John Jack fatalities out of Montauk, NY

[vgarrison]

I am a reporter in East Hampton, NY.

I do not wish to intrude in this forum as something like a stalker, but we have to write an article about two fatalities off the John Jack in Montauk in five days. We wouldn't be a newspaper if we didn't.

If anyone would like to contact me with reasonable information about diving and Michael LaPrade and Timothy Barrow and what the possibilities for what went wrong might have been, no armchair criticism, I'd be really grateful. There is absolutely no agenda here other than trying to explain to our readers what might possibly have gone wrong, no criticism of anyone necessary or desired.

Accidents happen. My husband and older son are both certified resort divers (which of course is vastly different).

Just trying to learn about what the risks of tech diving are (still trying to sort out trimix and rebreathing and such).

Thanks guys. Sorry if this is intrusive, especially at what is no doubt for some a very difficult time.

Best,
V

 

[vgarrison]

Okay, my husband just corrected me, they're NADI certified, but it's still a long way off....

 

[Cave Diver]

Virginia,

In one of the incidents, the buddy of one of the victims said on another forum that he was going to post an account of what happened after he had a chance to compose himself and get himself together. One of the things that we, as divers, find problematic with press reports of accidents is that they almost always contain inaccuracies. While I commend you for trying to get an accurate story, and I can appreciate an impending deadline, I think your readers would be much better served if you waited for the buddy to publish his account, and contacted them for permission to repost all or part of it in your article.

Asking people who weren't there to speculate or draw conclusions is likely to do nothing more than get an outcry about how dangerous diving is and does a disservice to the thousands of dives that are safely completed each and every day, and the time and money spent by people to get the training and equipment to do this type of diving. It's a lot like plane crashes - it's not news until something goes wrong, which is the exception, not the rule.

My suggestion is to wait for the facts, rather than rush to try and make a story out of speculation and wild guesses.

As far as the risks of tech diving go, the often used idiom is that the most dangerous part of the dive is driving your car to get to the boat.

 

[vgarrison]

my work email is (removed)

 

[Cave Diver]

P.S. The certification agency is probably either NAUI or PADI. I'm not aware of any agency called NADI.

 

[vladimir]

We often speculate on the causes of scuba accidents. It is controversial here, on an internet forum, where readers have little expectation of accuracy (for the most part). In an ideal world we would expect more from the press, though I realize those expectations have eroded quite a bit. CaveDiver makes a great suggestion--wait for an actual first-hand account of the event. And once you have a draft article, why not let a technical diver read it before you publish it, thus avoiding some of the obvious errors that we see so regularly.

Get this right, Virginia, and you might get promoted to the society column.

 

[vgarrison]

Not nice. Talk about armchair.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

P.S. The certification agency is probably either NAUI or PADI. I'm not aware of any agency called NADI.

She got the story screwed up already. Can't ANYBODY just spew out a bunch of facts about how a tech diver or two could get killed? I mean, we wouldn't want NADI to get a bad rap for the mistakes of a diver, would we?


Q: Why did the boat sink? A: it filled up with water

Q: Why did the diver die? A: his heart stopped.

 

[rhwestfall]

First and foremost, none of us were there. Secondly, none of us are the individual who experienced the event. Even a first hand observer may not know what happened. Wait until the medical reports are released, the equipment is checked out, and more light can be shed on this matter.

Yes, deadlines.... Because of those, most of the time the discussion is wrong, and terribly damaging to those closest to the victim and/or the sport.

The sport has its dangers, but those are mitigated by the "rules" (training). The problem is, as in just about everything, wrong things can still happen. In the aquatic environment, we are not equipped as humans to survive naturally, and the probability of a horrific outcome is elevated.

As was said above, if/when you get a draft completed, PLEASE PLEASE, PLEASE go over it with a competent & trained diver. GET IT RIGHT!

 

[vladimir]

Not nice.

The society column crack? I was joking (hence the smiley face ). The rest was actually intended to be helpful. You'll need a thicker skin if you want to cover Diddy's White Party next summer.
:joke: