Posted by MHK on December 27, 2000 at 11:42:40:
In Reply to: Re: Perhaps, but acknowledging the roots of DIR,... posted by AADIVER on December 24, 2000 at 21:38:38:
Frank,
Maybe the best way to explain this is to start with the notion that we do in fact believe that every diver does in fact need to be self-sufficient. That is a presumption, but we build our redundancy into our buddy. Bear in mind that to be in need of redundancy something or someone needs to have failed in the first place..
For example, following up on your and Terry's discussion points.. While scootering in a cave you should be using the rule of thirds ( ie; 1/3 in, 1/3 out and 1/3 held in reserve for emergencies) so to the extent you have a failure you should never be in a position that you don't have atleast 1/3 of your own gas supply left, plus 1/3 of your buddies should it be needed. Obvioulsy the moment you have a failure your dive is over and you will exit immediatley.
In terms of your buddy taking the wrong turn while scootering, no cave diver worth their salt would ever get off the main line without using a tie-off. If you are diving with someone that would do that you have made a mistake befoe you even got into the water ( or as George would say, you have violated rule # 1)..
Cave diving and scootering inside a cave are very advanced techniques that are frankly not applicable to SoCal diving. You need to be very proficient in the use of a scooter and/or cave diving before you even begin to think about using a scooter inside a cave whereby someone unskilled could easily silt-out a cave.. Therefore, (hopefully) you have solved many of the problems that you are discussing before you even get into the water..
Later