Posted by SLANG on August 30, 2000 at 11:50:32:
In Reply to: Re: In defense of JW posted by tleemay on August 29, 2000 at 18:55:25:
Please!
>"When someone blows it and ends up dead, it reflects
poorly on the local dive industry as a whole."
That is just not true! Where do you all get this stuff? If you are talking about the average citizen, most of them believe that trying to breathe under water is nuts to begin with. They don't make any distinctions between Tech/rec, solo/buddy.
And as far as Maffatone's death, the media portrayed him as some kind of eccentric hero. No one started screaming for regulation of diving; they saw this guy as "dying the way he lived," as a unique individual. I think the guy was a little nuts with some of the stuff he put together, but he definitely was capable of intelligently assessing the risks he chose to expose himself to. His death in NO way had a negative effect on the image of "our sport." As for Mr. Purdie, while I never dived with him personally, it sure sounds like he was more than knowledgeable enough about what he was doing and new exactly what risks he was taking. Sometimes shit goes wrong - if you want diving to be 100% safe, keep everyone out of the water.
Sometimes you guys amaze me how you turn every incident into a soapbox. It makes a person wonder just what your true agenda is.
One other thing: When a diver starts violently convulsing from "suck(ing) the wrong mix at the wrong depth" exactly how is having a buddy there going to significantly increase his chance of survival? I'm just asking, because during the convulsions I've witnessed, there would have been no way for one person to maintain physical control of the individual, much less successfully pry his mouth open and jam a regulator back into it.
I recognize your concerns, and I respect your right to run your boats the way you want to. When I'm on them, I try to abide by your rules. However, that's also why I regularly dive with other operations who know and respect my abilities and my right to make my own decisions. Solo diving is one of the great joys of my life. If I die as a result of it, so be it. Those who are close to me understand this and accept it, why can't you?