Okay, this is old news, the story has been out there for years, but I've just finished a little reading and review of this incident and have form my opinion based on looking at a lot of data, and also what I know with my own limited experience.
Two things
First, in my opinion, poor investigation and misunderstood facts aside, Gabe by the Aussie definition of 'manslaughter' was guilty of that 'crime', he was negligent, he and his wife should never have been on that dive, in the water without a DM or Instructor. And even though "The Hero" Wade Singleton tried to save Tina (and rightly so because he was clearly more negligent than Gabe is so many ways), he should have been even more accountable.
Second, Gabe was no murderer. If it had been his intent to dive and drown his wife by cutting off her air, wouldn't it have been smarter to 'forget' his dive computer entirely, and explain that he was using tables and his watch? I've looked at Mike McFayden's analysis of the dive data, and I'm pretty sure that even being bigger than my wife, I'm not going to turn off her air, and then hold onto her in a 'bearhug' for 3-4 minutes while she drowns without a huge struggle, and then have the wherewithal to turn her valve back on, and somehow account for why there was so much air missing in only the 3-4 minutes she spent acutally breathing.
Now, I am not a super experienced diver myself, but I like to think I've taken a learning progression to my new hobby and sport. So, I take a little exception to McFayden's surly ideas that a diver with 50-60 dives couldn't dive the Yongala. For crying out loud, it's at 27 meters, a deep dive, current might be a problem, but it's a non-penetration wreck, and since the predominant current direction is about what it was the day of this accident. I can't see why the dive itself was a problem.
The difference is out of my dives today (145), I have an average dive time per dive of 40 minutes (which is pretty good for a 335#, 55 year old man), and out of my 145 dives 51 of them are between 18 and 25 meters, 24 of them are between 25 and 30 meters, and 11 of them are in excess of 30 meters (all 11 with an instructor for training (AOW/DEEP/WRECK/SIDEMOUNT). So for this relatively 'inexperienced' diver 86 of my 145 dives (almost 60%) would be classified as DEEP, and I'm not just in the water for a 'quick dip', Also, of those same 145 dives, 24 are wreck dives, 15 of them in Coron. I get my moneys worth for the effort.
Now, my wife has nearly 60 dives, but again, nearly 30-35% of her dives are DEEP by definition, and I know she also has 5 over 30 meters. And, she got her certification (yes, to make me happy) in the harsh waters of SoCal, paying the price to haul gear from the parking lot at Redondo Beach, and to crawl out of the surf after. She nearly gave up, her instructor never figured it would take. But he was there teaching me the DRY SUIT specialty the first time we dived together. And the next time we dove in an aquarium, and after that in Saipan. And I was scared to death having her diving with me. Turns out she is a pretty good diver, has really good SAC, loves the critters. And although I've managed extra trips while she had to work, we enjoy traveling together and diving together.
I mention all this because while I think Gabe was innocent of murder, I also think he was a big dummy. Deep diving does take practice, and certainly, diving in a quarry, no matter how cold, or how poor the vis isn't diving in the ocean. (Nor is diving in the ocean, quarry diving, where I believe an overconfident diver could find themselves in similar trouble.). But diving in that environment with a handful of dives where the guy basically stuck his head under the water? He had no business diving that wreck without a DM.
And then taking that pretty little wife diving without a DM on that wreck? She was a total train wreck mentally. He had to know she was nervous, He had to know that the dive would be stretching her to her limits. They were on a liveaboard for heck sake, he could have scheduled her for her AOW course, then the problem was the instructors to work out, and he could just follow along and enjoy the dive. Not having professional help was just stupid. That was negligent, it was reckless, and he definitely contributed to her death, but he didn't murder her.
For Mike Ball Expeditions (who until I came upon this incident while looking into a trip I thought about using), I guess I'm now going to look elsewhere for our Barrier Reef liveaboard experience we are planning for 2017. The way they handled everything from the time Gabe booked, to basically abandoning him after the accident was not professional, and they obviously don't check out their Boat Directors moral compass.
So, now that I've ranted, anyone care to tell me if you agree or disagree and why not?
Two things
First, in my opinion, poor investigation and misunderstood facts aside, Gabe by the Aussie definition of 'manslaughter' was guilty of that 'crime', he was negligent, he and his wife should never have been on that dive, in the water without a DM or Instructor. And even though "The Hero" Wade Singleton tried to save Tina (and rightly so because he was clearly more negligent than Gabe is so many ways), he should have been even more accountable.
Second, Gabe was no murderer. If it had been his intent to dive and drown his wife by cutting off her air, wouldn't it have been smarter to 'forget' his dive computer entirely, and explain that he was using tables and his watch? I've looked at Mike McFayden's analysis of the dive data, and I'm pretty sure that even being bigger than my wife, I'm not going to turn off her air, and then hold onto her in a 'bearhug' for 3-4 minutes while she drowns without a huge struggle, and then have the wherewithal to turn her valve back on, and somehow account for why there was so much air missing in only the 3-4 minutes she spent acutally breathing.
Now, I am not a super experienced diver myself, but I like to think I've taken a learning progression to my new hobby and sport. So, I take a little exception to McFayden's surly ideas that a diver with 50-60 dives couldn't dive the Yongala. For crying out loud, it's at 27 meters, a deep dive, current might be a problem, but it's a non-penetration wreck, and since the predominant current direction is about what it was the day of this accident. I can't see why the dive itself was a problem.
The difference is out of my dives today (145), I have an average dive time per dive of 40 minutes (which is pretty good for a 335#, 55 year old man), and out of my 145 dives 51 of them are between 18 and 25 meters, 24 of them are between 25 and 30 meters, and 11 of them are in excess of 30 meters (all 11 with an instructor for training (AOW/DEEP/WRECK/SIDEMOUNT). So for this relatively 'inexperienced' diver 86 of my 145 dives (almost 60%) would be classified as DEEP, and I'm not just in the water for a 'quick dip', Also, of those same 145 dives, 24 are wreck dives, 15 of them in Coron. I get my moneys worth for the effort.
Now, my wife has nearly 60 dives, but again, nearly 30-35% of her dives are DEEP by definition, and I know she also has 5 over 30 meters. And, she got her certification (yes, to make me happy) in the harsh waters of SoCal, paying the price to haul gear from the parking lot at Redondo Beach, and to crawl out of the surf after. She nearly gave up, her instructor never figured it would take. But he was there teaching me the DRY SUIT specialty the first time we dived together. And the next time we dove in an aquarium, and after that in Saipan. And I was scared to death having her diving with me. Turns out she is a pretty good diver, has really good SAC, loves the critters. And although I've managed extra trips while she had to work, we enjoy traveling together and diving together.
I mention all this because while I think Gabe was innocent of murder, I also think he was a big dummy. Deep diving does take practice, and certainly, diving in a quarry, no matter how cold, or how poor the vis isn't diving in the ocean. (Nor is diving in the ocean, quarry diving, where I believe an overconfident diver could find themselves in similar trouble.). But diving in that environment with a handful of dives where the guy basically stuck his head under the water? He had no business diving that wreck without a DM.
And then taking that pretty little wife diving without a DM on that wreck? She was a total train wreck mentally. He had to know she was nervous, He had to know that the dive would be stretching her to her limits. They were on a liveaboard for heck sake, he could have scheduled her for her AOW course, then the problem was the instructors to work out, and he could just follow along and enjoy the dive. Not having professional help was just stupid. That was negligent, it was reckless, and he definitely contributed to her death, but he didn't murder her.
For Mike Ball Expeditions (who until I came upon this incident while looking into a trip I thought about using), I guess I'm now going to look elsewhere for our Barrier Reef liveaboard experience we are planning for 2017. The way they handled everything from the time Gabe booked, to basically abandoning him after the accident was not professional, and they obviously don't check out their Boat Directors moral compass.
So, now that I've ranted, anyone care to tell me if you agree or disagree and why not?