Posted by MHK on October 17, 2000 at 10:10:41:
In Reply to: Re: Another solo death posted by AADIVER on October 16, 2000 at 23:33:47:
Frank,
Where do you come up with this crap???
John and I do believe that 13 fatalities is horrendous. We also think it's sad, horrible, disappointing, upsetting, miserable just to name a few.
But most imporatntly John and I believe that SOME [ not all ], but some of these were PREVENTABLE.......
You guys keep condoning this solo diving, this independent diving, this buddyless diving or whatever the hell you want to call it and John and I will keep speaking out against it..
I gaurantee you that every single one of these *independent* diver's went into the water thinking * I'll be fine * and they thought that right up until the second thier lungs were burning from lack of oxygen and then they started filling up with water right up until the second they died...
As for us *guru types* that you believe are ignorant of the facts, I think it is guys such as yourself that are ignorant of the facts. I spelled out the facts in each and every fatality. You spent your entire arguement parsing language and trying as hard as possible to get the other deaths on to the *buddy diving* side of the ledger.
John and my position is, and has been said often, it's called a UNIFIED TEAM APPROACH. We don't get into the water with a diver that isn't of the same mindset. If they don't understand that if someone calls the dive, we all call the dive than we don't get into the water with them.. If they don't understand that we dive as a team, not a set of independant individuals, than we don't get into the water with them. If they don't understand the notion of turning the dive at a pre-determined time and/or psi than we don't get into the water with them..
Do you see the pattern here Frank?????? We solve the problem BEFORE we get inot the water, we don't think that miracuously that someone will appear out of the abyss if we have a problem..
If you don't have that mindset, you don't get into the water with us..
Have you noticed that we seem to spend a lot of time discussing fatalities derived from your style of diving. And by the same token we haven't spent one second devoted to discussing fatalities from our style of diving.. Do you know why that is???
Because our style works, yours may work some of the time, but the bodies are still adding up...
If you don't think that 13 diver's dead is enough to get some people's attention than you have no business getting on this forum, or any other forum, and giving opinions. 13 deaths in less than 10 months and you think that's NOT horrendous.. What the hell is the matter with you???
We have analyzed each and every tradegy to the umptenth degree and I would venture to guess [ operative word being MY own guess ] that 1/2 of these diver's would be alive today if they were diving under a unified team approach. Maybe more than half, but for sure half of them.
You keep arguing for independant diving, or buddyless diving, or solo diving and John and I will keep arguing for a unified team approach..
Some how or another we manage to do the most demanding dives imaginable and we seem to come out alive. The solo guys seem to be dying in 20', 30', or 40'... If you can't see this than you are beyond help and my only future responses to you will be in the form of speaking out against your unwise recomendations..
Later