On Nov 6 John Bennett reached  308 meters / 1010 ft, a depth confirmed by
the local IANTD franchise and a PADI CD. The event was also covered by Star
TV and National Geographic. Runtime: 9.36 hours. 
Insane, but it's done. 
Anton

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Mantis Diving [SMTP:dive@ma*.co*.au*]
> Sent:	Saturday, November 10, 2001 8:27 PM
> To:	'Techdiver List'
> Subject:	305m OC Ocean Dive
> Importance:	High
> 
> Guy's,
> 
> This report made one of the Australian tech lists. But for some reason has
> not appeared on techdiver yet. Make of it what you will.
> 
> FYI
> 
> >The 300-meter series
>  
> >Long regarded as the four-minute mile of open circuit scuba diving the
> >depth of 300m (or 1,000feet) marks the goal of those in the deep diving
> >community striving to go deeper than anyone before.  These divers fall
> into
> >their own category for although many divers have been deeper before (in
> >fact those that use submersible bells, surface supplied gas and other
> >commercial rigs regularly dive and work at deeper depths) those on open
> >circuit face infinitely greater risks; it's no exaggeration to say that
> >they are working at the very limits of physiological knowledge.
> >
> >In the world of open circuit many world record depth attempts are made in
> >fresh water sinks.  The relatively "ideal" conditions of these
> environments
> >make the staging of tanks and logistics that much easier than those who
> >face the more uncertain conditions of open waters.  Unpredictable
> currents,
> >surface conditions and a massive difference in surface and bottom
> >temperatures are just some of the environmental factors taken into
> >consideration.
> >
> >John Bennett is the director of technical diving at Atlantis Tech in the
> >Philippines.  He is no stranger to the logistics, stress and hazards
> >involved in pushing depth limits; on June 4, 2000 John made a solo dive
> to
> >254m, the current world record, in the beautiful waters off Puerto Galera
> >on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines.
> >
> >In November 2001 John intends to go deeper than anyone else has ever done
> >on open circuit scuba in open ocean and Puerto Galera will again set the
> >stage.  John intends to incorporate many of the techniques employed on
> his
> >last world record attempt, one of which is the use of a specially built
> >free floating decompression platform that allows a vertical decent line
> to
> >be employed with a four bar trapezium assembled in shallow water for the
> >longest decompression stops.  The unique design allows the platform to be
> >cut free if necessary and drift with the current while keeping essential
> >support mechanisms in place.
> >
> >The team of divers that support John are another key part of any
> successful
> >dive and the November team remains almost unchanged from the June 2000
> >dive: Mark Cox, Targa Man, Ron Loos, Axel Lechwald, Kfir Zorev and
> >Portuguese depth record holder Jorge Marques are all experienced deep
> >divers many of whom John trained personally; all train relentlessly and
> >make regular dives with John.  Long briefings and discussion sessions
> >ensures each knows their role.  Equally essential is Joe McLary, a
> veteran
> >paramedic who flies in from Hawaii for each deep dive series and takes
> care
> >of contingency medical procedures.
> >
> >John rarely targets a record depth on one dive; in the November 2001
> >attempt he is allowing a week of dives spaced to allow ample rest and
> >decompression.  Although the first dives are planned as warm ups all
> dives
> >are made in such a way for John to be able to attempt the record should
> >things "feel right".
> >
> >Months of planning and training have lead to the November 300m series.
> The
> >equipment configuration alone caused a delay of two months; the original
> >quad pack on his back was awkward and restricted movement, the new more
> >flexible set up consists of a triple pack of OMS low-pressure 20liter
> tanks
> >required to carry the huge amounts of bottom gas John will consume (over
> >620 liters per minute on the bottom; that's a regular scuba tank every
> four
> >minutes). John also straps a forth 5.5 liter tank behind the triple set
> for
> >dry-suit inflation.  OMS also provide a specially constructed canister
> >light that will be placed between the left hand tanks.  Two side slung
> >11.1-liter tanks make up the last part of the tank rig - these are used
> for
> >the first two gas switches in 150m and 90m of water; from there on up
> John
> >relies on the support divers to supply decompression gas.  Other
> essential
> >pieces of equipment that John tests to the limits include Apeks
> regulators,
> >Otto Dry-suits and backup lights supplied by Princeton Tec.
> >
> >In addition to testing the equipment John has also set a tough physical
> >regime over recent months.  His fitness schedule is aimed at maintaining
> a
> >very high level of aerobic, cardio-vascular and muscular fitness and
> >consists of ten workouts each week, five aerobic and five muscular.  Diet
> >is also important and John supports his training regime by eating four
> >times each day, keeping the carbohydrates high, proteins moderate and
> fats
> >low.  He adds high quality supplements 
> >
> >Tables have been 'cut' for this special dive using Abyss software and
> >despite a bottom time of just a few minutes (he plans to descend at
> 20-30m
> >per minute) the slow ascent (no faster than 10m per minute from 150m and
> >up) will bring his total dive time to over eight hours.  The dive
> >incorporates six different trimix blends and although his use of large
> >amounts of helium at all stages of the dive is somewhat experimental in
> >dives so far he has made the decompression 'cleaner', cut back on CO2
> >problems and increased the ease of breathing.  Even normal air breaks
> have
> >been replaced with switches back to trimix aimed at buffering the oxygen
> >clock (protecting against oxygen toxicity), reversing vassal constriction
> >(caused by breathing high PO2's), reversing pulmonary edema (caused by
> >breathing high PO2's) and cutting back on the amounts of CO2 retained.
> >
> >In June 2000 John said "I think that's deep enough" but his desire to
> >explore the underwater world, further man's knowledge of diving
> physiology
> >and test himself drive him forward.  In his latest venture, a company
> >called John Bennett Deep Ocean Research International (JBDORI) he and his
> >partners aim "To go beyond diver training and actively support
> individuals
> >and groups that explore the underwater world and extend the boundaries of
> >diving knowledge".
> >
> >On Tuesday November 6, 2001 John Bennett descended to 305m on open
> circuit
> >scuba, his total dive time was over nine and half hours and despite some
> >complications on his ascent John surfaced in good shape and is now
> >recovering and resting at Atlantis.
> >
> >Our sincere thanks to everyone involved - especially all those is the
> >support team, Chuck, Dieter and crew, Frank Doyle and team, Dave Ross and
> >Pedro Magsino who helped out at the last minute to make the dive a
> >success.
> >
> >A full official report on the dive will be released in about two weeks.
> >
> >The Atlantis Tech Team
> 
> Safe Diving
> 
> Paul O'Malley
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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