NACD Instructor standards violation

[karstdvr]

From Dive Library - Aquatech Dive Center and Villas DeRosa Resort - Aventuras Akumal, Mexico

Intro to cave diver fatalities through 1995

Debbie Eaves, 9/1988
Bill Cronin, 12/1988
Brent Potts, 8/1990
Rolf Adams, 4/1992


They happened..

I no longer have access to the accident files, so can not confirm the gear configuration, but these people were all intro certified during the time period when it was single tank.

Intro at Eagles Nest with 195'...hmmm...maybe a little bit beyond a single tank dive. Don't deny they happened,but also the list describes "physiological", which I wonder if this is medically implied, not intro diver back in JB on a scooter that silted out the place and got lost.

 

[Redshift]

One other problem is that the market has expanded, there are many more divers out there, so having more accidents may not mean things are worse. But of course, we also have the recent discussions about the lower quality of some courses being administered today. Therefore it's not trivial to link only the use of singles at Intro level with more safety.

 

[karstdvr]

One other problem is that the market has expanded,.

Actually the market may have contracted. The hey dey for cave instruction was mid to later 90's, this is one of the reasons you saw so many people enter the market like agencies, manufacturers, shops etc etc, because there was money to be made with cave diving becoming more mainstream, and safer. With different recessions we saw the market collapse due to less disposable income. Perhaps we are seeing a return to more training because it is readily available.

 

[ucfdiver]

Intro at Eagles Nest with 195'...hmmm...maybe a little bit beyond a single tank dive. Don't deny they happened,but also the list describes "physiological", which I wonder if this is medically implied, not intro diver back in JB on a scooter that silted out the place and got lost.

At 195ft in that time period I'd wager some good $$$ on physiological referring to deep air, but I know nothing about the accident so that's just a WAG.

 

[karstdvr]

At 195ft in that time period I'd wager some good $$$ on physiological referring to deep air, but I know nothing about the accident so that's just a WAG.

I know you are right. Need to look up that old article about the "Wah Wahs". First time I heard the Wah Wahs I was at 205' at Eagles Nest. We did some stupid sh*t back then.

 

[kensuf]

Intro at Eagles Nest with 195'...hmmm...maybe a little bit beyond a single tank dive. Don't deny they happened,but also the list describes "physiological", which I wonder if this is medically implied, not intro diver back in JB on a scooter that silted out the place and got lost.

If you look at all of the entries, Gerrard listed the majority of the fatalities on that page as physiological, so don't let that column detract from my point:

The deep air intro diver deaths were equally as egregious as the scooter deaths, but they occurred during a time when no agency endorsed intro divers diving in doubles. If it was indeed safer back when intro divers were trained on single tanks, then that safety record probably has less to do with the reduced volume of gas on their backs than it does with the training the diver went through to become an intro diver.

And a big part of that probably goes back to the basic openwater course. "You now have a license to learn" -- I wonder how many people that take a 2 day basic scuba course really understand that they don't know a lot.

---------- Post added May 21st, 2015 at 03:00 PM ----------

I know you are right. Need to look up that old article about the "Wah Wahs". First time I heard the Wah Wahs I was at 205' at Eagles Nest. We did some stupid sh*t back then.

I cannot even count the number of times I dove the Lockwood tunnel on air, but I know it's susbtantially more than the number of times I've dove it on trimix.

Stupid sh*t is right.

 

[karstdvr]

Stupid sh*t is right.

Hey Ken do you remember the story of the big line arrow in the back of Diepolder?????

 

[kensuf]

The AJ?

 

[karstdvr]

Steve Berman and couple others were diving Diepolder 3 quite a bit,but they weren't using mix. They placed a massive line arrow at where the two lines came together, and took a different person with them on a dive. That person remarked about how large the line arrow was, and they told him he was narced, even though he swore it was a massive line arrow.

Wow, just occurred to me, a few days ago was the anniversary of Stevie's accident. I have lost quite a few friends to cave diving,but that one is still a tough one to remember.

 

[kensuf]

Yeah, about two weeks ago. He was a great dude.

I've got another anniversary coming up in about three weeks. A guy that was in the office next to mine at work, and was my instructor when I became an AI, and was in my full cave class with me, drowned from shallow water blackout while freediving in Ginnie Springs on June 10th 1995. Gee, it's been 20 years, damn.