Doc Deep dies during dive.

[Akimbo]

... It's time for lessons learned, which at this point seems to only be, "idiot killed himself, whether he intended to or not. Don't be an idiot."

I don't think that is entirely true in this thread. There have been a number of posts expressing thanks for the technical discussion of ultra-deep bounce diving constraints.

 

[Hawkwood]

I don’t think that is entirely true in this thread. There have been a number of posts expressing thanks for the technical discussion of ultra-deep bounce diving constraints.

Yes, when you read past the "distractions" the whole discussion has been very interesting...the technical side as well as the psychology/behavior of such an "endeavour".

 

[Nasser]

Agree, there have been some very interesting observations made by several members. Additionally, between Andy Davis' (DevonDiver) and Steven Lewis' (Doppler) superbly written and highly informative blogs... as well as Akimbo's wealth of direct experience on this topic, there is a wealth of information to absorb and lots to be learned.

 

[Diver0001]

Now, please go and read ALL of the definitions for suicide.

Once again, I strongly disagree with characterizing this as a suicide.

I don't need a dictionary for that. I firmly believe after looking at all the videos and evidence leading up to this dive that he firmly believed that the dive was within his grasp. Pete, you might be "technically" right to call it a suicide by looking at definition number 6, 7 or 8 in a dictionary but definition #1 implies intent. I do not believe there was any intent involved here. Just stupidity. He won a Darwin award. That's it. That's all we have here.

R..

 

[scagrotto]

Not so sure. I found Steve's (Doppler's) blog to be very informative and I certainly learned a lot from it. Dr Sawatzky's article on PFNS that Steve referenced was equally good.

There's a distinction between learning something because of an incident and learning something from the incident. Dr Garman's death has resulted in some people being exposed to information that's new to them, but as near as I can tell his death hasn't resulted in any new information becoming available. There's a bit of irony in that. A lot of people who would never dream of trying what he did now have some knowledge they don't need because Dr Garman apparently didn't have some knowledge he did need.

 

[dfx]

Once again, I strongly disagree with characterizing this as a suicide.

FWIW, I agree. It may have been a "suicide dive" but that doesn't make it suicide per se.

Not that I have a horse in this race...

 

[wrybosome]

Yes, when you read past the "distractions" the whole discussion has been very interesting...the technical side as well as the psychology/behavior of such an "endeavour".

I absolutely agree. There has been some truly interesting stuff here, which is why I keep checking it. It's just disappointing when new posts are bickering over rep or word choice. Anyway, I'll stop cluttering it up myself. No offense was meant to anyone.

 

[Freewillow]

+1 with dfx. Not really a suicide, but a one way stupid ego trip

 

[Akimbo]

I am tending toward terribly ignorant (as-in ill-informed) rather than suicide in any flavor. I understand what it takes to make a dive like this, which is the easy part. Conjuring up a reason why anyone would bother is the mystifying part. Absurd claptrap like this attributed to Jenny Lord is insulting to our intelligence. Obviously she is stretching reality to justify something totally pointless to people around her that don't know any better.

Here is what Jenny Lord says about it:

Deep Diving - Jenny Lord

The Attraction to the Deep Blue

For thousands of years man has looked at the sea and wondered what was below the waves. With the invention of the aqua-lung, people started to explore the undersea world and like any new place many wanted to expand beyond what was known, pushing the limits of the human body to discover more.

The concept of deep diving was born. The improvement of the equipment and our knowledge has allowed people to dive deeper, but still many look down and wonder what there is even further below us.

I would actually respect someone more if they admitted that it would be a real ego trip. In reality it isn't for long, even when it serves a purpose. I had the opportunity to set a saturation depth record with another Navy diver in the early 1970s. It lasted about a month when another team in our group broke it. I actually learned a lot more from supporting the team that broke our record and I got to go home at night while they were decompressing.

 

[rickgillyon]

SCUBA Tec just posted this on Facebook:

The following statement by Christi Garman is being re-printed here at the request of the family:In the week since Dr. Guy Garman's failed world record attempt dive there has been a lot of rumor, presumption, and misinformation. The only facts that are known for sure at this time are as follows-
-he descended on Saturday morning at 6AM and did not return from depth
-his body and equipment were recovered from the water on Tuesday morning
-his body went away with the Medical Examiner
- his equipment is in US Coast Guard custody and will be inspected and possibly returned to his family
-the Medical Examiner has ruled his death a drowning
Anything more than these few facts is conjecture. The family will decide in the future what information to make public as it becomes available to them. Until that time, they ask that the public respect their privacy and to please refrain from further speculation.