In Reply to: DAN Fatality Workshop posted by Ken Kurtis on April 12, 2010 at 15:59:13:

Ken,

Thank you for the synopsis of DAN's workshop. Learning from bad situations and tragedies is extremely important in improving individual safety, as well as the overall safety of the sport.

During my Advanced course, one excercise I remember vividly was my instructor having one buddy at each end of the pool (smallish, NOT an Olympic sized). One buddy was instructed to take a breath and remove their reg. (continuing to hold it in their hand), then swim to their buddy at the other end, constantly blowing bubbles. When you got to your buddy, you did an out of air excercise. The instructor was right at your side the whole swim. The whole purpose of this excercise was to demonstrate to you "just how far do you REALLY want to be away from your buddy in an emergency".

I swear to this day (eight years later) that when I see my buddy start getting to the edge of visibility I hear my instructor's voice "How far do you REALLY want to be from your buddy?" and close the gap. Not that we NEVER get separated, but...

Thanks for keeping us thinking!!!