Mike -
I have yet to see that DM in the water - he has gear thoguh - but there is no "statement of function" other than that he will be helping divers get geared up and in and out of the water.
I do presume that he woudl be available to drop in if need be - but he is now in during the dives as a watch person you go look for...
Besides, a lot of people bring scooters so it is not like he could just keep an eye on anyone...
I think I would look for a potential support diver if the situation calls for it - say to meet at the 70 foot stop and switch side gas for the divers coming up.
I guess this could really be very situation specific, maybe the role is not as clear cut, on some dives you may be in the water and on other dives - maybe not.
I would also consider taking a hard look at the issues and causes for the incidents - it seems that a lot of things are preventable without having a guy in the water. And a lot of things would be very hard to do something about if a diver was ready.
I think that if I was to look for a DM on a deep or tech dive charter - I would want to have someone who had well within his ability to go to a specified location - say a deep stop on a line and provide assistance to a distressed diver.
It seem to me that a typical scenarios is an uncontrolled ascent where deco obligations are bypassed and the diver dies on the deck becasue no recompression takes place in time - a diver on the boat with sufficient training would be able to standby and drop that diver back down with the proper gas to continue deco without compromising the buddy's obligation or at least allowing the buddy to return ot his own deco immediately and therefore lessen the chance of two divers in need of aid.
Perhaps a full face mask and com to the ship is in place too for this type of operation.
But Really - the more I think about htis - the more I think it is situation specific - it all depends on the level of the divers you get onboard - we have heard lately that people buy the tech gear and go diving things they have no business diving, if that is the case, I'm sure the DM would perhaps need to lead the divers on a tour...
On the other hand - if you get a crew of people who grew up diving the Andrea Doria every other week - I'm sure they would have some different needs.
Come to think of that -
Christina Young has a site with a lot of stories and images from the east coast - you might be able to figure out what their support crews are doing on those...
http://www.christinayoung.com/pages/scubphot.htm
Big T
I have yet to see that DM in the water - he has gear thoguh - but there is no "statement of function" other than that he will be helping divers get geared up and in and out of the water.
I do presume that he woudl be available to drop in if need be - but he is now in during the dives as a watch person you go look for...
Besides, a lot of people bring scooters so it is not like he could just keep an eye on anyone...
I think I would look for a potential support diver if the situation calls for it - say to meet at the 70 foot stop and switch side gas for the divers coming up.
I guess this could really be very situation specific, maybe the role is not as clear cut, on some dives you may be in the water and on other dives - maybe not.
I would also consider taking a hard look at the issues and causes for the incidents - it seems that a lot of things are preventable without having a guy in the water. And a lot of things would be very hard to do something about if a diver was ready.
I think that if I was to look for a DM on a deep or tech dive charter - I would want to have someone who had well within his ability to go to a specified location - say a deep stop on a line and provide assistance to a distressed diver.
It seem to me that a typical scenarios is an uncontrolled ascent where deco obligations are bypassed and the diver dies on the deck becasue no recompression takes place in time - a diver on the boat with sufficient training would be able to standby and drop that diver back down with the proper gas to continue deco without compromising the buddy's obligation or at least allowing the buddy to return ot his own deco immediately and therefore lessen the chance of two divers in need of aid.
Perhaps a full face mask and com to the ship is in place too for this type of operation.
But Really - the more I think about htis - the more I think it is situation specific - it all depends on the level of the divers you get onboard - we have heard lately that people buy the tech gear and go diving things they have no business diving, if that is the case, I'm sure the DM would perhaps need to lead the divers on a tour...
On the other hand - if you get a crew of people who grew up diving the Andrea Doria every other week - I'm sure they would have some different needs.
Come to think of that -
Christina Young has a site with a lot of stories and images from the east coast - you might be able to figure out what their support crews are doing on those...
http://www.christinayoung.com/pages/scubphot.htm
Big T
