Posted by Max Bottomtime on October 18, 2000 at 18:54:40:
In Reply to: Re: Poor training or lack of experience posted by Poulas on October 18, 2000 at 18:04:55:
The point has been made that almost all divers that have died in the past 10 months or so died alone with no one around to help them when they needed it. It did not matter if they started the dive with a buddy or two or not. They were alone when they needed one. The kid on the oil rig from earlier this year is a prime example. How would AADIVERS way of diving kept that poor boy from dying and his family from the emotional grief they are probably still dealing with?>
This is the type of B.S. that drags these threads out forever. When one percent of the diving population decides to "enlighten" the other 99%, debates turn into name-calling free for alls. Because your agency declares that any time you are not in an optimal buddy team you are to be considered solo is crap! The rest of the divers who may or may not be in eye contact with their buddy constantly or have a rigid dive plan are considered idiots by the so-called tech experts. Is the optimal team concept safer? Yes, but that doesn't mean everyone else is an accident waiting to happen. That is the same mentality that abounds when you tell a motorcyclist that it is not if, but when they have an accident. People can and do dive safely without following the same guidelines as cave/tech divers.
As for the death at the rigs, get your facts straight. He was not feeling well before the dive, but decided to make it anyway. When he felt bad at depth, his buddies followed him up to 40 feet and watched him all the way to the surface before continuing their dive. That is more than most buddies would have done. Does that make him another "solo" statistic? Hardly!