3 Divers lost on the Spiegel Grove

[wedivebc]

umm.... I don't know about the rest of you, I consider it better that they died doing something they loved, rather than getting killed say in rushhour traffic.

IT does not make it a good thing that they died, however.

Talk to a cave recovery volunteer sometime. There is usually pretty disturbing evidence of how much they loved their last dive.

 

[Henryville]

The reason for leaving the valve off is to prevent any unnoticed gas loss while you're carrying the bottle or while you're away from it. The reason for charging the hoses is to retain good seals, to prevent any water, and expecially any silt, getting into the reg.
Rick

Also to help verify you have the right reg. After verifying the bottle is the right bottle, watching the gauge while taking the first breath you will see the needle drop to zero. Then you can turn on the valve and be sure you are breathing the right reg/gas. This becomes especially helpful, some would say critical, when you have multiple gas mixes involved, some of which may have a shallow MOD (like oxygen.)

 

[Henryville]

Talk to a cave recovery volunteer sometime. There is usually pretty disturbing evidence of how much they loved their last dive.

Yeah, I'd rather go in a car crash than run out of air, lost in a cave or a wreck.

 

[matts1w]

Can anyone point to where on the web there are SG deck plans, or even better plans with the incident locations marked?

No such deck plans have really been published on the web. There are some very basic slates some of the dive boats have floating around, but nothing elaborate.

I was told years ago there is midship hole or hatch that has been busted open that leads into what was described as a sub-floor/sub deck and that is really only four feet or so feet high- more than a crawlspace but not enough for a man to stand. I have no idea if this is true or not. Based on the depth where they found the divers and the description, I wonder if that is where they found them?

 

[mike_s]

Can anyone point to where on the web there are SG deck plans, or even better plans with the incident locations marked?

To get the plans of the Spiegal Grove, see http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18600& and contact Intotec

He's got full sets of plans. He paid for them to be scanned in at the National Archives, which wasn't cheap. He will sell you a copy of them I think for $35. It's a fair price for the plans, especially considering he laid out all the money up front for paying the fees and copying costs.

He's got Orriskany plans also.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Also to help verify you have the right reg. After verifying the bottle is the right bottle, watching the gauge while taking the first breath you will see the needle drop to zero. Then you can turn on the valve and be sure you are breathing the right reg/gas. This becomes especially helpful, some would say critical, when you have multiple gas mixes involved, some of which may have a shallow MOD (like oxygen.)

Quite right... I have a policy of making sure stage and deco bottle valves are off at all times below the MOD for the gas (except for a momentary intentional recharge after a known loss of charge in the hoses - bumped second stage, e.g.). I think all the tech agencies have the same or similar policies.
Rick

 

[SeaKat]

So, what can we learn from this?

Use lines.

Take all your gas with you.

What else?

use the "rule of thirds" (1/3 available gas out, 1/3 for trip back, leaving 1/3 available for contingencies.

SEAKAT

 

[SeaKat]

I agree with Rick about the use of the lines for the future. As he said, the debate about the use of lines in wrecks has been ongoing for a long time.[/QUOTE]

Put it this way: I'd rather risk a tangled or cut line (remote if used properly) than getting lost without a reference to find my way back. When I took my NSS Cavern Certification, the subject about this debate was discussed. All the arguments against lines were dissected: one of the silliest of them being that "if divers start using lines in wrecks, before long there will be so many loose/lost lines around that we'll get caught in them."
Frankly, it never made much sense to me to withhold what is clearly a potentially (and demonstrable) life saving skill learned in one diving arena from another in which is it totally applicable.
It's lines for me. Period.
SEAKAT

 

[dman1959]

First of all, condolences to the families and the one diver left behind. Am sure he is thinking what could have been done differently.

If anyone knows the investigator it would be beneficial for all of us here to know the results of his/her investigation.

Am just hoping informed divers can become better divers and learn from this accident.

 

[Dash]

Id like to state, as a beginner, what I have learned from this incident.

No matter how many dives one has, no matter how much training one has, no matter how many people can personally vouch for a person as "the best diver they've ever seen", you too can die in a spectacularly easy manner when overconfidence in your abilities becomes your buddy.

How can 4 guys, who have probably councelled people never to do what they did, allow themselves to come up with the plan, or lack thereof, that they came up with??
Where were the alarms in their heads?

Overconfidence, invincibility. No thanks, Ill dive scared and prepared.