Posted by MHK on September 11, 2000 at 11:23:32:
In Reply to: False sense of safety posted by Eins on September 11, 2000 at 09:47:42:
For someone who takes my words ( at certain times so literally ) you are making a joke of yourself. I have repeatedly said over and over that a buddy MAY save your life, Not WILL, not 100% of the time, not as an absolute, but MAY save your life.
In this case ( and we all agree that we hope Gail survives ) it is clear the buddy and Ken provided this girl with a chance at living. If this same set of facts happened without a buddy being present, sadly, we would be talking about yet another fatality. So in that regard ( atleast for the moment ) we are talking about a rescue. Seconds are the difference between life and death. Let me ask you this question, have you ever had a buddy freak out on you??? Have you ever had to drag a body from the water?? Have you ever had to wait 2 hours for a chopper while preforming CPR??? Do you see untrained and unskilled diver's getting themselves in trouble week in and week out??? You guys really want it both ways.. You don't want us to speak out against these issues, but yet as the body count adds up, all we keep hearing are bullshit excuses and redifining what we all know are the issues.
You can argue all you want, you can parse language and play verbal games, and you can keep your head in the sand if you want, but in light of this incident to now somehow re-define a *buddy* as to now only include a well-trained and attentive buddy is ignoring the fundamental principle. We aren't testifying before a congressional committee here, we don't need to continue to parse words, and play verbal gymnastics and re-fine what is is or what a buddy is.
I'll take the initiative to define a buddy as the * intended person with whom you plan to do a dive with. He/she may include someone who is certified ( and if certified it is assumed that they posses the requisite skills to help a buddy .*
You are so intent on trying to prove me wrong that you are losing site of what is important. BTW, you were right last week when you said I was wrong about the 7 deaths.. I also forgot the one at Malago cove. So it's 9 deaths this year ( and hopefully we won't add Gail to that list ) and it's only mid-September. That's an average of 1 a month here in So. Cal alone.
You go ahead and keep arguing usless bullshit and I'll keep trying to get diver's to re-focus and pay stricter attention to certain safety aspects.
Kepp up the work, you doing great!!!!