Posted by tleemay on August 30, 2000 at 13:05:06:
In Reply to: You guys are SO full of crap . . . posted by SLANG on August 30, 2000 at 11:50:32:
During the summer of 1995 I did a survey for a
Northern California marketing and media company.
They had a client in NYC that wanted to break into the
SoCal retail market providing gear and local
instruction, much the same way two other retailers
in SoCal presently do. In May of 1995, I began
to surveyed other shops, independent instructors,
and charter orgs on the local trends of the diving
community. In July of 1995 there was a well publicized
set of deaths on a local wreck. The persons involved
were very prominent in the local community. Shortly
after the end of July of that year, the dive training
business slacked off for most shops and indy
instructors. The charter cos. reported that they
were seeing fewer classes on the boats for OW
certification. The survey concluded at the end
of August, but the last gleen of information showed
the trend was returning to pre-end of July
level concerning dive training activity. I asked
a couple boat owners and indy's why they felt
there was a slack off in training activities -
almost all that I asked contributed the diver
deaths in July as the primary reason - people were
having second thoughs about leqrning how to dive.
One instructor even went as far as to say it was
because the divers were a juvinile and his father,
a set of circumstances that hit close to home to those
that were considering taking up the sport.
I'm not going to get into the personal right to
dive the way you want. That's a freedom everyone
is entitled to. The rec vs tech thing is not an
issue. Either you step up to the plate and learn
how to do it right, or you remain content in your
current training and abilities. By doing it half
-assed you are inviting trouble.
To answer you point about swapping to an incorrect
mix at the wrong depth... if a buddy would have been
present and witnessing the source exchange, a second
set of eyes connected to a second brain would have
offered the chance the incorrect gas switch would
have been caught before he put the reg into his
mouth. When diving as a team as gas switches occur,
you are watching your buddy switch the regs and
tracing the hose from the reg to the intended tank.
He or she is doing the same as you switch gasses.
As a buddy, you can then ensure he/she is breathing
the correct gas for the depth. The problem would have
been adverted before the reg was even in the diver's
mouth, and way before he/she would have convulsed.
If the diver was doing the same on a solo dive, he/she
could have grabbed the wrong reg by pure accident, or
without regard if they could have been suffering some
type of narcosis or other condition that would have
clouded their thinking.
Enough's been said about Tony's death. Nothing
any of us can say or hang onto is going to bring
him back. What we do in the future can keep something
like what happened to him from happening again though.