Posted by John M. on January 19, 2003 at 19:26:53:
In Reply to: Re: Genesis of the Reef Seekers out-of-air policy posted by Max Bottomtime on January 19, 2003 at 18:58:51:
Yes, but... some people are just dangerous to themselves (that's the more polite version of what I was thinking).
Case in point: some time ago I was out at San Clemente diving in a triple -- a good dive buddy of mine and his [deleted] friend, we'll call him Fred...
First dive, The Arch, not too long into the dive my buddy and I checked Fred's pressure gauge, at about 100', and he had less than 500 psi. We indicated "up". He indicated "no". We indicated "up", forcefully. He indicated "no". We grabbed him by the BC and began dragging. We did a not overly fast ascent, and by maybe 30 feet, he was out of air. We offered octopus. He refused. After a moment or two, he bolted.
Long discussion on boat.
Second (or third?) dive, in deeper kelp -- 60-80' deep if memory serves. Fred is again quickly at 500psi in reasonably deep water. Indicate "up". Get a "no" in response. Feeling familiar. Really annoyed. Indicated "up" again... Finally managed to lure him upwards by angling upwards ourselves and he followed...
After that trip, I refused to again dive with "Fred", but my buddy did. From a year or two's worth of stories, Fred never did learn -- he was just plain lucky that he didn't kill himself.
John