Belize Nekton Pilot: Crewmember lost

[culmon]

Cory work only a few months on the pilot. He was 6foot 5 inches had red(sun bleached blonde) hair. Please sent any pictures you have of him to us--contact us at culmon@msn.com Thank You

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

TRM- This isn't a great photo, I had to crop it.

 

[Nesher]

There are two Cory's working for Nekton on the Pilot correct?

I met a Cory that was hired in September 07 he first worked the week of 09-15-07 on the Rorqual. He was then transferred to the Pilot at the shipyard in Florida. Then the vessel was heading to Belize for the winter diving season. This Cory is soft spoken and had blonde hair. I do not remember a nickname because he was new to Nekton. So, there is a Cory that worked for over 7 years and this Cory that worked for about 4 months. I do have some photos of him (4-month Cory) from my NW Bahamas trip.

I am really confused on which one passed away.

The Cory (Ginge) we are speaking of is NOT the Cory which was on the Rorqual in Sep of 2007.

That Cory (Rorqual) was from Mississippi.

Ginge, (the Cory in question) was from Illinois. Both had blonde hair, both worked on the Pilot.

The Cory you knew, (Rorqual 15 - 22 Sep 07) was no longer on the Pilot when this happened. To my knowledge he no longer works for Nekton.

 

[Trwmodela]

Sounds like both Cory's had been working for Nekton for only a few months. I can see now why I was confused by knowing the other Cory. But, only one Cory was working on the Pilot when the incident happened.

There are two Cory's working for Nekton on the Pilot correct?

I met a Cory that was hired in September 07 he first worked the week of 09-15-07 on the Rorqual. He was then transferred to the Pilot at the shipyard in Florida. Then the vessel was heading to Belize for the winter diving season. This Cory is soft spoken and had blonde hair. I do not remember a nickname because he was new to Nekton. So, there is a Cory that worked for over 7 years and this Cory that worked for about 4 months. I do have some photos of him (4-month Cory) from my NW Bahamas trip.

I am really confused on which one passed away.

The Cory (Ginge) we are speaking of is NOT the Cory which was on the Rorqual in Sep of 2007.

That Cory (Rorqual) was from Mississippi.

Ginge, (the Cory in question) was from Illinois. Both had blonde hair, both worked on the Pilot.

The Cory you knew, (Rorqual 15 - 22 Sep 07) was no longer on the Pilot when this happened. To my knowledge he no longer works for Nekton.

 

[ILDiver]

I never knew "Ginge" I only knew of him, he worked for a shop I used to "work" with here in Illinois (started my DM training there). It's too bad this happened. All the talk about solo diving is off topic to the cause of this accident.

Most diving fatalities are not from one mistake but from a combination of many smaller mistakes/problems. Task loading and problem management. This is just my opinion, but he has dove 2 years and was an instructor. That in itself does not mean anything, but what was his overall experience in diving in general? I don't know his full diving experience, was it just learning and becoming an instructor or did he have hundreds of dives? Basically we don't know his full training/diving history. From other posts and a general guess, he was confident in himself with diving. Maybe he just got too comfortable and became complacent.

The functionality of his computer is pretty much hearsay, so ignoring that, what could have gone wrong? Well, we don't know how much diving he did the day(s) before the incident. It was reported in this thread that he logged depths greater than 130ft in the past. It is my guess he was at or below 130ft and narcosis played a part in this. HE chose to dive alone, HE accepted the risk. It's not the boat or the crew who made this choice, it was him. I'm not saying he deserved it, I'm saying he made choices we all make and something happened this time.

Someday you may face the same choice, remember this thread when you weigh the options and asses the risk/reward.

To his family and friends, I'm sorry for your loss. I never really met him when he was here, only knew of him. I'm sorry for your loss.

--Chris

 

[culmon]

For any one who has pictures of Cory please contact me at culmon@msn.com or to his brother at tmonk00@hotmail.com

 

[deepstops]

All the talk about solo diving is off topic to the cause of this accident.

Most diving fatalities are not from one mistake but from a combination of many smaller mistakes/problems. Task loading and problem management. This is just my opinion, but he has dove 2 years and was an instructor.

--Chris

How so?? Can you say for certain a dive buddy might not have saved Cory's life.

Do you ever notice how rare double fatalities are in diving?? Do you ever notice how often a death occurs when the dive buddies end up separated??

I can count with one finger the number double fatalities in diving I've seen where the buddies stayed together and that one occurred at 200+' deep in a cave.

To subscribe to the thought of "self-rescue" during a medical event underwater is ludicrous. A buddy can stop the chain of events from spiraling downward.

A good dive buddy should be part of your equipment check list.

 

[Darnold9999]

How so?? Can you say for certain a dive buddy might not have saved Cory's life.

That is a ridiculous statement - of course no-one can say for certain that a dive buddy might not have saved his life. Nor can anyone say for certain that a good dive buddy would have saved his life (which is what you seem to be saying).

The comment that there are few double fatalities is also completely irrelevant. What do double fatalities diving have to do with this at all??? Or are you trying to say that a good buddy should stick together to the point of dying together???

The real question (if we are pointing the finger at solo diving - which is highly speculative) is how many times has a buddy made a difference at all - as opposed to causing the problem in the first place. Particularly with an experienced working diver/instructor. It is actually pretty easy to come up with examples where one half of a buddy team died as a result of trying to rescue the other. Usually because one or both of them was doing something stupid to start with.

There is no question that solo diving is riskier than buddy diving, but to suggest that a buddy is a panacea and if there was a buddy involved the outcome would definitely or even more likely to be different is highly speculative and IMHO simply wrong. A buddy with an experienced/regular/working diver just reduces the risks by some very small amount (keeping in mind the risks are extremely low to start with).

The likelyhood of a buddy rescuing someone at 130+ feet with a medical emergency is vanishingly small. Larger than self rescue, but still unlikely. There is considerable speculation that Cory was diving deep on this particular dive.

It is possible that a buddy might have prevented whatever happened here. It is just as likely that a buddy would have made no difference whatsoever. Until there are more facts that is the best that can be said.

I would be curious to see that statistics on solo diving deaths v. buddy diving for experienced/regular/working divers. I doubt that you would see a significant difference. I know that my close calls have been with a buddy and two of them because I chose to do something stupid and one was environmental and unavoidable. In all cases I self rescued and my buddy was irrelevant to the outcome. Only once have I "rescued" someone else as a buddy and this was a new diver in an unfamiliar environment.

As most diving is done by people diving in unfamiliar environments on a very occasional basis the requirement to dive with a buddy is a good thing. For those diving regularly in a familiar environment I don't see that it really adds much to the "safety factor". But that is just my opinion and I do dive solo on occasion.

 

[Gale68]

Deepstops wrote: "How so?? Can you say for certain a dive buddy might not have saved Cory's life."

No one in this thread has even come close to asserting that having a buddy would definitely not have made a difference in this case. Certainly it might have. But no one can know for sure that a buddy would have made a difference. As discussed up-topic, a previous diver death on the Pilot occurred even though the diver's buddy (and several others) rendered assistance within seconds and got the diver back on the boat within minutes. All this bashing of solo divers in the context of this thread seems to be missing the point. Solo diving is one of the factors involved in this incident, but far from the only one.

Although we don't know for sure, it appears likely this diver was diving with a malfunctioning computer, no gauges, and to depths most recreational divers would consider extreme. Not only that, but he was diving solo, at night, and didn't have a light attached to his tank. So what is wrong with ILDiver's assertion that "Most diving fatalities are not from one mistake but from a combination of many smaller mistakes/problems...."?

The drift of many posts in this thread regarding solo diving is that anyone who dives solo is either an idiot or suicidal, regardless of the circumstances. Based on everything I've heard, this diver was neither. He did, however, choose to take risks that you or I would not have taken, and it cost him his life. Focusing on the issue of solo diving to the exclusion of all else deprives us of the opportunity to learn from this tragedy, and that is, purportedly, the purpose of this forum.

FWIW

 

[deepstops]

It is possible that a buddy might have prevented whatever happened here. It is just as likely that a buddy would have made no difference whatsoever. Until there are more facts that is the best that can be said.

I would be curious to see that statistics on solo diving deaths v. buddy diving for experienced/regular/working divers. I doubt that you would see a significant difference. I know that my close calls have been with a buddy and two of them because I chose to do something stupid and one was environmental and unavoidable. In all cases I self rescued and my buddy was irrelevant to the outcome. Only once have I "rescued" someone else as a buddy and this was a new diver in an unfamiliar environment.

As most diving is done by people diving in unfamiliar environments on a very occasional basis the requirement to dive with a buddy is a good thing. For those diving regularly in a familiar environment I don't see that it really adds much to the "safety factor". But that is just my opinion and I do dive solo on occasion.

I doubt there will be any more "facts" forthcoming in this tragic incident as there isn't anyone left to tell us what happened.

Regarding the stats on solo versus buddy diving deaths, perhaps you should get a copy of the annual BSAC or DAN accident reports before writing off someone's statements as "ridiculous". The 2005 DAN report clearly defines the overall, highest single causative factor in diving fatalities is a lack of recent diving experience but 85% of the in-water fatalities occurred either solo diving or after a buddy separation.

You may dive as you please but I'll stick to diving with a good buddy (not one that leaves me at the safety stop, as happened this week in Key Largo with an insta-buddy).