Posted by Max Bottomtime on May 07, 2001 at 19:47:06:
In Reply to: Coast Guard "Pan-Pan" alert posted by Captain Tim on May 07, 2001 at 11:14:05:
He had been trying for yaers to get me to dive the deeper pinnacles at Farnsworth with him. Although he was trimix certified, he loved to push his personal envelope by doing dives well below 200' on air. We had daily discussions about his gear selection. He was taught to carry backups for everything. On every dive I made with him, he always had two consoles, two wings, two game bags and looked like a floating dive shop.
I met him in our Divemaster class and have made many dives with him since. He was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet, but he used to joke that he would probably die while making a deep air dive. I was diving with him at the Caissons (155') a few years ago. I was in the water for 80 minutes and had time to surface, get on my boat, pack my gear, shower and change clothes. He still wasn't up after two hours. I gave him 15 more minutes before I was going to call the Coast Guard. He surfaced after 10. He told me that after he finished his deco, he liked to swim up current and look for any passing marine life. When he got back on the boat, he still had close to 1,000psi in his tanks. That gave me hope that he may have been swept down current from Steve's boat this weekend, but I called his job and home with no answer.
The way he made his deep dives gave little or no chance for a buddy rescue, so having a buddy with him was not an option. He always began his ascent when he had used half of his air. I asked him what he woud do if he had to close one of his tanks, leaving him with only 1/4 of his air. He always laughed and said that would be the dive he didn't come back from. This is a tragedy for me and his family and believe me, we had discussed his techniques over and over and he wouldn't budge, so saying he should have done this or that won't help. I realize the anti solo zealots will still jump on this bandwagon, but my friend died diving the way he loved. He knew the risks and accepted them. I am truly sorry for his family's loss.