Filmmaker Rob Stewart dies off Alligator Reef

[St John the Diver]

O2 will be zero because you have a CMF orifice. It won't tell you anything. The Petrel will, assuming the cells were working at the time.

There is an internal black box recorder in the rEvo as well. However to date the (former) manufacturer hasn't been terribly cooperative in accessing and sharing the data for investigations.

 

[St John the Diver]

I made a comment along these lines on a discussion that is kind of paralleling this one... I have a boat. Sometimes the anchor gets stuck, and since we're all full of bubbles, we contemplate leaving it. We almost always get it, but I think in the past 35 years of operating my own dive boat, perhaps twice, I have tied a bumper onto the end of the line, and tossed it over the side. And it's always been there next day...

Damn, I really hate the thought of having lost Rob for the sake a few hundred feet of rope and a hunk of metal.

What happened to "last diver to leave the bottom tosses the anchor out into the sand"?

We carry dog-snaps with name tags (cave cookies with initials) on them. Reaching bottom we snap it to the top of the chain. When we return we unsnap it, stash it, and ascend. Last team to find their snaps tosses the anchor into the sand. Works for us.

 

[Stoo]

What happened to "last diver to leave the bottom tosses the anchor out into the sand"?

Our "bottom" is often a steep slope and they're just nasty piles of rock. Moving an anchor to a less grabby spot is typical, but a puff of wind can pull it back into another hole before you finish deco and get into the boat. The vast majority of the time, I can free it up with some tugging this way or that...

 

[PfcAJ]

Our "bottom" is often a steep slope and they're just nasty piles of rock. Moving an anchor to a less grabby spot is typical, but a puff of wind can pull it back into another hole before you finish deco and get into the boat. The vast majority of the time, I can free it up with some tugging this way or that...

I've been on dives where we send the anchor up with a lift bag then shoot and SMB.

 

[Scubamat]

What helps the Australian approach is the coroners court investigates all reportable deaths which does include accidents and drownings. We also have different approach to civil litigation and punitive damages, chances are someone is facing criminal charges before punitive damages are a consideration. Our courts also take dim view of scattergun litigation.

Edit. Forgot to add the coroner also has a tendency to make recommendations to governments as part of their reports with higher profile cases. It's how we ended up with things like yearly hydros and some of the over the top aspects of our pool fencing laws.

 

[clownfishsydney]

This accident report from the New South Wales (Australia) coroner's court is a work of art. Seriously, read it to see how an incredibly exhaustive analysis is done, written to be understandable even by a non-diving reader: https://cognitasresearch.files.word...the-inquest-into-the-death-of-philip-gray.pdf

This report is the exception rather than the rule. I know of numerous other rebreather deaths in New South Wales that led to no inquest at all. It is very dependent on the wishes of the family and the views of the police who investigate.

"What helps the Australian approach is the coroners court investigates all reportable deaths which does include accidents and drownings."

This is certainly not correct for NSW, very few accidental deaths are investigated in detail by the coroner. As pointed out above, I know of numerous rebreather deaths that never led to an inquest and even more open circuit deaths that were never looked at. I only know of two in NSW over the past almost 30 years that went to a formal inquest and of them, only one involved questioning in person by the coroner (I was involved in the other so know what happened).

 

[LandonL]

Is that a reasonable rate of progression or advanced but feasible? Or dangerously quick?

I feel pretty confident saying most would argue dangerously quick to do it in <6mo.

For example if you look at the TDI CCR progression, you must have 50+ hours and 6 months between courses at each level, so the shortest timeframe one could go to full trimix is 1 year under this system.

 

[cavepiranha]

Interesting:
anyone KNOW what mix they were on?
7/70?...
think that could have added to hypoxia???

 

[CuzzA]

Happens in mountaineering, as well. I have the neck surgery scars that resulted from a climber's unwillingness to part with ten bucks worth of gear.

It's an amazing phenomenon. I don't know how you begin to combat this problem.

 

[scubadada]

Interesting:
anyone KNOW what mix they were on?
7/70?...
think that could have added to hypoxia???

10/50, info in many previous posts