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> I must remind you of a time not many years ago when to dive relying on
> a decompression computer was akin to committing suicide. Nowadays the
> technology is much more stable and I do rely on a pair of computers for
> the few air-only dives that I now do.
The difference, though, is that when a decompression computer fails, it's
generally self-evident, and even if the diver doesn't have backup tables,
they'll do the best they can by winging it and probably won't die. If an
electronically-controlled rebreather fails and neglects to add O2 to the
loop, and doesn't alert the user to the problem, then there is a
reasonably high probability that said user could die.
> With the inevitable progress of technology, I expect my children's
> children to learn to dive using rebreathers and to wonder with amazement
> how we could be so casual in our approach to safety on even fairly shallow
> 300ft dives that we only carry say 20 minutes spare bottom mix rather than
> 3 or more hours and also that we are only really capable of surviving one
> major system failure rather than 2 or 3.
Don't get me wrong...I think rebreathers *can* be a lot safer (=lower
probability of death or injury) than OC scuba -- especially for "more
extreme" dives. But this is only true with a well-designed rig and, more
importantly, a well-disciplined diver. My biggest concern is, as Dave
Schubert suggested, this initial window of time when rebreathers first hit
the market. Not all of the models will be well-designed. But more
importantly, not all of the divers who rush into the technology will be
well-disciplined. There's been SOOOOO much hype over the last few years
that there are all kinds of divers out there who think that the
rebreathers will be the answer to all their prayers, and I am virtually
certain that a few of them are going to die. I've been to many of the big
meetings, and I've sat in the rebreather sessions, and I've listened to
the people with real rebreather experience say things like "These aren't
toys", "They require a lot of training", "You can easily get killed if you
don't know what you're doing", etc. I always sort-of shrugged those things
off as not really applying to me, because I was this way-experienced
mixed-gas diver, so I already had the skills and discipline, etc. Only
after a lot of time in the water did I start to *really* understand what
those guys were saying (I'm pretty sure that I still don't quite grasp it
yet).
I know I've been throwing a lot of dooms-day stuff about rebreathers onto
the list lately. Obviously I'm still using the thing, so obviously I
still think the benefits exceed the costs. They really are very useful
tools if used correctly -- I suspect Rod Farb and Howard Hall and Bob
Cranston and others would back me up on that ('though I'm not sure Bill
Gavin, probably the most experienced among them, would). The hard-core
tone of my recent messages is an effort to get future rebreather divers to
realize that they should NOT shrug-off what all these experienced
rebreather divers are saying, as I did.
Approach these things with a LOT of caution and self-restraint no matter
HOW much experience you have doing open-circuit mixed-gas dives. (that's
to everyone, not just you Harry).
> The point I am making is that, with time, relyablility and opperational ease
> will nearer approximate perfection.
Or at least it should only continue to get better.
Aloha,
Rich
Richard Pyle
deepreef@bi*.bi*.ha*.or*
*******************************************************************
"WHATEVER happens to you when you willingly go underwater is
COMPLETELY and ENTIRELY your own responsibility! If you cannot
accept this responsibility, stay out of the water!"
*******************************************************************
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