Life for 1 vs. Death for 2

[danvolker]

Well... it's sort of about scuba and it's not necessarily an advanced question... but perhaps it should be in the pub? Uhh, I dunno... I guess I'll apologize for etiquette.

And for the record (as of now at least), I never finished watching Sanctum. I dragged my friends to the theater to go see it in 3D the day it came out, and I was so bored with it, I fell asleep, hahaha. ...only movie I ever fell asleep to in a theater. But I'm thinking I should finish it one day!

And Sanctum was a great example of absolutely ridiculous planning and decisions.....Certainly it would not be impossible to find cave divers as stupid as those depicted in the film, but they would NOT be representative of good divers.

 

[Nemrod]

I do not believe in no win situations.

N

 

[AaronRiot]

If I were on a shore dive with just my buddy and no one else around, and there was a huge earthquake, and we were near the seafloor, and a massive piece of reef came crashing down pinning my buddy's leg but leaving me free, and there was zero chance of me freeing them or time to get help to free them, I would stay with them as long as I could to comfort/try to free them, but leave for the surface when my air was near the point of sacrificing myself.

Even then though...if there were a cutting tool available...

Who watched 127 Hours (2010) - IMDb a few days ago? Me. Lol.

 

[FuzzyNutz]

Aaron, that scenario is AWESOME!! hahahaha!

I totally have to watch that 127 Hours movie! I thought of it when Searcaigh mentioned the climbing story, thanks for the name drop - just put it next on my Netflix queue! ... I guess I'll finally trade in my copy of "The Abyss" I've had for almost 3 years, lol, I just watch everything instant through my sexbox... oops, I mean xbox.

 

[Diver Tim]

Situation dependent. There are people for whom I believe I would give my life attempting to save (wife, kids). Anyone else? Hard to say, but I can say that as long as I was underwater, I'd be doing my level best to see them make it out alive as well.

There certainly may come a point where the best chance I have of helping another diver is to get myself to the surface alive and call in the cavalry. That's not giving up and saying goodbye, that's saying "I'm of no use to you dead; I'm going for help, and I'm still committed to doing what I can to give you the best chance to survive." However slim that chance might be. Great odds in that case? Absolutely not. But if I can get tot he surface alive, maybe... just maybe... there's more that can be done.

Tim

 

[TSandM]

One of the nice things about diving within recreational dive limits (as anyone in Basic Scuba should be talking about doing) is that, with reasonable dive planning, the situation posited by the OP should be one you will never encounter. After all, the surface is always an option -- and if you've done proper gas planning, you have the gas to get you and your buddy to that surface from anywhere in the dive.

Once you get into overheads and staged decompression diving, these questions get a lot more real. I remember a story from a couple of years ago, where a diver with a significant deco obligation had to decide whether to surface a panicked OOA diver (not his own buddy) at the risk of major DCS, or try to stay underwater and complete his deco obligation. He decided to take the risk to himself, surfaced the OOA diver (who died), and left his buddy . . . who died, and I don't think anyone knows why.

I don't know what I would do, if I were cave diving and encountered a situation where my buddy had an issue that would so delay us that we could not both get out. I would like to say that I would keep trying, and hoping the inexorable math would somehow relent, but honestly, I won't know until that day comes what I will do. I do a lot of dive planning and training to avoid ever facing the issue.

 

[scadreau]

Simple. Two should never die if one can live.

 

[FuzzyNutz]

I remember a story from a couple of years ago, where a diver with a significant deco obligation had to decide whether to surface a panicked OOA diver (not his own buddy) at the risk of major DCS, or try to stay underwater and complete his deco obligation. He decided to take the risk to himself, surfaced the OOA diver (who died), and left his buddy . . . who died, and I don't think anyone knows why.

Oh gosh, how horrible! Did the rescuing diver end up taking a serious hit?

 

[Centrals]

"Touching the void", a true story.
Anyone remember this book about two guys climbing in South America?
One of them was holding the line while his partner was dangleing below inside a crevasse. He had to make a decision to either cut the line or both of them dropped into the abyss.
Very very good book.

 

[TSandM]

If I remember the story correctly, the rescuing diver went back down, after watching the OOA diver leave the water and begin to walk across the beach, and did his omitted deco. I think he was unhurt. It was never clear in anything I read, what caused the death of the man he left behind.

I don't think I would ever dive again after an incident like that. And it wasn't his fault; he and his buddy had planned THEIR dive perfectly, and executed it; the OOA diver was a wild card, the kind that proves that all the good planning and training in the world won't protect you from encountering a dire situation some day.