25.02.06: Diver missing off Bondi

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Amphibious:
there are still lots of people that dive that deep on air. stupid yes, but widly practiced. 200ft does not a tec dive make.

All the definitions I've read make a 200 ft dive a tec dive.
Bill NAUI 5709L C.D./IANTD 1982
 
There are a lot of definitions of what is a tech dive. My favorite is:
Technical Diving is a compromise between what your ego wants you to do, what experience tells you to do and what your nerves will let you do!” Rob Rondeau

My condoleances to the family
 
Hi

It was a tech dive, the guy in question was an instructor and he was diving on a re-breather. At 60m both he and his buddy held on to the anchor rope to start their deco, he was just below his buddy. At some stage his buddy felt the rope go slack and when he looked down the guy in question was drifting off the rope heading back down.

There were still bubbles coming from his system and then they stopped, indicating that he was not breathing anymore. His buddy could not get to him as his system was screaming at him to ascend. Plus it all happened so quickly.

When he got back to the boat emergency procedures were put in place and the police were called. Later that day the police dived the site but could not find the missing diver.

A week later the same tech crew went back to the site and his buddy from the original dive recovered the body at 80m. I gather that they have analyzed his system and believe that for whatever reason it recalibrated and cut his oxygen intake to a lot less than the 17% that is required to keep you awake and alive.

That’s all she wrote. I don't think an official announcement has been made yet as they are waiting on the autopsy report to confirm what they already found out from his re-breather.

Coogeeman
 
Thats two stories Ive heard now. The other was:
He was diving a different rebreather to normal where 100% and Diluent are on opposite sides to normal. apparently there was some drama on the surface, nausea or the like, SOP in a case like this is to give a quick burst of 100% just in case anything is wrong with the system. now with the 2 gasses reversed in a moment of stress he would have pumped diluent in not 100% and thus been breathing a mix that is hypoxic at the surface 10/50 IIRC. The diver then disappeared from the surface...

Whatever the truth, sad times.
 
That makes it three versions now that I've heard. :06:

There were still bubbles coming from his system and then they stopped, indicating that he was not breathing anymore does not make much sense, as CCRs only release gas from the loop on ascent (much like venting your bc). If the diver sank down bubbles most likely indicate he was off the loop, the latter was open and flooded. Thereby loosing boyancy and incresing descent. Either way, loosing Gavin is very sad.
 
Coogeeman:
Hi

At some stage his buddy felt the rope go slack and when he looked down the guy in question was drifting off the rope heading back down.

There were still bubbles coming from his system and then they stopped, indicating that he was not breathing anymore.

His buddy could not get to him as his system was screaming at him to ascend. Plus it all happened so quickly.

I gather that they have analyzed his system and believe that for whatever reason it recalibrated and cut his oxygen intake to a lot less than the 17% that is required to keep you awake and alive.
Coogeeman

There is just so much wrong with this post that I'd consider it a joke if it wasn't on such a serious subject.

Lewis was not the sort of diver to climb a rope on ascent

Lack of bubbles just mean he wasn't ascending and venting

There isn't a rebreather out there that screams at you to ascend. On a rebreather his buddy would have had a whole bunch of time to go after him, especially if they were both still close to the bottom.

Breathing down the loop O2 in a rebreather doesn't happen quickly, particularly at depth.

There is no recorded instance of an Inspo recalibrating to maintain a hypoxic setpoint. Plus Lewis had enough experience that the lack of being able to hear the solenoid fire would make him check the unit PPO2 at depth.

I'd write this scenario off as unfounded rumor, and go back to the hypoxic dil added at surface by mistake theory.

Se7en
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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