people didn't dive deep on air for the fun of it, in the 70,s and 80, you could earn a weeks wages on one dive. if the wreck was in 70 metres thats where you went, not to dive to 70 metres but to get to the non- ferrous cargo. there's a reason for everything.
247 Feet -- "We can't stay here for very long"
- Thread starter MrVegas
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CT-Rich
Contributor
I wouldn’t call him the best diver... Lucky, maybe, but not best. He is one o-ring away from disaster. If he is going to 160’ without a redundant air supply, a relatively minor problem is going to force him to blow through his deco and end up bent on the surface. I understand a lot of fishermen and sponge divers operated this way in the third world and many of them will tough out a DCS hit. But a low SAC and luck don’t make him great.
Probably not. He can probably do a free ascent. I have done them for practice and it is a lot easier than you would would think. I was doing a lot of work in the 180-190' range years ago and tried it to assure myself I could do it. This was the days of doubles manifolds with a single regulator connection. The operational theory is it was better to get bent than drown.
It has been my practice to do a free ascent from at least 120' once a year since I started diving in the early 1960s. I believe the exercise significantly contributes to my self confidence and self awareness. Free ascent was the alternate air supply for decades unless you count buddy-breathing, which is even more awkward with double-hose regulators.
Lots of ways to look at it. I won't dive like he does. On the other hand if he carried what I carry he couldn't make a living. That many years of success isn't all luck. He is very aware that he may not come back one day but he is very good at what he does and I'll guess that there are few tech divers that have the number of deco dives that he has.
This is an important point relating to my first post. Safety, and survival, is a balance between:
- Expertise, which includes education and experience
- Physical and mental prowess, which covers a lot factors including panic resistance
- Situational avoidance
- Systems (equipment)
- Good fortune -- all of us have survived things that we now know "should" have hurt us. Sometimes luck runs out even for the best (fill-in-the-blank).
CT-Rich
Contributor
I am not saying this friend that regularly dives to 160’ isn’t competent at what he does. I do question “best” diver tag. Plenty great divers have failed to return to the surface. A cavalier attitude about things like redundancy and use of gages means that he has no external way of measuring important information like depth and bottom time. For a fisherman with very tight margins to make a living, I understand why he takes the risk diving the way he does. My guess is that he has had the occasional DCS hit that he never had treated. I also expect that this is more about the necessity of diving this way than a choice. He seems cavalier because he is use to it and he needs to work.
For most divers, diving like this would be a foolhardy activity and involve risks that are needlessly large.
For most divers, diving like this would be a foolhardy activity and involve risks that are needlessly large.
I have never met any of the "great" divers. He is just the best one I've been around. Quite a few of the really great divers can't be visited anymore. They made a mistake somewhere along the way and all the redundancy didn't get them out of it. My friend doesn't have many of the attributes that we value in recreational diving. No BCD so his buoyancy is seldom perfect. On the other hand he can maintain a level without looking at a depth gauge with a full tank, empty tank, loaded with fish or not. He can see things underwater that I can't see even when he points them out. He often has to tell me later what he was pointing at. He can swim faster for longer with less air usage than anybody I've ever seen. He touches things underwater. Most DM's would threaten to kick him off the boat. It was kind of interesting to watch him grab a nurse shark by the tail. On the other hand nobody on his boat is allowed to throw any garbage overboard. So far as depth and bottom time I already said he wore a watch and he has a depth gauge. Yes he has had DCS. They all have and learn to decompress based on that.
Diving with him is the hardest diving I've ever done and my favorite diving in the world.
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