Tall Tale, Big Talker or Just Plain Lucky ...

[Buoyant1]

Hmmm...was he using a single AL80 and a "horse collar"?

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

The story is, of course true. It does however need some "interpretation", please allow me to try:

"I used to dive" (translation: he tried diving once) he said, and then began a tale of a dive in the great lakes on a wreck where the mast of the ship was at 165ft and the deck at 240ft (translation: he did a scuba try out on a Great lake, where, further out there is a terrific wreck. He was in about 12 feet of water) , and how after being there for 30 minutes a buddy came up behind him and slapped him on the back to get his attention (translation: he started to panic after 10 minutes) - his regulator flew out of his mouth (translation: he spat the regulator out) and he swallowed some water (translation: he panicked), so he followed his training and immediately dropped his weights (translation: ripped all his dive gear off) and began to swim up as fast as he could (translation: he bolted for the surface) screaming (translation: screaming) the whole way so that his lungs wouldn't explode (translation: still screaming). He surfaced and all his buddies soon followed very worried about him. Since he was a good diver (his words) they didn't let this stop them and they did a second dive (translation: *they* did a second dive - he snorkled....).
-j-

Now THAT, Josh, was entertaining! Thanks for the transltion!

 

[fasorud]

After climbing back on the boat today one of the passengers approaches me (glass bottom boat tour I work on) - "I used to dive" he said, and then began a tale of a dive in the great lakes on a wreck where the mast of the ship was at 165ft and the deck at 240ft, and how after being there for 30 minutes a buddy came up behind him and slapped him on the back to get his attention - his regulator flew out of his mouth and he swallowed some water, so he followed his training and immediately dropped his weights and began to swim up as fast as he could screaming the whole way so that his lungs wouldn't explode. He surfaced and all his buddies soon followed very worried about him. Since he was a good diver (his words) they didn't let this stop them and they did a second dive.

Once he was done with his story I just nodded my head and said I hoped he had a good day with us ... I just couldn't bring myself to say anything else ...

At least it made for a good story ... then again maybe that's how they used to teach diving in the "good old days" ... how would a new diver like me know?

Aloha, Tim

That is some serious BS!

 

[Ron Brandt]

I love hearing those stories....especially when they are not aware I teach diving.

Ron

 

[johnny_bravo]

Quoting Mislav: "He would suffered from severe narcosis, possibly OxTox and suck his air out at that depth for 30 minutes. I somehow doubt he was wearing doubles."

Although I agree with you that the story is BS, dives to that depth are possible w/o succumbing to extreme narcosis, ox-tox and running out of air.

I suggest you read about early exploits of deep divers on the Doria or even this recent thread on Richard Pyle:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=173275

Cheers.

-J.-

 

[DiverBeth]

I happen to know the story is 100% true as told. I know because I was on that dive! It was back around 1980 and the diver in question was using just a single tank. I myself was doing a freedive. We were down there for about 30 minutes when the incident happened. In fact I was the first one to reach the surface after our diver and he was fine.

Now excuse me while I once again save the earth from another alien invasion. Second one this month.

 

[DawgDiver]

Ocean front property for sale, prime real estate in Arizona. Great dive sites. Send PM for details.

 

[SteveAD]

I am no longer surprised by the stupidity some people can demonstrate, but I am occasionally impressed. I have had peple try to tell me this kind of story where I work...

I own a dive shop.

 

[mislav]

Quoting Mislav: "He would suffered from severe narcosis, possibly OxTox and suck his air out at that depth for 30 minutes. I somehow doubt he was wearing doubles."

Although I agree with you that the story is BS, dives to that depth are possible w/o succumbing to extreme narcosis, ox-tox and running out of air.

Oh, Johhny, but you're not quoting me right. I didn't say his story was BS. It's totally funny but it is actually plausible to some extent. In fact, there's a well known diver (ask for ZR at URS) in my part of the world whom I had the honor of meeting last year that told us a very similar story. In short: "we drop down to 90m, use all our air and then CESA to the surface!". Try telling that as a dive plane before the dive to unsuspecting divers and you'll witness the ROTFLMAO.

But, he's a true oldschool diver with over 50 years of experience and continues to dive to this day. He's been bent so many times that he probably feels strange when he's not and yet he outlived many of his fellow divers who died diving that way. The guy is truly a legend and the kind of diving he does is unthinkable by modern standards. My friends and me had so much fun with his stories we made them a regular joke. We even sometimes performed CESA bailouts at the end of our dives pretending to be diving ZR's way.

Anyway, the effects of narcosis are felt on every dive, no matter how deep you go. The extent of those effects varies depending on depth, diver and even a particular dive. Spend 30 minutes at 70 meters on air and you'll feel the severe effects for sure. OxTox is a possibiltiy, but may not happen. Many oldschool divers still don't consider 1.4 to be a ppO2 limit.

I doubt one can spend 30 minutes at 70m depth and still have some air in his single tank, but he may have had doubles as I said... I don't read his account as it took them 30 minutes to get there, but they spent 30 minutes at their max depth. Still, I don't find that to be the most ridiculous part of his story. It's the "slap on the back - drop the reg" part that is making his story sound like BS.

I suggest you read about early exploits of deep divers on the Doria or even this recent thread on Richard Pyle:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=173275

Eh, I know, I kind of read it and even posted there. Great reading material!

 

[pupdiver]

There are just certain people out there who have to tell you some extreme tale when they find out what you do.

I spent 20 years in the military. At least once a year I would meet someone who would tell me about how they shot down 20 MiGs in Vietnam in one day or some such load of BS. You have to just smile politely and back away slowly.