Diving on A&E TV.

[tombiowami]

There are a couple long postings out on WKPP side mounting procedures.

DIR is not about using the same gear on every dive, it is about have common procedures through the team.

If you are interested in what Mike Kane has to say, then email him, he is very accessible.


Tommy

 

[Lost Yooper]

Did anyone notice the difference in trim between Kane and the others? In most every shot that I saw, Mike was in perfect trim and using perfect kicks. The others weren't. That's pretty incredible considering Mike wasn't familiar with side mounts.

I have a lot of respect for Mike, but I believe it was a mistake for him to do what he did. He allowed his dream to get in the way of his personal safety diving with those people. That's just my opinion. It kinda reminded me of Exleys death.

Mike

 

[Wendy]

If anyone taped the show PM me and if you are willing to make me a copy of the tape, I'll pay for the tape and shipping.

 

[O-ring]

Did anyone notice the difference in trim between Kane and the others? In most every shot that I saw, Mike was in perfect trim and using perfect kicks.

...no doubt about that

 

[diveski01]

A&E usually makes their shows available on VHS for about $20-$30. You might check their website.

If you have a question about the camera systems you can email Paul Heinerth: heinerth@gte.net (Found his email on a website bio so I'm asuming it's fair game).

Paul and son were on the Nekton Pilot with us a couple of years ago. You'd never know his accomplishments unless tipped off by one of his patrons - he's not a big talker, very cool dude!

 

[DEEP SEA]

Greetings to all. I helped with this show and know all the in's & out's. However, I am not going to let the cat out of the bag. I think those who saw the show got the message that Mike was not going to bend keeping his DIR style of diving no matter what. This caused the rest of the team to be uneasy forcing them to watch Mike more then they planned to.

Wes used a fantastic High Definition camera housed in an Amphibico housing with a great wide angle lens (about $90K worth). Wes shot most all footage. When I shot I used a VX-1000 in an Amphibico housing as well. We used AGA full face masks and Ocean Technology Systems underwater sonic communications. We had two systems and used them both at different times. One system was the head mounted “Buddy Phone.” The other was the professional Aquacom SSB-2010. The communications were tied directly to Wes’s camera recording real time. Due to reflections in the caves, some communications had echos. The director and editor felt maybe someone couldn’t hear all the communications and sub-titled the show. I didn’t think it was necessary and was able to hear everyone good.

Another show I worked on aired the day before this show aired called the “Shark Chasers.” Did anyone catch that one? It is going to be a series!

 

[JustAddWater]

Will the A&E show be aired again? I saw a show called Extreme Encounters, about shark dives around the world on the Travel Channel. Is this the show? If not when does the series begin?

 

[MHK]

I received a private e-mail asking for comments on the A & E show that I did a while ago. I'm not sure if the private poster wanted his name shared so I'll respect his wishes and assume that he doesn't but if he does I suspect he'll chime in on this thread.

The jist of the e-mail was I understand that there was some unanswered questions about the how's and the why's surrounding the show, and since now that I've joined the list perhaps I could clear up some of the issues.

So if any of your are still interested or have any questions please feel free to ask away..

Thanks

 

[Spectre]

Thanks for the reminder and prompting. In all honesty, what I got out of the show was more negative opinions towards DIR than positive opinions. Most likely those opinions are based on
misperceptions and not actual truths. My intent here isn't to bash on the DIR philosophy, but rather explain the impression I received from the show, and hopefully we can discuss those issues rationally. I pointed Mike to this thread specifically because there is no one better that can differentiate between what actually occurred, and what the editors of the show portrayed.

So let me jump to the biggest 'complaint' I formed out of the show.

First let me catch people up if they didn't see the show, and didn't pick up the premise to my issues from this thread. Mike originally arrived with his traditional back-mounted DIR rig. Due to the nature of the caves being dived, side-mounted rigs were determined by the team to be the way to go. Mike [if I remember correctly] was reluctant to go side mount, and when finally convinced to, decided to not change his wing to a wing that was better suited for sidemount.

The result was all but one diver in the group appearing streamlined in low ceiling caves, while Mike had a much taller profile with a taco-ed wing folded up, forming almost a fin sticking above his body.

So onto the impression I got of that. One of the heavy DIR tenants [as I see it] is streamlining. However running side-mount the way it was run during the show directly went against that tenant. DIR is supposed to be the one configuration that fits the widest range of situations. However it seemed the divers where in a situation where the configuration did not fit in the specific situation.

So what exactly was the problem that occurred? Is it that the DIR philosophy is too strict and stringent to be the best choice in all situations? Or is there limits to where the DIR philosophy can be applied to? Is the cookie-cutter approach to gear config a benefit or a crutch that prevents adaptation to other configs when other configs are better warrented?

I'm not really sure I'm conveying exactly what the issue is in my mind, and I'm probably just rambling on.

Perhaps a direct approach is better. Is there a DIR approved sidemount configuration? If there is, was that what Mike was using during those dives? If it was, why did it not appear to be as safe and streamlined as the non-DIR configs? If there isn't a DIR approved sidemount configuration, how can DIR be used to dive in situations where sidemount is a better configuration choice than your typical back-mount configuration?

 

[JT2]

Where can I get a copy of the program? I did not get to see it when it aired.