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Hi Preston
Don't know what it is your looking for exactly here and not sure if you can
call those things you do as trip leader ( I checked your site, real hard
trips you be leaden there bud ;-) ) anything that compares. I would just
tell you to ask Rick, but he doesn't play games on these list. So I pretty
can much answer for him and he won't say shit on this list or any other
list different from what I say.... He knows why I asked him and so do the
guys I wanted him to talk to..... it's who SHOULD do it, not who YOU think
should do it..... Get a grip, you don't know a single person on that trip
or how our group works among ourselves..... There ain't but one guy in our
group that works as hard as I do about safety and that's Dave. Got a real
question, ask it... Stop playing in the pan, jump right in the fire, it
doesn't burn long...... and that last thing you say, your so lost you ain't
got a clue.....
JT
At 06:57 PM 7/21/01 -0500, Preston Hobbie wrote:
>While I do not personally know Capt JT, I love the opening flash of the
>website, and have enjoyed the repartee he has with George. However, as a
>neophyte in technical diving, but a 30 year diver and trip leader, I have to
>question the "mad at everything" and "seclusion" statements. I have had bad
>days and been overwhelmed by Mr. Murphy in my career however, to exclude
>oneself from all activities on "your" trip seems a bit outlandish. I get the
>feeling of a "me vs. them " attitude which is decidedly unhealthy.
>
>Secondly, to tell Rick to talk to the guys about not doing penetration seems
>to be an abrogation of responsibility as trip leader; then this was made
>worse by you packing up and going after artifacts (before losing your
>goodies).
>
>On the plus side, I have been to Christina Young's website as well. She
>strikes me as a most competent, professional individual. If she dives with
>Capt JT, he must be better than OK. I'm just wondering where we are on the
>scale here?
>
>
>Preston Hobbie
>www.thehobster.com
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Capt JT [mailto:captjt@mi*.co*]
>Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 9:17 PM
>To: vbtech@ci*.co*
>Cc: techdiver@aquanaut.com; FLTechDiver@mikey.net
>Subject: Re: The Doria 3rd trip
>
>With 2 trips completed to the "Andrea Doria" I was looking forward to
>diving with some of the gang from the VBTech group. Still I was tired from
>the 2 earlier trips and was very fearful of anything happening, at least
>these guys would listen to me I thought, we dived together all the time.
>Maybe I could even get a good dive in.....
>
>Pete had signed up for all trips and he was collecting artifacts on almost
>each dive, before the group arrived I had asked him to refrain from showing
>these guys any artifacts he had and when he brought them up to not let them
>see it, to just put it away. I did not want them to get "china fever" as I
>did on my first trip to the wreck and do something really stupid. He agreed
>because he knew what I was talking about, he'd seen it before....
>
>Everyone was arriving and loading gear when one of our mates made the worst
>move that could be done, we had been at the dock for a day and a half. She
>waited until now to pull out a china plate given to her by a customer as a
>token of his affections and started to clean it in front of everyone then
>wrap it in paper and ask Rick to store it in his Van... I was pissed.... I
>could see it in their eyes with the milling about, joking around as I
>believed they were showing signs of getting ready to make a bad decision.
>
>I held a briefing and explained to everyone that only 2 divers on this trip
>had the skill and knowledge about the wreck to go where Pete was going and
>unless I had told them personally to follow him I was not talking about
>them.... It worked for one dive I think....
>
>I also explained how some of them would become "unwrapped" on the first
>dive and make mental mistakes, the wreck has a "stigma" to it and sometimes
>causes divers to have gear problems on their first dive to it, I used my
>leaking mask on my first dive to the wreck in 99 and Tom on his first dive
>when he forgot to hook up his crouch strap as examples .... These things
>happen and they did on this trip.... Mask came off, fins came off, drysuit
>hoses left off, all mental mistakes.....
>
>Everyone found that the wreck was , just that a wreck, nothing different
>from the others we have dived to a point. It is my opinion that this is
>where divers become victims to the wreck, not giving it the respect it
>deserves, not many wrecks offer the massive penetration dives the Doria
>can, many who come dive the wreck are very good at depth dives, ocean
>dives, and wreck dives. Very few can boast they have done wreck penetration
>dives that actually START at 200ft, you must do everything right on these
>dives, no room for error. It seems that those who die on this wreck have
>less than 10 dives to it, it also seems those who say it is easy also have
>less than 10 dives to it, choosing to dive the outside where it is easy and
>their skills best suited, a safe dive in the scheme of things..... It goes
>without saying the vis and temp cause others problems, only those who don't
>do it would say different.....
>
>After 2 dives some in the group began whispering about going in and finding
>something, thinking I was asleep, looking at the drawings. Pete came to me
>and told me the same thing I was hearing, I went to Rick and told him to
>talk to some of the guys, they weren't ready for that kind of dive, its a
>fools bet to say you can.....
>Being disappointed invites mistakes, I choose to try and recover something
>that caught my eye on a previous dive, I loaded my toolbag with reels, lift
>bags, and tools. There is an old saying "don't put all your shit in one
>bag", I must have forgot... I jumped in the water and the snap came
>undone... I watched it sink much faster than I could have caught it, I
>never will risk my life over any gear, I let it go... over 500 dollars in
>stuff.... I went down the anchor line and went in the direction the bag
>should be, Pete had sent up one of those rectangle windows on a liftbag and
>reel then secured it at the anchor, I gave it no thought. But when I
>started having line fall on me, I realized he had gotten his window and it
>was his line falling on me, I untangled myself and I now had a line secured
>at the anchor to help me look for my bag of gear, good deal..... I
>scootered out over the hull and towards what is called the dark side of the
>wreck letting the line slide through my fingers to guide me back, I came
>across a huge crack in the hull it was burping bunker oil and I got it all
>over me...... I had to wash me, my drysuit, and my scooter with joy to get
>the bunker off..... I now hated the wreck....
>I retreated back to my seclusion as I did on the second trip, disappointed
>in the whole trip, refusing to dive and save myself for anything if
>necessary , mad at everything everyone .
>
>Pete being the diver he is gave up one of his honey holes in an effort to
>keep them safe, not everyone was talking foolishly, but it only takes one
>to fuck up a trip..... I would not speak to anyone, I stayed in my bunk and
>only came out to check the weather and eat.....
>
>Capt Charlie came to me and said the weather forecast was bad, we had time
>for one more dive. Everyone was surprised to see me mixing and a couple
>said "I thought you weren't diving anymore", I said I'm not, this is for un
>tieing.....
>
>Everyone made their last dive, Capt Charlie and I were happy to be leaving,
>just one more and we were done...... Everyone was on board but 4 when I
>went to unshackle.... and I have already told what happen next... What I
>did not say is how happy I was to see everyone working to the same goal
>when the seizure happened, everyone did what they were suppose to......
>
>As I reread this report I can see it gives the trip a negative appearance,
>it just shows how stressful these kinds of trips can be on those who run
>them. It also reflects how past trips I have been on have scared me for
>life I think...... Would I do it again...yes... cause I love to dive....
>
>JT
>
>
>
>
>"You can't learn to dive on the net, sooner or later you have to get in the
>water"
>Your Guide to Great Wreck Diving along the East Coast & more
> Web Site http://www.capt-jt.com/
>Email captjt@mi*.co*
>
>
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"You can't learn to dive on the net, sooner or later you have to get in the
water"
Your Guide to Great Wreck Diving along the East Coast & more
Web Site http://www.capt-jt.com/
Email captjt@mi*.co*
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