New SCUBA depth record

[fins wake]

Difference is that Mark doesnt pretend to be a hero

A similar comment was passed recently by an acquaintance of mine (a technical instructor in his own right) who did a course with Mark some while back. Mark is apparently a very down-to-earth person and not macho at all.

For what it's worth, and since the thread has been resurrected once again.

PS! By no means have all - or even most - COMEX depth records been set in a chamber. The deep sea record Hydra 8 series was for example set in the sea off Marseilles:
http://www.comex.fr/Fiches techniques/D01064E.pdf (in English, excellent source!)

 

[Paul Evans]

Couple of points nobody has mentioned and some corrections

1, Mark is claiming a record of 313 meters in open sea 35 miles off shore. I belive he dived on a weighted line, In these kind of conditions the line could have been pulled out of shape by currents reducing the depth by anywere from 0 to 50m. Assuming he used a marked line!!

2, There are only a few depth gauges that are truly acurate at this depth, Did he have one?

3, He did not stay at 313m for 15 minutes, at this point he was already behind shedule and went up to 249m, His first deco stop

4, He was keeping oxygen high PPO2 was 1.6plus

5, on his prevoius deep dive he spent 3 hours being held on the line by his support divers, in his words "Covulseing and vomiting from the effects of counter-diffusion-induced DCS

Is the man mad. No
is he stupid. No
Should he have attemped this dive, IMO No
Should this type of dive be attemted, IMO Yes

He is very experienced and new the risks, whats drives people to do this, God only knows, Why do people sail around the world single handed, trek to the poles etc. etc.
Why? Because its there!

Is this a genuine 313M????, Need a lot more info.

If it is, I take my hat of to the man and wish him well.

 

[Paul Evans]

More info on Mark can be found at

http://www.divernet.com/profs/1100ellyatt.htm

The www.divernet.com site has more info on him, do a search on him in this site.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

I believe the deepest working dive was a pipeline tie-in @ 1800 fsw. in the N. Sea, back in the 80's.

The French ( Comex ) & American ( Duke University ) took dry dives to the 2200' range but bottom mix complexities & the move to deep water robotics in offshore oilfield drilling & production effectively nixed the zeal for ever deeper manned intervention in the ocean.

All you tekkies out there should pay homage to those early pioneers ( 60's & 70's ) in gas mix diving - many lives were lost as they literally wrote the book on the subject as their missions ( Military ) & their tasks ( Commercial Diving operators ) took them into ever deeper waters.

The deep gas diving song has long since been sung by these men, all those who follow do so in their long shadow...

Regards,
D.S.D.