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When the training director of the NSS/CDS falsifies
an accident analysis in a training memo in order to promote
his own gear style which , of course, depends heavily on
the use of the gear manufactured by the company for which
he is a sales representative, it's time to blow the whistle.
Let me explain. When Robbie McGuirre died by breathing
the wrong gas at Thunderhole, Lamar Hires decided this was
because he was wearing his stage bottles on one side, a style
which he believed was idiosyncratic to the Hogarthian system,
something which Lamar, and Tom Mount disagreee with. Robbie
died because he failed to properly mark his bottles, something
which Lamar does not have the experience to understand - another
reason he is woefully inadequate for this job.
Those who are sold the dive rite light are told to butt
mount it with a convoluted series of d-rings and clips. Most of
these people also are taught to stuff their long hose somewhere,
and to put stage bottles on either side, along with other silliness.
Lamar and co. know that Hogarthians use a proper light and mount
it on the right side of the belt, and breath the long hose, ride
a scooter with a right handed trigger , and so put bottles on the
left side, unless there are more than two. But that is for stages,
deco bottles can go anywhere until dropped - there is no speed
concern while on deco or travel gas, only when deep.
Seeing an opportuntiy to criticize both the Hogarthian system
and the WKPP, Lamar chose to misrepresent and misreport the facts
of the accident, and then follow that up with a training memo in
conjuction with Tom Mount in which he offered a solution which
"coincidentally" suits the gear style he teaches and sells.
Let me also set the record straight. We do not accept the NSS
certification for our projects, nor are any of our divers trained
by the IANTD. We do not allow prismatic pressure vessels (an oxymoron)
like the Neutralite, we do not allow gear configurations other than
Hogarthian. We have written this into our standards, our operating
plans, our proposals, and our guarantees to our clients.
As with all of our safety procedures, there is no "personal
preference" or "freedom of choice" - we aren't practicing alternative
lifestyles here. All of our rules are rules, and our bottle marking
rule is clear. WKPP developed these rules over ten years of mixed
gas cave exploration diving with the help of experts from
military and commercial diving. Our bottle marking rule specificly
states that the bottle must be marked longintudinally in the
orientation of the tank on both sides in clear three-inch high letters
that are readable by a diver on either side (we don't mandate where
the bottles are carried) as to the maximum depth it can be used.
Now do you see where Lamar and Mount are coming from?
Since we have been doing this a lot longer than the IANTD, and
since Hires is not a gas or deep diver, their nonsense is hurting
the whole community, and having no effect on WKPP, other than to
make us want to close the door to newcomers, which we are not yet
going to do.
I strongly urge the membership of the NSS/CDSA to put an end
to the gear-selling training director, for safety's sake, and for the
sake of the continuation of the sport.
George Irvine
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