General Vortex Incident Discussion

[Kevin Carlisle]

939 posts...

have we shot a scuba tank with a high powered rifle yet?

Not yet. However I think your on to something. I think his tanks exploded on said dive and blew him out of the water and he landed in Mexico.

 

[bigken462]

939 posts...

have we shot a scuba tank with a high powered rifle yet?

Not including those from the two previous threads.

 

[PfcAJ]

I know that the guys at Diverite are touting the benfits of SM to OW divers in liveaboard situations, becuse it will be so easy to pass the tanks up to the divemaster, and that liveabooards are starting to support sidemount. I personaly do not agree with anything in they are saying here. I do a LOT of liveaboards, and never seen anyone slingin' tanks.

Well I'm not the least bit surprised at that, esp since they manufacture and sell SM equipment.

A lot of people do things "because they want to", and its still dumb. If your thought process doesn't go past that, there are bigger issues to be dealt with. I see OW SM training as something born out of cave diving that facilitates getting into small cave. Its not as simple as a single tank, and its more complex than BM doubles, for sure. There is a whole section devoted to SM on more than one dive forum...

 

[ianr33]

Guess what, Exely did die in a cave.

Not my understanding. He had air directly above him (Albeit it a long way above)

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

A lot of people do things "because they want to", and its still dumb. If your thought process doesn't go past that, there are bigger issues to be dealt with. I see OW SM training as something born out of cave diving that facilitates getting into small cave. Its not as simple as a single tank, and its more complex than BM doubles, for sure. There is a whole section devoted to SM on more than one dive forum...

Its exactly as dumb as diving BM doubles in OW. There are several reasons to dive SM in OW, but "because they want to" is as good as it needs to be. Swapping a regulator a couple times a dive is more complex than not. That being said, its far from "complex". If your thought process doesn't go past that, there are bigger issues to be dealt with. I don't know why there's SM sections in every forum, I think its stupid. I feel the same way about RB sections and DIR sections too.



Cave diving has influenced OW diving in many ways... BCs, power inflators, an extra secondary, etc. Anyone using those items of gear are bound for the caves, training or not? BM doubles are still the most common configuration for cave divers, are BM OW divers with doubles bound for the caves, training or not? Thats shoddy logic, at best.

 

[Hetland]

Its exactly as dumb as diving BM doubles in OW.

Agreed.

I don't see what all the chest thumping is about. Is it injuring someone's ego because a noob diver might get mistaken for some 1337 caver? Why should anyone give a crap about someone else's gear anyway?

"boo hoo, some new guy dropped a wad on some tech gear, he shouldn't be allowed because he can't go into caves anyway"... That's what it sounds like.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

...and wouldn't a 2-3 hour dive on a 400' battleship be sweet? In OW limits at that, ala Massachussetts, in what? 20-30' of water

Completely un-tech, completely within NDL.

 

[PfcAJ]

I think we both realize that there is more to SM then switchin' regs.

Time will tell with these things. I personally feel that this guy was given a tool that potentially got him into a ton of trouble. He was given a partial knowledge on a cave diving technique. He clearly thought he had all this stuff figured out (as do many divers that die. Peacock, anyone?), but he didn't.

What was the reason for taking an OW sidemount course again? I know he wanted to, but WHY did he want to, is my question.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

He was obviously interested in cave diving, but I don't know if that was his only reason. Ask him.

I dove BM doubles quite a bit in OW before I took them into a cavern. I'm not stupid enough to take a new configuration into a cave. I dove SM OW a few times before bringing them into cave too.

There's more to diving any configuration than sticking a regulator in your mouth.

This guy was going to get himself into trouble no matter what. He went through a considerable amount of trouble to do so. He was given knowledge on how to use a configuration in OW. I agree he thought he had it all figured out, but blaming an OW course is blindingly tossing the responsibility of his (possible)death far away from where it belongs - with the diver.

 

[Hetland]

...and wouldn't a 2-3 hour dive on a 400' battleship be sweet? In OW limits at that, ala Massachussetts, in what? 20-30' of water

My jaw starts getting tired at about 115 minutes

Have you tried spearfishing with SM? Seems like it would be difficult. How about regular fin kicks? I'm heading in the tech direction, but think doubles would fit my lifestyle better (spearing, photography, wanna-be wreck penetration). I also think SM looks dorky

If it's "better" though, I'd just as soon look dorky(er), learn SM and skip the extra time and expense of doubles. I'm attracted to not carrying 90 pounds of metal on my back and having full access to my 1st stages and valves too.

It's nice to have someone experienced to ask. I'd hate to be lectured on how I'm going to kill myself because I have 160cf of gas at my disposal instead of 80 or 100