Posted by Ken Kurtis on August 29, 2000 at 00:11:59:
In Reply to: Re: Speculation? posted by Eins on August 28, 2000 at 22:53:42:
(Eins asked of me) With all due respect to the victim and his family, what do you conclude from the story?
I don't think we can conclude anything yet, other than that this poor soul is dead.
1. Medical report should reveal heart attack, embolism, or other problem that may have contributed.
2. Gear testing will let us know whether or not everything was in proper working order. (I remember a fatality from years ago where the reg tested breathable down to 100' and then just locked up. In that case, the victim was found slightly deeper than 100' and the gear was thought to be the culprit.)
3. Although I wasn't in Avalon this weekend, my understanding from our instructors who were there (both days) is that the vis wasn't so good. So I question the story of an anchor with a lift bag getting tangled up in the BC as factual because I don't see how anyone could have seen that, and since the wife didn't call for help until the BC floated up, she apparently had no inkling as to what was unfolding, and since she would have been the only one in a position to see any of this, where did this anchor/tangled/BC story come from?
4. I haven't heard reports of a lift bag being among the gear recovered. (Doesn't mean it wasn't.) Anyone have first-hand knowledge?
5. Anyone know how much air was left in the tank?
6. Anyone know if there was a downloadable computer on the gear to give the profile?
Bottom line is that there are way too many variables to draw any conclusions that will have any shred of veracity to them.
As for the speculation part, perhaps I was a bit too quick to criticize (since everyone else seems to think you qualfieid it just fine).
My personal prefernce is that the post START with "I'm speculating that perhaps blah, blah, blah . . ." instead of "Blah, blah, blah . . . but that's just speculation." Sometimes people only read through the blah-blah and don't get to the speculation part and that's how bad info gets passed along as fact and then takes on a life of its own.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Beverly Hills, Ca.