Egyptian diver Wael Omar prepares for deepest dive of 400 metres

[oya]

nope, just jumping to the conclusion that this guy is an idiot who is going to die.

Yup.

I know many of the people who study these sorts of things and who are on the cutting edge of these studies. Some of them personally. The owner/captain of the Sharm el-Sheik boat off of which the last (somewhat ill-advised but successful) record attempt is my cousin.

I have no idea who this person is.

Let's call it an educated conclusion.

 

[ajduplessis]

Saturation / Surface supplied guys do it deeper all the time I'm pretty sure. I believe that means the human body can withstand the pressure. It should be doable on scuba given the right support and number of tanks. Or some other third thing.... I won't pretend to have a clue about super deep diving. This guy says he's bringing 160 tanks. I hope they're well labeled, and he has a map showing where each one is on his body!

I still think it's a bad idea.
They were right. Some people find the activity more enticing than long life.

There is a massive difference between what commercial divers do compared to OC. The limit (around 300m) I touched on relates to OC, not surface supplied.

 

[Deefstes]

I would just like to weigh in at this point and say that this guy is a moron and I am unimpressed by his silly endeavour. I'm saying this now because on Mar 31st when he's dead, it will be "disrespectful" to say such things, so let me just get it out of the way now.

 

[Peter69_56]

are there penis fish at 400m?

 

[Peter69_56]

I don't think he is a moron, just "in our view" silly enough to want to try and attempt it knowing there is probably greater than 1 in 2 chance he will not return. He must obviously either think he has a good chance to do it and be safe, or is so hot on being "The One" to make 400m, this is clouding the risk factor for him. I suspect in his mind this is doable. In our mind not only not achievable, but stupidly risky.

I couldn't even get my mind around a 28 hr run time, let alone carrying all the gas required, or the potential effects of He and N on my body at those depths. I would not be prepared to accept the risk of a 1 in 2 chance (its probably 1 in 1.2 or less) of not coming back, or being so badly bent to be a total cripple. For me the rewards are not great enough compared to the risk.

However in saying that as I said previously, I would go to 100m as I see the risks are much much less, and they are known given the number of safe dives to date to that depth (compared to the few to 300m let alone 400m).

Probably for the majority, its the near total unknown that makes us shudder at the thought of 400m dive more than anything else, based on what we know at 50, 100, 150m diving.

 

[oya]

the potential effects of He and N on my body at those depths.

There wouldn't be room for Nitrogen at those depths as even the tiniest bit (added only to offset the effects of HPNS) would be either uselessly fractional or debilitatingly narcotic.

The O2 will have to be a fractional pressure of .03 to get to a PO2 of 1.6
The wisdom of running all the way to 1.6 when you're talking about such a long exposure time is of questionable wisdom... but isn't this whole exercise anyway?

So a heliox mix of 3/97. That needs to get mixed by weight and absolutely precisely or just a few breaths will send you into hypo- or hyper-oxia.
Assuming an average SAC rate of .5 you're looking at an actual RMV of about 20 at that depth... so you're mixing A LOT of it by weight. Which is an expensive and pointless waste of money (in a poverty stricken country) to get your name in the record books but... again...

And that's just a very few of the simpler of the problems with this idiotic endeavor.

The more that people who don't know what the hell they're talking about laud this guy as though he's doing something awesome the more he and others like him will keep perusing this crap. And putting people who should know better in harm's way when they agree to be on their "support team."

 

[letterboy]

and if he pulls it off it will be a feat for the ages.

 

[Stoo]

But some schmuck throwing himself to the bottom of it...

And the thing is, it isn't remotely close to the bottom. Just a little deeper "scratch" of the surface.

 

[Deefstes]

and if he pulls it off it will be a feat for the ages.

In much the same way that Oya's full speed run, head first int a brick wall, will be a feat for the ages... if he survives it.

I mean, what is the challenge here? To see who can go the deepest? Or to see who can go the deepest while hampered by certain handicaps? If he wants to be the deepest then he has already lost the challenge before he began. It seems to me that he gets some kind of kick thinking that he will be the deepest while handicapped by the limitations of a very specific kind of diving (SCUBA). To me it is completely pointless - even if he pulls it off.

It's like embarking on a quest to walk across the Sahara - barefoot and without water. Walking across the Sahara might have been an admirable challenge but not if you chose to shun the research, equipment and knowledge that has been established to mitigate your risks. If you die doing that - you were plain stupid. If you die diving to 400m on SCUBA when you have no experience to speak of, you were plain stupid. No, you are plain stupid whether you die or not. You are plain stupid before you even get into the water.

 

[rhwestfall]

who was it that said, during the last time this was going on (I shall paraphrase): "Space - Yes, we have been there, but to now decide to attempt it in a rocket propelled cardboard box is pointless".....?