I've not posted in this thread until now as I'm trying to get some idea of what exactly is going to transpire in the film. And what kind of distribution will it get is of major intertest to me. For the last 3 years I've been looking into fatalities where divers went beyond their training or ignored it. In a number of cases they had nothing to ignore due to the fact that the real dangers of diving beyond training and in fact diving in general were not conveyed to them. I've written and given a couple presentations on this and found in those cases a very appreciative and sometimes shocked audience. Without resorting to pictures of dead divers and sensationalizing the facts it has become clear to many that there seems to be some type of movement to keep some of this information on the down low.
I've also gotten flack from other instructors who say I should not talk about such things in the graphic detail I sometimes do. In classes with students no punches are pulled. My public presentations are something I'd like to see get more exposure. Even if it means taping them and putting them on you tube for anyone to view. I am looking forward to attending at least one and hopefully all of NetDoc's seminars on the use of social media at DEMA. I admit that part of that is to increase my business and see nothing wrong with that.
But the safety aspects that I feel are so important are things that I'd like to keep separate as those things should not be used for my own direct financial profit. And indeed they might possibly have a negative impact on it. My "Failure of the Buddy System" talk was given at one dive club meeting that is sponsored by a local shop and they have never invited me to do another.
Any exposure the public, and especially new divers, can get to the facts about scuba is a good thing. Cave diving, wreck diving, and any type of diving beyond the shallow,warm, clear water fun stuff is often the subject of misinformation on the part of the general media. Cave diving is portrayed as dangerous yet rarely is anything said about just what training is required and that a number of the fatalities are from those who did not have that training yet are potrayed as "highly experienced" divers. When in fact some of them were practically noobs from a cave training standpoint or worse had no training. Same with wrecks. And if you do a little digging the media acts like someone with 50 dives over ten years is one of those "highly experienced" people. It needs to be made clear to the media and families like Ben's that in reality these dead people died or presumably died because they knew next to nothing and were really full of crap.
Talking ill of the dead? Nope, not as I see it. More like laying out the facts. Instead of hushing things up and covering or glossing over them why not come right out and say that some of these people died because they were doing something they were not trained for and approached it in a way that they in fact should have died or gotten hurt. Highly knowledgeable and experienced people do not cobble together gear from what others may consider junk. They do not do 300 foot dives on single al80's and air and come back unscathed unless they are very lucky or just happened to pick a day when death was busy elsewhere.
Some though find that he may have been busy that day but he can always play catch up. Glossing over or covering up this info is what gives any kind of diving a bad name as it seems to encourage others to try the same stuff. And then they died and oh my what a tragedy, so unexpected as they were so experienced. Bull. They got what they asked for. In this case, based on the reports, Ben is not in the cave. But if he were he should have died doing what he did. He would have asked for the outcome. And maybe seeing his body pulled out would have discouraged others from being that stupid.
Perhaps seeing the outcome (hospital, body, and maybe autopsy pictures) of other people who did stupid stuff would save some lives as well.
I've also gotten flack from other instructors who say I should not talk about such things in the graphic detail I sometimes do. In classes with students no punches are pulled. My public presentations are something I'd like to see get more exposure. Even if it means taping them and putting them on you tube for anyone to view. I am looking forward to attending at least one and hopefully all of NetDoc's seminars on the use of social media at DEMA. I admit that part of that is to increase my business and see nothing wrong with that.
But the safety aspects that I feel are so important are things that I'd like to keep separate as those things should not be used for my own direct financial profit. And indeed they might possibly have a negative impact on it. My "Failure of the Buddy System" talk was given at one dive club meeting that is sponsored by a local shop and they have never invited me to do another.
Any exposure the public, and especially new divers, can get to the facts about scuba is a good thing. Cave diving, wreck diving, and any type of diving beyond the shallow,warm, clear water fun stuff is often the subject of misinformation on the part of the general media. Cave diving is portrayed as dangerous yet rarely is anything said about just what training is required and that a number of the fatalities are from those who did not have that training yet are potrayed as "highly experienced" divers. When in fact some of them were practically noobs from a cave training standpoint or worse had no training. Same with wrecks. And if you do a little digging the media acts like someone with 50 dives over ten years is one of those "highly experienced" people. It needs to be made clear to the media and families like Ben's that in reality these dead people died or presumably died because they knew next to nothing and were really full of crap.
Talking ill of the dead? Nope, not as I see it. More like laying out the facts. Instead of hushing things up and covering or glossing over them why not come right out and say that some of these people died because they were doing something they were not trained for and approached it in a way that they in fact should have died or gotten hurt. Highly knowledgeable and experienced people do not cobble together gear from what others may consider junk. They do not do 300 foot dives on single al80's and air and come back unscathed unless they are very lucky or just happened to pick a day when death was busy elsewhere.
Some though find that he may have been busy that day but he can always play catch up. Glossing over or covering up this info is what gives any kind of diving a bad name as it seems to encourage others to try the same stuff. And then they died and oh my what a tragedy, so unexpected as they were so experienced. Bull. They got what they asked for. In this case, based on the reports, Ben is not in the cave. But if he were he should have died doing what he did. He would have asked for the outcome. And maybe seeing his body pulled out would have discouraged others from being that stupid.
Perhaps seeing the outcome (hospital, body, and maybe autopsy pictures) of other people who did stupid stuff would save some lives as well.
