Goodenough Springs Exploration Project - Notice of Complaint

[Cave Diver]

I saw Cushman and Irons response on cave divers forum looks like Chuck's blowing smoke and if he invites you to good enough Springs to dive don't expect him to keep his word.

There is some discussion on this going on here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/texas-swamp-divers/312012-surface-interval-scuba.html

 

[Texas Torpedo]

Very sad news. I know a couple of the divers on the project. It's terrible that Chuck and the team have to put their work on hold because of a couple of divers using bad judgement and very poor form.

Those who are interested in the complaint and some more of the facts surrounding it may want to check out the back and forth communications (email and in the thread) between Chuck Noe and Collin Irons:
Goodenough Springs Exploration Project - Notice of Complaint - Cave Diver's Forum - Cave Diving Resource

It looks like they went above and beyond to be respectful to the GSEP team..

Chuck, don't you think it would have been more prudent (and possibly effective) to express any concerns you had prior to their dive directly with them rather than waiting for them to dive and then posting a public complaint about it here, as well as berating and disrespecting them in an email after Collin contacted you post dive. The only thing you ever mentioned was concern about a house boat being moored to the normal boat line, which they stated they would not anchor there.

 

[eandiver]

It seems to me GESP has invested a lot of time, effort and money in surveying, mapping and overall diving the Goodenough spring system. That in itself would make a lot of divers feel that it's "their" system and even though it's a public site they should be able to control who dives it and who doesn't (think Eagles Nest) but it's a public site and as long as you are trained, certified, experenced and respect other teams/groups established equipment you can dive it.
It only takes a small number of accidents/incidents/fatalities to potentially have a site shut down (think Eagles Nest) but based on the emails I have read and other information it seems to me that Cushman and Irons were qualified, asked permission and worked with the GESP.

 

[timle]

Actually by bringing this dirty laundry to air in the public, it appears that might be what GESP wants - to shut down access - and then setup some sort of repugnant system like Wakulla.

It seems as if Mr Noe gave them every reason to think they would be welcome there (not like they need his permission - but still) and then immediately turned around and changed his mind and almost immediately went public. That last move in particular seems to be fairly poor judgment.

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Its a shame that people feel they have the ability to police a public dive site.

 

[SteveC]

I don't know anyone on either side of this issue, but so far we haven't heard any evidence that cushman and Irons do not have the experience to do the dive.

 

[dsatrick]

I know Mr. Cushman and Iron Both instructor Iron a Padi Dsat Trimix instuctor and they both have hundreds of trimix cave dives if not close to a 1000 dives I have had the pleasure of co instructing with both divers. They spent 3 weeks plan the dive with multi deco plans spent over a thousand dollars just on gas mixes. It wasn't a spur of the moment dive trip. Mr. Noe could have just told them don't come instead he he told them come and have a good time then pulled everything out, go to cave divers forum for all the e-mails beween Mr. Noe and Mr. Irons

 

[txdivergrl]

Boy does this post really reek of a lesson to be learned. For comparison I’ll use the movie The Guardian, we have the old wise man (Noe) and the young newbie pup (Cushman). The young pup comes in to learn from the wise old man and someone spouts off about the old man’s records being broken. The old man takes this with a grain of salt and proceeds on with his training of the young pups. Then young day the young pup gets really close to the old man’s record and the intimidation sets in. The old man begins to abusively challenge the young pup which pushes the young pup to try even harder. Unexpected to the old man the young pup begins smashing the old man’s records as an avenue to vent his frustrations he possesses towards the old man for his abusive treatment. Later when the old man has no records left and realizes he is passed his prime, he finally succeeds to the young pup’s abilities and succumbs to the fact that there was another in this world who possessed equal abilities but was driven to exceed the level of his own by his own actions. At this point the wise old man acquires a profound respect for the young pup and his abilities, while at the same time the young pup realized it really wasn’t about proving abilities but gaining a partner in which they both could achieve greatness.

Moral of the story these two could probably make an excellent dive team seeing how they are both pushing to about the same limits and the lack of others interested in pushing the same limits. It seems to me these two would be valuable assets to each other. So who is going to bend first?

 

[Texas Torpedo]

Interesting analogy, however, from what I have heard from those that know both Cushman and Irons, they are hardly inexperienced with both Cave & Tech diving.

A post worth reading by K-Valve relating to this:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4857304-post30.html

 

[M G]

Interesting analogy, however, from what I have heard from those that know both Cushman and Irons, they are hardly inexperienced with both Cave & Tech diving.

A post worth reading by K-Valve relating to this:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4857304-post30.html

K-Valve obviously lacks credibility. While it is true that GSEP scales down operations when the lake water cools, we have conducted many dives during the winter and we certainly do not limit ourselves to wet suits. Our experience diving Goodenough has led us to the conclusion that diving in the winter should generally be avoided when possible and that any dives requiring "longer" decompression should be conducted during the summer. To plan something requiring longer decompression in November is indicative of either ignorance or poor judgement. This is the case at Goodenough for reasons that I will not elaborate on in detail. This whole situation really has us reconsidering how freely we share information with others.

I don't want to make hollow accusations about untrue statements as K-Valve did regarding Chuck, so I offer the link below as photographic evidence of dry suit use by GSEP. John Kelly is clearly diving dry and I don't own a black wet suit.

Goodenough Springs Exploration Project - Photo Gallery - May 2005/Mike Gault in the Well with John Kelly looking on