Rob Stewart Investigation

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Watched it. Learned who this Rob Stewart guy was, sort of. Didn't learn much else. What's happening right now is about what I'd expect to be happening:

View attachment 608978

That's a brilliant cartoon description of what's going on in the courts Paul. In fact I heard yesterday that the motion to dismiss submitted by many of the parties was denied by the judge. The argument from the parties was that though the Stewart's had proven their son had died on this trip, they had not built any kind of a case that pointed out who was negligent in the matter. For example they argued that rEVO was negligent but failed to show how any of Stewart's gear didn't operate properly. Bizzare. Watch The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart Online | Vimeo On Demand
 
First of all Stewart was way beyond open water certification. He had already completed two levels of re-breather training (intro and tech) and had finished a third level (trimix) but for his fourth open water dive.

@Wookie, @Rosborne, @chairman,

I'm fairly new user of my rEvo CCR (30hrs), am I right or wrong in saying he had 50 hours of rEvo under his belt. Someone else mentioned MOD 3 which I thought required 100 hours ...hence my confusion

Can you clarify what type of course were they in the middle of. I'm with TDI and it seems to me intro = Air Dil CCR (30m ~ max, circa 8 hrs training), tech = MOD1 = Air Dil Deco CCR (45m ~ max, circa min 36hrs incl experience & course diving), third level (trimix) = MOD2 = Mixed Gas CCR (60m ~ max circa, min 56hrs incl experience & course diving).
 
Hi Rosborne,

Thank you for the response, and clarification.

Such a tragedy, I've seen Mr. Stewart's films, he held such promise for endangered species survival, sharks in particular.

I've dove with large Sand Tigers off the North Carolina coast, amazing animals, and a true ''life'' experience.

I had an interest in rebreathers for a short period of time, to a point of taking two in-water clinics, when I thought my interest was peaking to a level that instruction/purchase was at hand, something like this happened.

To my knowledge there are not a lot of rebreather divers in Canada, my belief is that easy local access to instructors, and easy local access to product support are two of the primary reasons why.

The few BC rebreather divers that I have spoken to were all trained in the US, and other than what they have learned to do themselves, their rebreathers have to be boxed up and shipped out of the country for service and repairs.

Thanks again,

Rose.
I don't know what part of BC you are in but I am an active rebreather instructor with about 16 years of teaching experience. I can name off the top of my head about 25 rebreather divers here on Vancouver Island. We aren't that rare, we just don't come to the surface as often :wink:
 
@Jill Heinerth had mentioned this in one of her podcasts a month or so ago? where she and Robert were talking about their opinions on it. Good listen
Ben McDaniel – Cold Case Missing Person Scuba Diver Who Went Cave Diving and Never Returned – Episode 29 | IntoThePlanet

That's an excellent story put together by Jill and Robert. I was lucky enough to spend an evening with them as they told me that yarn. I spoke with Jill briefly about the Stewart case and wanted to get her filming some of it, but she wasn't available. I would "humbly" suggest that if you want a fuller picture of the Rob Stewart story you might want to look at my upcoming book. Three years of research. https://www.amazon.ca/Third-Dive-Investigation-Death-Stewart/dp/1771603550

Meanwhile I hope you are enjoying the documentary. Watch The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart Online | Vimeo On Demand
 
I don't know what part of BC you are in but I am an active rebreather instructor with about 16 years of teaching experience. I can name off the top of my head about 25 rebreather divers here on Vancouver Island. We aren't that rare, we just don't come to the surface as often :wink:

There are also a huge number of rebreather divers in Ontario. I'm often envious of their bottom times. Some great teachers out here. Shout out to Steve Lewis.

Watch The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart Online | Vimeo On Demand
 
@Wookie, @Rosborne, @chairman,

I'm fairly new user of my rEvo CCR (30hrs), am I right or wrong in saying he had 50 hours of rEvo under his belt. Someone else mentioned MOD 3 which I thought required 100 hours ...hence my confusion

Can you clarify what type of course were they in the middle of. I'm with TDI and it seems to me intro = Air Dil CCR (30m ~ max, circa 8 hrs training), tech = MOD1 = Air Dil Deco CCR (45m ~ max, circa min 36hrs incl experience & course diving), third level (trimix) = MOD2 = Mixed Gas CCR (60m ~ max circa, min 56hrs incl experience & course diving).

They had just finished the IANTD MOD 3. Well, almost finished. They had finished the course work and three of the four open water dives. They had previously completed IANTD MOD 2 and an earlier course which I believe was the Deco CCR Course (I'd have to check that from my notes to be sure.) IANTD MOD 2 allows CCR divers to dive to 60 meter or 197 feet.

It's hard to determine the exact number of hours they had on their rebreathers in between courses. They were using their gear for dives on the west coast in between courses and possibly elsewhere. I'm not certain that every dive Stewart did would be listed on his Shearwater. But certainly, there has been some comment about whether he had the hours to move to the next course.

Watch The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart Online | Vimeo On Demand
amazon third dive - Google Search
 
I'm fairly new user of my rEvo CCR (30hrs), am I right or wrong in saying he had 50 hours of rEvo under his belt. Someone else mentioned MOD 3 which I thought required 100 hours ...hence my confusion
Only Stewart and Sotis know how many hours he actually had. Many of us don't believe he had near enough experience. Whatever happened to Sotis on the boat, probably also happened to Stewart in the water. Sotis had enough experience to get on the boat before he collapsed, apparently and tragically, Stewart did not.
 
Only Stewart and Sotis know how many hours he actually had. Many of us don't believe he had near enough experience. Whatever happened to Sotis on the boat, probably also happened to Stewart in the water. Sotis had enough experience to get on the boat before he collapsed, apparently and tragically, Stewart did not.

I think only Stewart and his friend Brock Cahill really knew how much experience he had on that rebreather. Many agree with your position about the lack of experience. I will say that I don't believe that Sotis "had enough experience to get on the boat before he collapsed." The statements from Sotis and the sworn depositions from other witnesses show that it was happenstance that the boat swung around and was closer to Sotis than to Stewart. Both had given the okay sign and Sotis climbed on board because he was right by the ladder. It was the difference between living and dying but I don't believe is was calculated. I know not everyone agrees with that deduction. But then again not many people agree on anything about this accident.

Watch The Third Dive: The Death of Rob Stewart Online | Vimeo On Demand
The Third Dive: An Investigation Into the Death of Rob Stewart: Osborne, Robert: 9781771603553: Books - Amazon.ca
 
@Wookie, @Rosborne, @chairman,

I'm fairly new user of my rEvo CCR (30hrs), am I right or wrong in saying he had 50 hours of rEvo under his belt. Someone else mentioned MOD 3 which I thought required 100 hours ...hence my confusion

Can you clarify what type of course were they in the middle of. I'm with TDI and it seems to me intro = Air Dil CCR (30m ~ max, circa 8 hrs training), tech = MOD1 = Air Dil Deco CCR (45m ~ max, circa min 36hrs incl experience & course diving), third level (trimix) = MOD2 = Mixed Gas CCR (60m ~ max circa, min 56hrs incl experience & course diving).
TDI requires 30 dives on unit-specific CCR to be air diluent or helitrox diluent decompression diver ( 150 ft) You must have 50 dives on CCR to be MIxed Gas Diluent (200ft) and you must have 100 dives, 50 of which must be on the unit you are training on to be Advanced Mixed Gas diver (330ft)
It is my understanding Rob completed all the above levels in a very short period of time. I have heard people comment that because he is seen wearing a rebreather in the movie Sharkwater he was an experienced rebreather diver but that is not so. In that movie he was wearing a Draeger Dolphin which is not a CCR it is an SCR and does not meet the prerequisite criteria for any of those levels. I am not familiar enough with IANTD standards to comment on whether any standards were broken but this would not have occurred following TDI standards.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom