General Vortex Incident Discussion

[Kevin Carlisle]

Has anyone mentioned to vortex management what he's doing? Can anyone get him banned?

It would be dfferent if Management there took a stand to prevent ths kind of foolishness. However the new management is kinda lost. My opinions stated earlier still stand. My true feelings are much worse than I put on here.

 

[mike_s]

he's done plenty


YouTube - deepswim's Channel

what's that thing he's got?

what's that thing? you mean the tank with the clear plastic and lights on it?

he mounts his camera on that. The lights are what he used for the video. In the other videos you'll notice the lights move in sync with the camera when it's mounted.

He goes in one with one tank on his back and one tank (and reg) pushing in front of him on that wing.

Has anyone mentioned to vortex management what he's doing? Can anyone get him banned?

what makes you think they don't know he's there?

Vortex as never cared about anyone else not trained going to the gate.... I don't see why they would take an exception with him.

 

[LiteHedded]

what's that thing? you mean the tank with the clear plastic and lights on it?

he mounts his camera on that. The lights are what he used for the video. In the other videos you'll notice the lights move in sync with the camera when it's mounted.

He goes in one with one tank on his back and one tank (and reg) pushing in front of him on that wing.





what makes you think they don't know he's there?

Vortex as never cared about anyone else not trained going to the gate.... I don't see why they would take an exception with him.

nah it's two tanks strapped together end to end. nothing on his back
i got a better look in another video. this guy is going to drown in a cave

 

[mike_s]

nah it's two tanks strapped together end to end. nothing on his back
i got a better look in another video. this guy is going to drown in a cave

I saw the two tanks there... (back to back).

You can't see it there, but also have seen him in one on his back while pushing that other tank/camera setup. his backmount on a plate or harness. I remember it because it had odd colors. Like yellow and orange webbing. ( I think it was orange on one shoulder and Yellow on the other, or something similar). (it just stood out was all... )

 

[shoredivr]

I get the impression from some of the videos that he is very comfortable with breath hold diving, and with Vortex, and therefore has a kind of overconfidence with this cave.

As well, sharing space on a charter boat here in the Great Lakes with guys born in Russia, there seems to be a cultural thing of deeper and faster diving is better, though this is just a sample of 5 divers.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

He brags about getting to the grate(300'p into the cave, 350'p from air) which is at 110' of water, and back to the surface in 4 minutes. Why is he racing? Assuming he's regulating his entry and exit to both be around 2 minutes... thats like an ascent of 50fpm(not including lateral distance), which falls under the old Navy tables... but why brag about it? Would he do it faster if he could?

 

[Jax]

Perhaps Smedley's point was more about the personal remarks, such as appearance.

 

[nakatomi]

After taking a look at a few of the videos in deepswim´s channel, I am nothing but speechless. It seems he is a cool and fun guy to hang out with, probably a realy nice person and way above average diver. But some of the stuff that is going on in the videos, is so irresponsible and unacceptable.
Looking at the "Angy Lisa Dave in Morrison Spring" for example, there they are in a cave, judging from their skills they are for sure not cave certified and without proper equipment. At least 2 of 3 divers in the video have buoyancy skills that are not usually seen beyond open water training, among that a nasty bicycle kick.
What the hell are they doing in a cave? And why is someone who should know better, like this guy, going in there with them?
This is really creepy :-(

 

[Rick Murchison]

Ahem... a little devil's advocate here...
Nik isn't ignorant of standard cave diving practices, standard ascent rates, or other common diving practices any more than Evel Knievel was ignorant of standard motorcycle practices. He's just doing his own thing in the limited environment of the tunnel to the piano room at Vortex, probably the safest cave (by the strict definition of "cave") on the planet. (And, as earlier posts in this thread attest, one of the most treacherous caves on the planet if you press on past the crack). Other than setting a very bad example for new divers, if you look at his actual profiles and practices - and if you have a firm grasp on decompression theory - though at first blush they seem way out of bounds, you won't find anything with much in the way of elevated risk to hang any expectation of an untimely demise on at all.
For example, in this video at about the 2:48 mark he makes a 50' ascent in right at 10 seconds... 300 fpm. Horrors! But under the circumstances... total dive time of under three minutes, most of that tooling around at 20' with probably all of 10 seconds at 50'... no big deal.
No, Nik's just not doing it "right" - but he's having a great time doing it, and his margins are a great deal more than many of y'all are giving him credit for.
Disclaimer: I don't subscribe to any of his diving practices, but he's a big boy and a free man.
Rick

 

[Hetland]

Ahem... a little devil's advocate here...
Nik isn't ignorant of standard cave diving practices, standard ascent rates, or other common diving practices any more than Evel Knievel was ignorant of standard motorcycle practices. He's just doing his own thing in the limited environment of the tunnel to the piano room at Vortex, probably the safest cave (by the strict definition of "cave") on the planet. (And, as earlier posts in this thread attest, one of the most treacherous caves on the planet if you press on past the crack). Other than setting a very bad example for new divers, if you look at his actual profiles and practices - and if you have a firm grasp on decompression theory - though at first blush they seem way out of bounds, you won't find anything with much in the way of elevated risk to hang any expectation of an untimely demise on at all.
For example, in this video at about the 2:48 mark he makes a 50' ascent in right at 10 seconds... 300 fpm. Horrors! But under the circumstances... total dive time of under three minutes, most of that tooling around at 20' with probably all of 10 seconds at 50'... no big deal.
No, Nik's just not doing it "right" - but he's having a great time doing it, and his margins are a great deal more than many of y'all are giving him credit for.
Rick

But, he's essentially running with scissors through the 1st grade playground.

I could care less if he got bent or continued to take personal risks but all of the OW students fresh off their 4th dives are seeing this guy hot-dog around. They might not appreciate the difference between a 300fpm ascent made after a 10 second bottom time, and a 300fpm ascent made after 20 minutes of bottom time. He's setting a bad example and doing it in perhaps the worst place possible, basically the first-grade playground. What's cooler to a new diver, the guy who can maintain perfect buoyancy in four feet of water, or the guy that bounce-dives into a cave and back in four minutes?

I might enjoy dancing around on the Vortex docks during OW classes in my speedo, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

The fact that he's enjoying himself just makes it that much more attractive to people who can't really be expected to know better.