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On Thu, 5 Oct 1995, Ken Sallot wrote: > > Date sent: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 11:57:13 -0400 (EDT) > > From: Roderick Farb <rfarb@em*.un*.ed*> > > > I neglected to say that the dives (200 feet, dark and 49 degrees F) in > > France on the CSS Alabama were all done on air. Because some of the divers > > on the project are commercial divers working for MELOX, COGEMA and COMEX > > insurance regs. prohibit the use of helium in scuba tanks. So all > > several hundred diver-dives made in the past nine years have been done > > on air. Without incident. Their outstanding work has been published in > > numerous scholarly journals in France and the US. > > What physical condition are these divers in? There are seventeen divers, three of whom are commercial divers. The thirteen divers are sport divers who smoke, drink and are generally like regular divers who have other jobs. They are in average shape. The commercial divers are in good shape. > How often do they workout? They don't workout. They dive every day at 200 feet. They have zodiacs. 4 miles from the harbor of Cherbourg are dozens of wrecks. The water is unfortunately 200 feet. It doesn't get dark unitl 11 PM in the summer so there is time for diving after work. > > How long have they been diving? Several years. They dive regularly. That's the idea. They are not weekend warriors. > > How long have they been training for this kind of work? They haven't trained particularily for this work. They are taught to dive under local conditions. They do not have the disposable income that many Americans have so their gear is basic, Fenzis and all. They are trained from day one for the local conditions. > > How come the US Navy seems to say that diving below 190' on air is > a waste because of the limitations of the narcosis? The US Navy has a lot of good things to say about diving. The French Navy, Italian Navy, Canadian Navy, British Navy say other things. For example, in-water O2 deco is frowned upon by the US Navy because they prefer to deco their guys in chambers on ships. Other less wealthy Navies such as Canadian, British, etc. don't have the luxury of having chambers everywhere for this so they have developed procedures for in-water O2 deco. It's a difference in style. US Navy guys are tethered for all dives. Because you might opt to do things differently and successfully doesn't mean you are wrong because the US Navy says to do it another way. > > Does the US Navy not know anything about deep air diving? The US Navy knows a lot about deep diving. Tethered divers with lots of surface support, are the order of the day. Is that how you deep dive? or do you free swim it, drift deco, etc. The US Navy doesn't do that. > > Also, since you mentioned they're all commercial divers doing this > work, let's talk about what preparations they have. As I mentioned they are not all commercial divers. Three are. The heaviest nonfiltered smokers you've ever met. They take hot showers and hot wine immediately afterwards. Things you have been told NOT to do. > I take it there's a chamber on-site? There is no cahmber on site. There is a chamber on board one Navy ship that is docked in port a few miles away during the dives. But not for the dives. They schedule the 18 days of diving around they tide coefficient and the presence of the ship. > Physicians on-site? The only physician on site was in 1993-the girl friend of one of the divers. No physician on site. The site if four miles from land if that makes a difference. The boats speed is 7 knots. They have a radio and are surrounded by the fleet. > > Large support team on-site? There are two zodiac drivers, the boat captain, the archaeologist, the divers and five non-diving workers. > > In otherwords, there's a bunch of stuff on-site for emergencies out of > the realm of normal ordinary every day divers, including "technical" > divers? Absolutely NOT. The same group takes the same boat and equipment to do thweir club dives before and after the Alabama dives. > > By "without incident" do you mean no one died, or there hasn't been > any sort of accident requiring medical attention? No one has died, been bent, been lost or any other incident save the following. Two American divers from two American universities, U. Florida and East Carolina University who were invited to participate ruptured eardrums because of rrapid uncomtrolled decents and prior injuries to their ears. One National Park Service diver from the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, invited to participate had an inflator valve stick on his Viking Dry suit and blew to the surface after his 5 meter deco stop. > > Yes, every diver has the right to go to 200' on air if they want to. > > However, they also have the right to jump out of a perfectly good > airplane without a parachute, lay down in the middle of a highway, or > run into South-Central LA shouting "OJ SHOULD BE IN JAIL!". There is no connection between diving to 200 feet on air and the parachute, highway or LA analogies. Some people would use your analogies to compare divers to non-divers. > > Don't you think however that anyone contemplating deep air diving > should be aware of the precautions that these same divers in France > are taking, and maybe factor that in before taking the plunge? Divers should be trained for the kind of diving they are contemplating by people who know how to dive under those conditions. Ken, a good rule of thumb for me is this. After studying an arduous dive and figuring out how to do it to arrive back at the surface alive- if you are comfortable with the dive then do it. If you are not-don't. Get some input from someone who has done it. If you're the first, ask advice of people who have done similar dives elsewhere. It's pretty much common sense. Another thing, as long as you believe in that little ditty you put with all of your posts you will never go into a dive fully prepared. You will always have a little psych-out that something bad WILL happen. As time goes on without incident, you will be more convinced that your next dive WILL be your last. Be more positive in your approach to diving. Know your limits, abilities and weaknesses. Plan the dive with the best advice if it is an arduous one. Feel good about it and then dive it. If you don't feel comfortable don't dive. > > Ken > -- > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > Ken Sallot "There are old divers, and there are bold > CIRCA divers, but there are no old bold divers" > (904) 392-2007 > kens@uf*.ed* > http://grove.ufl.edu/~ken > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >
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