditioning. There are other places to look at what should be the minimal exercize standard for diving, if you can't do them, stay in the Keys looking at "Christ of the Abyss". Then you too can live long enough to be a burden on your children. Wendell G -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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