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I don't know that DIR was even fully developed when Bob McGuire died. He was "hogarthian", as were many divers at that time. He was working on joining the WKPP, and had done some dives over there with them. They were still developing techniques at the time as well. For instance, air was still being used during deco, which is long gone now. He had been shown their method of bottle marking, and I had as well, because I would be diving with Bob for filming purposes. We had already shot video in Sally Ward and Indian a few weeks before his death. We were mixed for a dive in Indian the day he died, but he could only dive one day, so we went to Thunder Hole instead, which uses similar mixes. He showed up with two brand new cylinders, which he intended to mark but had not. He wore both on the same side, which he had never done before, and mixed them up. I'm sure his intent was to become familiar with the new style, but he had not adopted it in its' entirety, which was a huge mistake. This was not a WKPP dive, one he had done many times, so his confidence level was high. Too high, in fact. Bob was highly skilled, but he made some very bad decisions on this day, which killed him. I could not have prevented it, because I had no way of knowing he had screwed up until the shit hit the fan. Throw in a fast runaway Farallon scooter with a convulsing diver on it and you have a real train wreck. I came away from that with a dislocated shoulder and busted ear drums. A small price, considering Bob did not survive. Today, I would not dive with anyone that does not mark their bottles properly. We did not figure out what happened until the recovery was complete, then all the pieces came together. Two identical bottles are near impossible to distinguish without highly visible marking on the surface, much less on a dive and clipped of to the same spot, no matter where that is on your body. If anything, this incident drives home the need for bottle marking and proper identification. It also drives home the need to fully understand EVERYTHING about a configuration or ideal before you adopt it. You need to know WHY, as well as HOW, then you should agree with it in order to get the full benefit. At this point, you would then need to adhere to it in its entirety without fail. Bob McGuire killed Bob, not DIR, Hogarthian, me, nor any other individual or ideal. I don't care which side of an argument anyone is on or who they like or dislike, these are the hard facts. He was my friend, fellow explorer and I highly respected him. He was also human and made human mistakes. The mistakes on that day killed him. Everyone should learn from this. Dell Motes Research & Development Dive Rite 117 West Washington St. Lake City, Florida, 32055 www.Dive-Rite.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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