Gilboa Scuba Patrol??

The on-going issues regarding divers inappropriately (no deep plan filed, inadequate training/experience, inadequate gear, etc) going over the wall at Gilboa started me thinking about ways to protect divers from themselves. Obviously, the first line of defense is with education and training. After that, there are no controls when diving in areas that do not require guided dives.

I think EDUCATION and especially PREVENTION could go a long way in mitigating many of the close calls and actual accidents.

The ski industry has had Ski Patrols in place for decades. Depending on the scale of the resort, the patrollers are either paid full-time professionals or volunteers with compensation in the form of benefits at the facility such a meal discounts, season passes and free lift tickets for friends.

Dedicating a bunk house for volunteers to stay overnight, annual passes and a few guest diver passes would be simple enough for a start-up benefits package. At our little hill the local patrollers provided their own equipment, medical supplies and built their own patrol room so the costs to the owners was basically nothing and their insurance was dramatically lowered so the costs to the owners were offset.

While they don't like to be known as Snow Cops, an essential part of the Patroller's responsibility is enforcing the rules of the ski area. Primarily, they are there to prevent accidents and treat patients' injuries and prepare them for subsequent medical care when accidents do occur. Along with that are unlimited opportunities to set good examples of proper technique, encourage addtional training and just to build a rapport with the skiing public and the establishment.

The National Ski Patrol has a very mature system for skiing ability training as well as medical care training with mandatory annual assessments of both. It would take a huge effort to mimic the entire system but the fundamentals could be implemented with minimal effort at any dive facility.

A system could be developed where volunteers cover the weekends during the busiest months. There would need to be a few buddy teams each day but diving teams could go out on "patrol" along the top of the wall &/or just over the wall looking for problems and intervening where necessary. Dive profiles and surface intervals would need to be managed, but with rotations of teams that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Surface monitoring of bubbles from a kayak would help too. DM or higher on each buddy team is probably necessary to deal with significant problems that might arise during intervention with divers in trouble.

Divers who meet the requirements for deep dives would have some type of a marker on their gear given by the office upon filing of their deep dive plans. Divers over the wall w/out the proper marker would be told, nicely, to abort their dive and report to the office for a discussion about the rules of the facility. Failure to comply would result in loss of priviledges to dive at that facility at the owners discretion, of course.

Feedback please!

I wish that I could make it down there enough to apply. Like everybody else here, I grow weary of reading about people on the wrong side of the wall. Keep in mind at one part though the top of the wall is pretty shallow. I could envision a diver going over that, not meaning to do anything wrong and wind up on Mike's S-List for not going below 40 ft and wanting to look at the side of the wall, LOL.

Seriously, would this make Gilboa sound like too much of a "police state" to anybody? I know that there are too many incidents there and that the management appears to be doing all that they can to prevent them.

I know that I would cooperate if such a policy were put into play and maybe even volunteer a weekend or two in the summer if Mike would be willing to put me up (lodging only, food not included. I eat too much.)

diveski01,

Does Indiana have seltbelt laws? If they don't you should consider moving to a state that does. You'll sleep better if you do.

Cornfed

I'd have to give the whole thing more thought but off the top of my head one of the things that concerns me is the fact that AOW students being hurt has been as big or a bigger problem than anything else. These divers are already under instructor supervission so what more can you do for them?

It seems to me that Mike should be able to trust instructors to follow standards and use good judgment within those standards. Once an unprepared student is down there being any help to them could be hard. I really think this is something that the agencies should be taking note of.

I had some one suggest to me that Mike should speak to the agencies. I passed that idea on to him and his response was that he had already thought of it.

While a patrol might treat a symptom (containment action), a real fix needs to address the root cause. I think that has to include better education, both for divers and instructors.

I'm glad I don't own the place.

diveski01 once bubbled...
Feedback please!

Click to expand...

Frankly its the most disgusting suggestion I've heard in a long time.

That sounds like big brother in action to me. I am very much against any laws protecting people from themselves. Let them protect themself. Anytime government or industry or anything starts protecting people from themselves you can kiss your rights goodbye.

Bicycle helmet laws next? Since most auto accident deaths are head injuries should all motorists wear helmets too? It won't end this protecting people from themselves.

Nothing personal in my reply, I just hate the idea.

Sometimes when ideas come out off the top of people's heads they aren't perfect. That is why we DISCUSS things.

Mike F. brought up some good points as well. Many of these people are with instructors. The only thing that this would help is the cases of people "sneaking over the wall" and getting into trouble.

Does anyone have any stats on that? I think it would tell the tale on the quality of this idea if they were mentioned. If the proportion of "sneaky divers" getting into trouble is actually somewhat low, then Mike F. and everybody else is correct and this would be a complete waste of time. If they are high, then some modification of Diveski's idea may be in order. WE aren't implementing anything. We are throwing out ideas and getting opinions.

In the end, Mike W. will be the one who implements anything! So let's keep this civil (so far, so good) with minimal flames and stay reasonable and logical. I can see this starting to get heated already.

Just a comment.

I'm not saying that Gilboa would go for the idea but keep in mind that this is private property. If they decide that they need to watch people in order to make sure the their rules are followed they have every right to do so. Protecting divers is only one issue. Another is protecting the interests of the owner since things going wrong effect him too. For instance he is in the process of installing a huge platform on the deep side to try to make the classes there safer. I don't think it's the answer but I guess he feels he must do something and it might help.

Another concern is damage to the property. Several divers have seen fit to carve their names and things into the plane. It appears that some divers are just common vandals.

diverbrian once bubbled...
WE aren't implementing anything. We are throwing out ideas and getting opinions.

Click to expand...

My opinion is that you should throw the idea out completely!

Cornfed

diveski01
First off...kudo's to trying to come up with a way to deal with a few divers getting injured.

The intent is to make the place "safer" and I could see an approach such as a "border patrol" impacting his operations in a very negative manner, especially with how news travels on the various boards. Damage done by word of mouth...

For the most part, those that venture over the wall are aware of their actions. There are the exceptions but for the most part, I believe those over the wall without filling out a dive plan are well aware of the fact that they are entering into the deeper portion of the quarry. Numerous reason abound as to why those not sufficently trained do that, ego,stupidity,etc.

Mike F addresses a good point regarding the focus needs to be on the instructors and notification of the agencies.

I agree something needs to be done, actually there is something in the works;however, while having a border patrol is a creative way to deal with the issue, it probably won't be received very well by those "breaking the rules" or even those not breaking the rules...

With the number of divers that frequent Mikes establishment versus the numbers of incidents that occur, I would venture to say that the injury rate is statistically zero...There just happens to be a lot of press about it as two incidents occured within close proximity of each other...


Don