Posted by MHK on February 05, 2001 at 12:08:09:
In Reply to: Re: CDN editorial/Ken's response posted by Ken Kurtis on February 05, 2001 at 10:59:03:
Ken,
So your position is that a diver diving a homemade rebreather in New York City [ FTR, he was diving Nitrox NOT mixed gas ] is what you are relying on when you write and article for CALIFORNIA Diving News and use the pronoun
* We*...
Also FTR, no sensible person on the world thought what Tony was doing [ test diving a homemade rebreather while wreck diving SOLO ] was a sensible decision..
If you were talking about a diver in New York City in your anaylsis you should have been clearer because the tone and local implications [ ie; the mention of the El Ray] and Dale's well-known desire to tailor articles towards the local community does not leave the reader with the impression that you were talking about anything other than the local diving community..
Your views on Nitrox and mixed gas, while well known, and NOT found on solid principle's and if fact are antequated, out dated and un-informed and as such when you publish material in that regard you need to be clear and candid in your comments..
Clearly, many more diver's died solo { I'm keeping my comments centered around the local fatalities, although I'm confident the analysis would apply on a larger geopgraphical basis)than on Nitrox and/or mixed gas, but yet you missed an important opportunity to speak out in that regard but rather buried the issue in the context of * diving alone* or * buddies nearby*.. Plain and simple that was a cop out and a missed opportunity..
Prior to your departure I posted a response to your rather glaring inconsistency with respect to the solo and Nitrox issues, perhaps you would care to respond, but if you are going to hold yourself out as an experienced shop owner and 20+ year instructor than don't think for one minute that you can get on here, post nonsense and then duck the issue when follow up's come your way..
Or is it that the DIR advocates need to respond to EVERY syllable that is posted but that the anti-DIR crowd can post nonsense and then not back it up...
You and I both know that you were not talking about Tony when you arote that article, if so why the need to confirm with George Horn this morning???? If you want to make a charge on this list you better be prepared to back it up and your defense that someone 3,000 miles away died in a CALIFORNIA diving magazine doesn't seem to make much sense.. Furthermore, as Seahunt has been pointing out ad nauseam, our waters are unique and our local community has it's nuiannces..
Sorry, Ken but you got caught, once again, trying to lay blame to the tech community when it has nothing to do with mixed gas diving..
If you wanted to write an article about common sense you should have spent more time condeming the dangerous practices of deep air; solo; and spent more time on the fact that if diver's insist on diving deep they should do it safer ( namely using Nitrox or hyperoxic trimix or normoxic trimix )..
Your double standards are baffling, you know full well that diver's dive every weekend deeper than 130' ( even on your own trips ) and rather than take the issue on you respond by taking a position that you'd rather they don't dive deeper than 100' and then blindly ignore when they do it.. You're a hypocrite in this regard..
I understand that you dove the Olympic on Saturday, which is a PERFECT dive for the use of Nitrox, but rather than embrace advancing technology you'd rather diver's do it on air when it can be done much safer on Nitrox...
So in your view is diving the Olympic safer on Nitrox or solo ( all other factors being equal)????
Later