Gilboa

[detroit diver]

Big-t-2538 once bubbled...
..... I only have one gripe about the hose...it says "DIR dive systems" on it....I'm going to have to bust out the electrical tape to conceal that stuff.

Just the opposite-paint it in day-glo letters for all to see!

 

[MikeFerrara]

I'm glad my lawn tractor broke and I had to spen another day fixing it.

As to what some one said earlier about speculation...well yes it's all speculation. However, the speculated elements...free flow, droping weights at depth, rapid ascents, AGE, air lifts and EMS trucks are all very familiar things to us who have spent a lot of time at Gilboa.

When are people goint to get it !

The point is that no matter what exectly happened on the dive my money says it was completly avoidable. Poor training, lousy skills and divers diving where they don't belong. It's almost always the exact same story.

I repeat...When are people going to get it!

 

[MikeFerrara]

BTW, something I have always wondered is how they reconcile these dry suit try-it dives with agency standards. I have been asked to help at Whites demo days and I have always refused. I am required to do a confined water session with a diver before I take them in OW with a dry suit. I usually spend just about three hours in this confined water session. As far as I can tell it would be a direct violation of agency standards for me (as an instructor) to lead such a dive. Not to mention the fact that I need to pre-asses a divers skills prior to any additional training. Personally I prefer to do that before doing any kind of real dive with them.

 

[Big-t-2538]

detroit diver once bubbled...


Just the opposite-paint it in day-glo letters for all to see!

I refuse to make myself a target...though I am usually painting a bullseye or two on my back anyway....

 

[C_C]

Here is what the Lima News reported today.

http://www.limanews.com/display/inn_news/news05.txt

C_C

 

[O-ring]

I am as big a DUI supporter as the next guy, but I would like to know what the @#*&% they were doing taking drysuit demo people down to those depths in the first place.

Anyone know what the bottom on that dive was planned at?

 

[Laser]

This in the Toledo Blade...http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030602/NEWS08/106020102

 

[O-ring]

Laser once bubbled...
This in the Toledo Blade...http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030602/NEWS08/106020102

50'..

 

[wreckchick]

Hi all,

First off, I'll post about my bp/w experience in another thread and we can talk about it. I'm mad busy right now, but I'll get to it in a bit.

2nd, I did a drysuit demo on Saturday. There was one instructor and 2 demos. First thing we did was poke around in the shallows by the ramp, then we went out a little bit due to utter crap for vis and picked up a line and swam out and back. My max depth was 35' and we weren't there for very long at all. We went nowhere near the edge of the shallow side.

I thought it was a great experience and have no complaints with the way my demo went. The instructor was very competent and kept good tabs on both of us.

Anyway, gotta run, I'll be back in a bit.

Rachel

P.S. The drysuit instructor for this unfortunate individual did NOT take him to 120', read the Lima News article.

 

[MikeFerrara]

biscuit7 once bubbled...
Hi all,

First off, I'll post about my bp/w experience in another thread and we can talk about it. I'm mad busy right now, but I'll get to it in a bit.

2nd, I did a drysuit demo on Saturday. There was one instructor and 2 demos. First thing we did was poke around in the shallows by the ramp, then we went out a little bit due to utter crap for vis and picked up a line and swam out and back. My max depth was 35' and we weren't there for very long at all. We went nowhere near the edge of the shallow side.

I thought it was a great experience and have no complaints with the way my demo went. The instructor was very competent and kept good tabs on both of us.

Anyway, gotta run, I'll be back in a bit.

Rachel

P.S. The drysuit instructor for this unfortunate individual did NOT take him to 120', read the Lima News article.

Hi Rachel,

Did you practice ascents, descents and buoyancy control in general in the suit before leaving pool like conditions (in regard to depth, and clearity)? Did you practice emergency procedures like dealing with a stuck inflator. This would include getting out of unusual attitudes and disconnecting and reconnecting the inflator hose and dumping all at the same time.

In a PADI dry suit class all these things are required before you go on your first dive. If a dry suit is used in an OW or AOW class without doing a dry suit class all these skills are REQUIRED in confined water before doing an OW dive.

I of course don't know what happened but any one of these things very well could have been the problem for this diver.

As I stated earlier I have been asked to help with such demonstrations for Whites dry suits and couldn't see a way to satisfy the standards with divers who didn't have experience in a dry suit so I declined. I wasn't willing to put the diver at risk and I wasn't willing to take the legal risk myself. We'll see how this turns out. Maybe the guy was an experienced dry suit diver and in that case it's a non issue. If not It might become a very big issue.

Maybe the instructor didn't take the diver to 120 but that's where he ended up. It isn't always easy but it is the instructors number one responsibility to maintain control. Control means amung other things keeping students (or charges) in the desegnated area and within the plan. If things go wrong, and I have had that happen on dives, it's the instructors responsibility to take control and prevent/manage dangerous situations. BTW, failing to get control of a dangerous situation is grounds for immediate failure in an Instructor examination. Nothing else comes first. Allowing a diver over the wall, IMO, would definately qualify as a loss of control. Having the diver get all the way to 120 is really an extreme case. I take even new divers to the edge to look over but it will be a cold day you know where before any of them get past me and my staff.

It is also an instructors responsibility to do a pre-assesment on a diver and be aware of his skill level before doing anything else.

I'm sorry every one but unless this (26 year old?) had a heart attack some body better TALK FAST.