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At 08:01 PM 7/24/02 -0400, Todd Clagett wrote:

>We have really started doing the pre-dive gear check that GUE teaches in 
>the fundamentals course and it has already saved some people some minor 
>discomfort by identifying things prior to getting in the water.

Digging for some back up are we.......

>  It's a great way to ensure you and your buddy are squared away before 
> getting in the water.  I was leading the drill for me and Allyson and I 
> didn't hear her say "check" after checking her backup while looking at 
> her SPG.  I turned and said, did you check it?  She said yes, but I asked 
> her to do it again while I was watching.  She checked the valve open, and 
> breathed another 3 breaths off of the back up while looking at the 
> SPG.  She swears that the SPG was steady for all three inhalations.

Most people do say it was on and working.

>
>It was 17 min into the planned 30 min bottom time and we had already 
>filled both bags with bottles.  I signaled to everyone that I wanted to 
>look around and be a tourist for a bit since we still had so much time 
>left.  Just after I signaled that I wanted to look around, Allyson gave me 
>a light signal and I got right up in her face and gave her the OK 
>sign.  She shook her head no and went to her back up regulator.
>   She then took the back up reg out of her mouth and she instantly had my 
> primary regulator in her mouth.  Thank god we had been practicing this 
> drill non stop, it was natural and easy with everyone remaining pretty 
> calm.  I donated the reg without thinking about it and then it sort of 
> hit me that this was no drill.  I remember looking over at my wife 
> breathing my long hose and I thought of my daughter.  I also realized 
> that most of the other people who frequent this dive boat would most 
> likely have screwed the whole thing up.  I am referring to the ones who 
> resent GUE and anyone who actually strives to dive safer and smarter.

Looking for more back up.........

>
>During our little maneuver we had drifted about 15 feet away from where we 
>were digging and I signaled Dalton Senior.  He looked at me with a look 
>that said "You aren't supposed to be doing that drill this deep".  It was 
>almost a what the hell are you doing look!  I signaled him to take care of 
>our scooters and that we were ascending.  I looked at Allyson and looked 
>carefully at her eyes.  She was very calm, so I decided to purge her 
>primary to see if gas came out (she showed me her pressure gage after I 
>showed her mine when I donated.  She still had 1700psi and it seemed like 
>a lot of time had elapsed.  Some gas came out of the primary when I purged 
>it so I then purged the backup reg and nothing came out at all.  I then 
>reached back and turned her left post on.  I couldn't  believe it was off.

No shit......had you already turned the isolator back on.

>
>Obviously a mistake had been made somewhere.  Maybe she turned it off when 
>in the boat by accident I don't know, but I witnessed her checking it at 
>least once and she swears that she had done it once before too (the check 
>includes taking 3 long breaths off of the reg).  I have a theory about 
>what happened but I'll let JT stew over that one for a while.  Either way, 
>a mistake was made and it was time to deal with it.  The reason we train 
>this way is so that it's all natural and part of our muscle memory when 
>something happens whether it be gear or human error.
>
>Later Allyson said the reg became hard to breath and wet ( and her backup 
>was somehow turned off).  I think maybe some of the crap I was blowing 
>with the scooter got caught in her second stage.  We had our heads in the 
>hole where I was digging and it could have easily happened.  It has 
>happened to me before, but I just shook the reg in the water.

Regs become really really hard to breath when their is no gas in that tank 
and the isolator is closed.

>
>So now Allyson's backup reg was working and I think we both preferred her 
>to be on her own gas for the ascent.  There was some current and the seas 
>were 3 to 4 ft.  Nothing major, but we didn't need any more "situations" 
>at this point.  She went back on her backup reg and I changed my mind 
>about letting the Daltons take our scooters for us.  I signaled and they 
>immediately brought the scooters to us.  This is where I lost some 
>environmental awareness.  I was so focused on Allyson that I lost track of 
>the anchor line (turned out it was right behind me).  I signaled to Dalton 
>that I was turned around and didn't know where the line was now, he looked 
>at me funny and pointed at it only about 30 feet away (the vis was at 
>least 70 ft).  So with me feeling silly we started to swim over to the 
>line to begin our ascent.  Allyson signaled for me to look at my fins and 
>now I had my wreck reel caught in my fins.  What else could happen?  I 
>unhooked the reel from my butt D-ring (flame away) and dropped it into the 
>sand.  The line fell off of my fins and we just left it.  We started our 
>ascent.....finally.  10 minutes had elapsed since she had asked me for gas.

Things happen in a panic don't they.

>
>
>I looked down to see the Daltons gather their own scooter and then my 
>wreck reel.  Allyson and I concentrated on each other during the ascent 
>and did our light deco.  I noticed throughout the ascent that the Dalton's 
>were conspicuously absent.  I was concerned that they had gotten off of 
>the line.

Now it comes to light about how they drifted away, 2 divers with little 
scooter experience and 1 scooter and 2 bags of artifacts that you just 
can't live without and they say they are running up to the anchor and 
drifting back......... why would 2 guys use one scooter to do this.

>
>Allyson boarded the boat before me, but I quickly followed.  I asked the 
>mate if he saw a lift bag as soon as I got on board and he said there was 
>one off of the stern.  I informed him that it was the Daltons and that he 
>should get the Zodiac to pick them up.  He looked at me like I was an 
>idiot, so I asked him how long the bag was there.  He said about 10 
>min.  I asked if he had informed the captain.  He said no.  I started 
>yelling at him and we exchanged words.

Can we say panic here..........

>   By this time Allyson was out of her gear and went to the pilot house to 
> WAKE UP the captain.  That's right I said wake up the captain (argue that 
> one JT).  I guess the captain was a little tired from his solo dive to 
> 118 feet and needed a nap.  Is it normal practice for the only qualified 
> captain on board to do a dive 67 miles out in the Ocean with a boat full 
> of divers?  Is it normal practice for him to sleep while divers are doing 
> decompression?  I guess the mate was scared to wake him up.

What goes on with another Capt , I have no control over, I was to be on the 
boat also, but ask to go home at 530am as Nancy was flying out that 
afternoon for 3 days. The Eureka is 54 miles.

>
>The rest of the boat actually seemed to be making fun of me for yelling at 
>the mate and his stupidity, but obviously nobody seemed very concerned 
>with safety.  The captain asked me to bounce down and pull the hook and I 
>said no, I just surfaced.  I wouldn't do it alone anyway.  The right thing 
>to do would have been to sacrifice the anchor or tie a ball to it and go 
>get the team in the water.  They were very far away at this point and 
>nobody knew if they were alright.  Nobody else on the boat seemed very 
>concerned, I think they were just following JT's example of making fun 
>instead of helping.  I ended up pulling in lines and the only person who 
>lended a hand was Tom Adams.  Thanks Tom!  The rest of the boat made jokes 
>and snide comments.  Just the kind of people I want around in case I make 
>a mistake and need help.

The rest of the boat could clearly see you were panicking and making a fool 
of yourself.


"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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<html>
At 08:01 PM 7/24/02 -0400, Todd Clagett wrote:<br>
<br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2><blockquote type=3Dcite cite>We have really
started doing the pre-dive gear check that GUE teaches in the
fundamentals course and it has already saved some people some minor
discomfort by identifying things prior to getting in the
water.</font></blockquote><br>
Digging for some back up are we.......<br>
<br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2><blockquote type=3Dcite cite> It's a
grea=
t
way to ensure you and your buddy are squared away before getting in the
water.  I was leading the drill for me and Allyson and I didn't hear
her say "check" after checking her backup while looking at her
SPG.  I turned and said, did you check it?  She said yes, but I
asked her to do it again while I was watching.  She checked the
valve open, and breathed another 3 breaths off of the back up while
looking at the SPG.  She swears that the SPG was steady for all
three inhalations. </font></blockquote><br>
Most people do say it was on and working.<br>
<br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2><blockquote type=3Dcite
cite> </font><br>
It was 17 min into the planned 30 min bottom time and we had already
filled both bags with bottles.  I signaled to everyone that I wanted
to look around and be a tourist for a bit since we still had so much time
left.  Just after I signaled that I wanted to look around, Allyson
gave me a light signal and I got right up in her face and gave her the OK
sign.  She shook her head no and went to her back up=20
regulator.<br>
  She then took the back up reg out of her mouth and she instantly
had my primary regulator in her mouth.  Thank god we had been
practicing this drill non stop, it was natural and easy with everyone
remaining pretty calm.  I donated the reg without thinking about it
and then it sort of hit me that this was no drill.  I remember
looking over at my wife breathing my long hose and I thought of my
daughter.  I also realized that most of the other people who
frequent this dive boat would most likely have screwed the whole thing
up.  I am referring to the ones who resent GUE and anyone who
actually strives to dive safer and smarter.  </blockquote><br>
Looking for more back up.........<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=3Dcite cite> <br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2>During our little maneuver we had drifted abou=
t
15 feet away from where we were digging and I signaled Dalton
Senior.  He looked at me with a look that said "You aren't
supposed to be doing that drill this deep".  It was almost a
what the hell are you doing look!  I signaled him to take care of
our scooters and that we were ascending.  I looked at Allyson and
looked carefully at her eyes.  She was very calm, so I decided to
purge her primary to see if gas came out (she showed me her pressure gage
after I showed her mine when I donated.  She still had 1700psi and
it seemed like a lot of time had elapsed.  Some gas came out of the
primary when I purged it so I then purged the backup reg and nothing came
out at all.  I then reached back and turned her left post on. 
I couldn't  believe it was off.</font></blockquote><br>
No shit......had you already turned the isolator back on.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=3Dcite cite> <br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2>Obviously a mistake had been made
somewhere.  Maybe she turned it off when in the boat by accident I
don't know, but I witnessed her checking it at least once and she swears
that she had done it once before too (the check includes taking 3 long
breaths off of the reg).  I have a theory about what happened but
I'll let JT stew over that one for a while.  Either way, a mistake
was made and it was time to deal with it.  The reason we train this
way is so that it's all natural and part of our muscle memory when
something happens whether it be gear or human error.  </font><br>
 <br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2>Later Allyson said the reg became hard to
breath and wet ( and her backup was somehow turned off).  I think
maybe some of the crap I was blowing with the scooter got caught in her
second stage.  We had our heads in the hole where I was digging and
it could have easily happened.  It has happened to me before, but I
just shook the reg in the water.  </font></blockquote><br>
Regs become really really hard to breath when their is no gas in that
tank and the isolator is closed.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=3Dcite cite> <br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2>So now Allyson's backup reg was working and I
think we both preferred her to be on her own gas for the ascent. 
There was some current and the seas were 3 to 4 ft.  Nothing major,
but we didn't need any more "situations" at this point. 
She went back on her backup reg and I changed my mind about letting the
Daltons take our scooters for us.  I signaled and they immediately
brought the scooters to us.  This is where I lost some environmental
awareness.  I was so focused on Allyson that I lost track of the
anchor line (turned out it was right behind me).  I signaled to
Dalton that I was turned around and didn't know where the line was now,
he looked at me funny and pointed at it only about 30 feet away (the vis
was at least 70 ft).  So with me feeling silly we started to swim
over to the line to begin our ascent.  Allyson signaled for me to
look at my fins and now I had my wreck reel caught in my fins.  What
else could happen?  I unhooked the reel from my butt D-ring (flame
away) and dropped it into the sand.  The line fell off of my fins
and we just left it.  We started our ascent.....finally.  10
minutes had elapsed since she had asked me for gas.
</font></blockquote><br>
Things happen in a panic don't they.<br>
<br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2><blockquote type=3Dcite
cite> </font><br>
 <br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2>I looked down to see the Daltons gather their
own scooter and then my wreck reel.  Allyson and I concentrated on
each other during the ascent and did our light deco.  I noticed
throughout the ascent that the Dalton's were conspicuously absent. 
I was concerned that they had gotten off of the line.
</font></blockquote><br>
Now it comes to light about how they drifted away, 2 divers with little
scooter experience and 1 scooter and 2 bags of artifacts that you just
can't live without and they say they are running up to the anchor and
drifting back......... why would 2 guys use one scooter to do this.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=3Dcite cite> <br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2>Allyson boarded the boat before me, but I
quickly followed.  I asked the mate if he saw a lift bag as soon as
I got on board and he said there was one off of the stern.  I
informed him that it was the Daltons and that he should get the Zodiac to
pick them up.  He looked at me like I was an idiot, so I asked him
how long the bag was there.  He said about 10 min.  I asked if
he had informed the captain.  He said no.  I started yelling at
him and we exchanged words.</font></blockquote><br>
Can we say panic here..........<br>
<br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2><blockquote type=3Dcite cite>  By this
ti=
me
Allyson was out of her gear and went to the pilot house to WAKE UP the
captain.  That's right I said wake up the captain (argue that one
JT).  I guess the captain was a little tired from his solo dive to
118 feet and needed a nap.  Is it normal practice for the only
qualified captain on board to do a dive 67 miles out in the Ocean with a
boat full of divers?  Is it normal practice for him to sleep while
divers are doing decompression?  I guess the mate was scared to wake
him up.</font></blockquote><br>
What goes on with another Capt , I have no control over, I was to be on
the boat also, but ask to go home at 530am as Nancy was flying out that
afternoon for 3 days. The Eureka is 54 miles.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=3Dcite cite> <br>
<font face=3D"arial" size=3D2>The rest of the boat actually seemed to be
making fun of me for yelling at the mate and his stupidity, but obviously
nobody seemed very concerned with safety.  The captain asked me to
bounce down and pull the hook and I said no, I just surfaced.  I
wouldn't do it alone anyway.  The right thing to do would have been
to sacrifice the anchor or tie a ball to it and go get the team in the
water.  They were very far away at this point and nobody knew if
they were alright.  Nobody else on the boat seemed very concerned, I
think they were just following JT's example of making fun instead of
helping.  I ended up pulling in lines and the only person who lended
a hand was Tom Adams.  Thanks Tom!  The rest of the boat made
jokes and snide comments.  Just the kind of people I want around in
case I make a mistake and need help.</font></blockquote><br>
The rest of the boat could clearly see you were panicking and making a
fool of yourself. <br>
<br>

<br>
"You can't learn to dive on the net, sooner or later you have to get
in the water"<br>
<font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>Your Guide to Great Wreck Diving along the East
Coast & more <br>
 Web Site 
<a href=3D"http://www.capt-jt.com/"=
 eudora=3D"autourl">http://www.capt-jt.com</a><a=
 href=3D"http://www.capt-jt.com/" eudora=3D"autourl">/<br>
</a>Email     captjt@mi*.co*<br>
<br>
</font></u></html>

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