Fatality on Rosalie Moller wreck

[scubadada]

...People regularly go to 60m on air...

Really?

I'm surprised too. pO2 1.46, gas density 9.0 g/L, ? degree of narcosis. OK

 

[scubadada]

...but I have made potentially fatal mistakes at the surface...

Me too

 

[KenGordon]

I'm surprised too. pO2 1.46, gas density 9.0 g/L, ? degree of narcosis. OK

You should all get out more.

Until Simon and Gavin publicised this research gas density was almost completely ignored. Macho divers would pretend not to get narked. So what would be wrong with 60m on air? A minor excess of ppO2?

With what we know today that seems like a bad idea but people who have been successfully diving that way for years, or are young, poor, and immortal, will happily do it, especially in easy conditions like the Red Sea. The real alternative is a rebreather and that is a lot of work.

 

[scubadada]

You should all get out more.

Until Simon and Gavin publicised this research gas density was almost completely ignored. Macho divers would pretend not to get narked. So what would be wrong with 60m on air? A minor excess of ppO2?

With what we know today that seems like a bad idea but people who have been successfully diving that way for years, or are young, poor, and immortal, will happily do it, especially in easy conditions like the Red Sea. The real alternative is a rebreather and that is a lot of work.

And if we read about them as a scuba mortality, we will be sad. We all get away with a lot of stuff, I have done my share. I'm 66 years old now. I've become just a bit more conservative.

 

[wgw04024]

All the diver had to do was NOT go after the weight pocket. At the end of a dive at 20m, and making a decision to go after a pocket that you know you can't catch until it hits 50-55m, is beyond comprehension for me.

Even if I'm under weight, and I wasn't beyond rec limits and was only there 15 minutes, the likelihood of taking a hit without a safety stop, assuming a normal ascent rate would be low (imho). That would certainly be preferred compared to going deep, low on air, in bad viz, by myself, to rescue something I didn't need even if properly weighted in the first place.

It seems that some people think about taking a hit as an automatic and do things (like this) because they feel that way. I will take air source and a close buddy over most anything else.

Lastly, this forum is the one thing that has made me think about all these types of things before and during my dives. I feel it let's me grow as a diver even when I'm not diving regularly.

 

[vjongene]

Not necessarily true.

@vjongene can confirm if this dive was actually more challenging or not...

Actually, we did a dive on the Thistlegorm that I thought was more challenging, because there was a ripping current and a constant risk of being swept away, even though the depth wasn't an issue. IIRC D. did not do this dive, though, as I remember K. being with different buddies (and being a PITA on the ascent line).

 

[vjongene]

Is there any chance there was a "Imperial versus Metric" issue with the borrowed computer?

No, everyone on the boat was using metric (no Americans in sight).

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

My better half normally carries 7-8 kilos in an old 2mm shorty and she's not fat. 10 kg sounds a bit much but without knowing the victim's shape and size I wouldn't call it "yikes a lot".

Im a fairly big buy and even i dont carry anywhere near that amount of weight, it seems way excessive.

diving a 5mm i take 2KG's, dry suit around 5.

 

[ginti]

Hello ginti,

...

It is tangential to the topic, but at least we can learn something. Thanks a lot, I'll read the article as soon as I have a bit of time.

A last question on this topic: is there any test I can do to check if I am a retainer or not? if yes, do you think it makes sense to do it?

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

Interesting. I wasn't aware of how tightly controlled things are there. Greece used to be like this...but that was mainly due to trying to keep "permit" revenue coming in. No idea if it's still like that. In Turkey, you used to be at risk of learning that your shore diving ingress/egress route had been declared a "restricted military area" between said ingress and egress. That was always a good time.....surface intervals are always more fun with the troops.

I would not say its as tight as it may sound, i have traveled to the area many times for diving and in a lot of places the safety rules are sketchy at best.

When im asked by locals here i always say that they should not go unless they are very confident in the water because supervision is scarce.

Im aware that some dive ops are strict with the rules but there is also another side to this