Let me preface this by saying that I have not yet been trained in deco or any sort of penetration diving. I'm not looking for training on-line, but I just finished reading "The Last Dive" and was a bit struck by the possibility of potential reduction of DCI-related morbidity & mortality if divers in trouble were able to communicate with the surface.
I don't want to bring up any specific accident, but the type in question is one in which a diver requiring substantial decompression finds himself on the bottom, separated from his buddy, w/ inadequate gas to complete decompression. Let's not talk about how this would never happen without proper planning & buddy awareness; let's discuss the type of scenario such as Chowdhury's description of his own accident....i.e., the "I f*&#ed up" dive.
Chowdhury suggests that if full face masks w/ built-in communication devices were utilized more often, perhaps divers in trouble would be able to communicate their problems to their buddy and/or the surface.
I'd like to consider something else, which may well be standard operating procedure for all I know. Seems to me that if a diver (this is all assuming deep open water, by the way...not cave) had a DSMB that is ONLY used for emergency (and discussed this w/ the surface team), s/he could deploy the DSMB alerting the surface that there is a problem. Heck, a small slate could even be permanently mounted on the ascent line immediately below the marker, and if the diver was capable, a message could be written to the surface support crew, e.g., "out of air, need 2 tanks air." Markers without a message could alert a surface diver to descend directly to the diver (heck, just follow the line), or those w/ a message could be acted upon.
I realize that this would not be useful for the diver trapped within a wreck and would not be useful in a cave, but I was surprised by the number of deaths or near-misses that could've been prevented...even after the diver has screwed up....by surface support coming to the rescue.
And yes, of course the diver should be with a buddy who can share gas, etc. What I'm describing would not REPLACE current procedures, but would be for that dire emergency where someone has royally messed up & is fighting to survive.
A downside, I realize, is carrying an extra DSMB/slate which would only have emergency use...that is, hopefully would never be used in one's career but would be carried on every dive. Perhaps a way to alter the diver's standard DSMB to flag the surface of an emergency instead of an ascent line?
Sorry about the long-winded post. I thought "The Last Dive" was a very interesting read, and it got me thinking about a lot of aspects of diving that I had not yet thought about (and obviously have not been trained for, as previously mentioned).
Jim
