Darwin Awards of Diving

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The guy I stated was a DM earning bucks to off shore charters.
He would jump off first, Moore the wreck, then surface. When everyone was back on the boat he would bounce down and unhook. The first few seasons of doing this he cut tables, and followed plans, did the dives correct. As time went on he got complacent, stopped tracking closely time spent at depth. Last dive of the day he got hit.

Not the same type of situation, just saying there is no reason for this type of activity. If you don't like to fly a computer, cut tables. But don't be an idiot.
 
Trying not to roll my eyes or laugh, I suggested that he go back to the shop that sold him the regulator and have them show him how to do it in the shop's pool.

Oh to be a fly on the wall of the LDS when he takes it back!

I'm still shaking my head in amazement. You reacted better than a lot of divers might have. I too would enjoy overhearing his conversation with the LDS staff if he returns the reg.
 
One should be failed for not knowing what an emergency ascent is . . . But specific acronyms? Especially ones that don't even make "AcronymFinder.com"? :lol:

ESA European Space Agency
ESA El Salvador
ESA Ecological Society of America
ESA Entertainment Software Association
ESA Employment Standards Administration (US Deaprtment of Labor)
ESA Enterprise Services Architecture (SAP)
ESA Endangered Species Act of 1973 (US)
ESA Electrostatic Analyzer
ESA Entomological Society of America
ESA Environmental Site Assessment
ESA European Symposium on Algorithms
ESA Electrical Safety Authority
ESA European System of Accounts
ESA Environmentally Sensitive Area
ESA Eastern and Southern Africa
ESA Education Savings Accounts
ESA Enterprise Systems Architecture
ESA EFTA Surveillance Authority
ESA Economics and Statistics Administration
ESA Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agent
ESA Environmental Services Association
ESA Ecole Supérieure des Affaires (French)
ESA Enterprise Service Automation
ESA Ecole Supérieure d'Agriculture d'Angers (Angers, France)
ESA Eastern Surfing Association
ESA Electronic Suspension Adjustment (motorcycles)
ESA Enterprise Software Advisor
ESA European System of Integrated Economic Accounts
ESA Educational Services of America (Nashville, TN)
ESA Electronically Scanned Array
ESA Enterprise Software Agreement
ESA Education Service Agency
ESA Emergency Stand Alone
ESA European Sponsorship Association
ESA European Snacks Association
ESA English Student Association
ESA Euratom Supply Agency
ESA Excited State Absorption
ESA Electrostatic Attraction (compare to ESD)
ESA European Society of Anaesthesiologists
ESA Enterprise Security Architecture (NAC)
ESA Energy Solutions Arena (Salt Lake City, UT)
ESA European Society of Agronomy
ESA Etobicoke School of the Arts (Toronto, Canada)
ESA Episcopal Synod of America
ESA Employment Service Agency
ESA Enhanced Situational Awareness
ESA Electrical Signature Analysis
ESA Earth Sensor Assembly
ESA event structure analysis
ESA Education Students' Association
ESA Economics Student Association
ESA Electronic Sub-Assembly
ESA External Support Agency
ESA Enterprise Storage Array
ESA Eastern Sunbathing Association (AANR region)
ESA Engineering Support Activity (US military)
ESA Extended System Architecture
ESA Extended Service Area
ESA Exchange Settlement Account
ESA End System Address (Ciena)
ESA Eurasia Septentrionalis Antiqua
ESA Electrically Small Antenna
ESA Equivalent Standard Axles (transportation engineering)
ESA Environmental Sciences Associates
ESA Electronically-Steered Antenna
ESA Engineering Sciences and Applications Division (LANL)
ESA English Setter Association (UK dog fanciers' club)
ESA Enhanced Subscriber Authentication
ESA Expedited Site Assessment
ESA Ethical Society of Austin
ESA Electro-Spark Alloying
ESA Energy Separation Algorithm
ESA Emergency Safe Altitude
ESA Earth Security Agency
ESA European Studies Alliance
ESA Epiphyllum Society of America (Monrovia, California)
ESA End-Stage Assessment (UK project management)
ESA Electrical Surge Arrestor
ESA Equatorial South America
ESA ecosystem spatial analysis
ESA Errored Second, type A
ESA Expiration of Service Agreement
ESA Electronic Security Association
ESA Early School Assessment
ESA Engineering Source Approval (quality management)
ESA Event-Sequence Analysis
ESA Employee Stock Allocation
ESA Equipment Support Activity
ESA Electrostatic Self-Assembly Process (nanotechnology)
ESA Ether Starting Aid
ESA Environmental Sensor Assessment
ESA Erroneously Sued As
ESA Employee Services Area
ESA Exploratory Shaft Facility (YMP)
ESA Ergonomic Success Award
ESA Ethnographic Survey of Africa
ESA Electricity Storage Association, Inc.
ESA All-electronic Safing and Arming (device)
ESA Eurpoean Symposium on Algorithms
ESA Electron Scan Antenna
ESA Enhanced Services Agreement
ESA Electromagnetic Signal/Systems Analysis
ESA Exclusive Seller's Agent (real estate)
ESA External Satellite Antenna
ESA Expansion Scheduling Algorithm
ESA Effective States Approximation


Nope - not there. :D
 
he insisted that he was told that he could swap-out his tank underwater so he was trying it out for the first time in shallow water.

Trying not to roll my eyes or laugh, I suggested that he go back to the shop that sold him the regulator and have them show him how to do it in the shop's pool.

Oh to be a fly on the wall of the LDS when he takes it back!

Water in the first stage does not prevent it from functioning. It may breath wet for a bit. The biggest problem is that if left alone, it will corrode the parts.
 
On the subject of whether we put too much stock in computers, it's a matter of safety measures.

I'm required at work to wear safety glasses in various areas of the factory. For years, I was not required to do so, and never had a problem with my eyes. The odds are good that I could wear my normal glasses for the rest of my career and still never have a problem.

The odds are good, but not absolute.

Safety measures aren't taken just because we KNOW something bad is going to happen. If we had that kind of foreknowledge, we'd still not need safety gear because we'd know to just avoid the situation where the incident will occur that day. I mean, seriously; if I knew that today was the day I was going to have a serious collision in the car, I'd call in sick and just stay home. The same with diving; if I know when a problem is going to occur, it would just make sense to skip that dive.

Our computers are like the safety glasses or seat belts; they help us to remain safe by providing a safety margin in our diving. Sure, our individual biology and the circumstances of each unique dive can quite often leave us just fine if we cut that margin much thinner, but the thinner the margin, the higher the likelihood we're going to go beyond the limits of safe diving.

Just like it only takes one piece of flying metal during a long factory career to make us wish we'd worn safety glasses, or glad we did wear them, so also it only takes one serious incident to make us wish we'd paid attention to our computers or dive tables.

This isn't a video game where a screw-up results in the words "Game Over" appearing on the screen, and we get to start over. In real life, "Game Over" is quite often forever.
 
A lot of the "moron ignored his computer" talk is wholly without context. I'm sure some of these people are making foolish decisions, but if I had to use a computer on a trip, I'd probably also ignore the alarms and be upset if it locks up, if I were diving a planned profile I knew was safe but with which the computer disagreed.

Well if you know the computer is going to lock up, then why don't you just use the gauge mode then? Or just use a watch/pressure gauge. It seems pointless to have a computer that you're just going to ignore.
 
It seems pointless to have a computer that you're just going to ignore.

No kidding. It is pointless. The only alarm I only somewhat ignore is the ascent rate alarm. It's hyper sensitive and will beep if I move the console upwards quickly to read it.

I can't see ever ignoring a NDL alarm.

One time my buddy racked up a 21 minute stop at 10 feet without knowing it. Rather than take a chance on violating the stop and locking out the computer, we just served the stop. No biggie, really. I tried to tell that story in the Near Misses and Lessons Learned section but all I got for my trouble was people calling me "Ignorant" and "Stupid."

-Charles
 
No kidding. It is pointless. The only alarm I only somewhat ignore is the ascent rate alarm. It's hyper sensitive and will beep if I move the console upwards quickly to read it.

I can't see ever ignoring a NDL alarm.

One time my buddy racked up a 21 minute stop at 10 feet without knowing it. Rather than take a chance on violating the stop and locking out the computer, we just served the stop. No biggie, really. I tried to tell that story in the Near Misses and Lessons Learned section but all I got for my trouble was people calling me "Ignorant" and "Stupid."

-Charles

How does ones "buddy" rack up 21 minutes of deco without knowing? And how did you not have any deco? And why would you think "gee, I should hang this stop so I don't lock out my computer". I would hope you would think "holy crap! I better hold this stop so I don't have a good chance of getting bent!" What if you did not have the gas to complete the deco?
 
You know, I just don't hate myself enough to listen to this ridicule again. All I EVER get out here is grief for doing what I did from a bunch of arm chair quarterbacks. The Divemaster and both owners of the dive shop told me I did the right thing.

And to answer your questions, he wasn't my buddy for the previous three days of diving. He had much more residual than I did. And I did have some deco. Like 4 minutes at 10 feet. And I did have enough gas to complete both my deco and for him if he needed it.

-Charles
 

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