Polish diver dies in world record attempt to 333m

[fbrissette]

eurocopter as350 (albeit above the rated service ceiling)

... and with all deadweight removed from the cabin, and having to rely on updrafts to make it. Quite the extreme ride.

 

[Centrals]

Some more information surfaced, some of it must be based on Sebastian's camera recording (Der letzte Tauchgang von Sebastian Marczewski - Diveinside News)

After Google-translating (German) here's what transpires:

- dive started at 6:15 AM
- he had several "dive maps" to cover different scenarios - I presume this means several deco profiles to follow according to situation
- he has reached 333m within 13 minutes
- in the meantime TWO support divers went into water and reached 50m and 100m (that's a correction from my earlier assumption that there was only 1 at a time in the water).
- camera recording shows steady ascent with calm breathing until 176m
- at 176m he get's stuck in the rope - speculation is that one or more of his huge 20L stage bottles got hooked up in the ascent line. The guess is that relatively strong deep current that day, which was probable very strong at the time of a dive could have pushed Sebastian into the rope. He still tried to free himself but unsuccesfully - he got stuck.

So he has reached his goal at 333m only to get stuck at relatively shallow depth of 176m on his return to the surface!
What a pity.
So the depth is NOT impossible and is doable with better deep support.

I can see someone will try again or may be even deeper!

 

[kelemvor]

Not on open circuit!

Going in a sub is like taking a helicopter to the top of Everest...

Yes, not on open circuit. Personally, I think open circuit scuba is a poor choice for any dive involving mixed gasses other than nitrox. I don't think I'd compare it to using a choppah, either. They use the gear that they feel is necessary. AFAIK they aren't wearing shorts, climbing shoes, and a bag of chalk. They use ropes and carbiners and special exposure gear and most of the time oxygen and probably all kinds of other gear.

In a free society, people will do what they feel compelled to do. Some folks feel complected to climb mountains, some people feel compelled to dive. Some subset of those want to do "the ultimate" at whatever they do, or perhaps even be "the best" as that individual might define it. Personally, I have no problem with either. If someone wants to do something likely to kill them, more power to 'em. Those things aren't for me, but who am I to say that they can/can't or even that they should/should not do the thing.

Most often the people getting uppity about someone doing something likely to result in death on scuba because those people are making money from scuba in some way (or perhaps working in scuba but not making money...). They perceive the deaths as a potential threat to the sport in one or more ways and so try to dissuade others from doing risky dives. The trouble is that those folks aren't wrong about the deaths being a potential threat. It's a tough call.. promote freedom or protect your revenue stream/job. OK, so for most it's not that tough of a call.

 

[Storker]

Most often the people getting uppity about someone doing something likely to result in death on scuba because those people are making money from scuba in some way (or perhaps working in scuba but not making money...). They perceive the deaths as a potential threat to the sport in one or more ways and so try to dissuade others from doing risky dives. The trouble is that those folks aren't wrong about the deaths being a potential thread. It's a tough call.. promote freedom or protect your revenue stream/job. OK, so for most it's not that tough of a call.

There are other reasons for disliking that kind of stuff, and I can think of at least two: The meaningless waste of life, and the waste of rescue and recovery resources it is to rescue or recover someone who clearly challenged Darwin. While I'm quite fine with paying for rescue and recovery through my tax bill (which is how we do it around here: life-critical rescue and recovery is free of charge for the victim), I reserve the right to get a mite peeved when it's used for that type of operations.

 

[Hiszpan]

Got some more FB chatter info on this event.

Apparently Sebastian's deposited tanks' lines, along the descent line, were the entanglement culprit. He first got tangled up in those deposits at a deeper depth, but managed to get himself free. Then, he got tangled again at 179m and couldn't get himself free.

Probably an easy task at 20m with 1 stage tank, but something much different at 179m with 15 stage bottles around you and having just visited 333m ...

 

[chillyinCanada]

Has anyone found out why Frederic didn't show up that day?

And why Sebastian decided to go for it anyway?

 

[Hiszpan]

Has anyone found out why Frederic didn't show up that day?

And why Sebastian decided to go for it anyway?

Nothing yet. To give a bit more wider view on the whole situation, I will give a little more details about Sebastian himself.
He was quite "controversial" figure in the polish diving community. He has claimed records and feats, that had a dubious documentation. There were even articles on some websites (divers24.pl, jollydiver.pl), that have undermined logically one of his most famous feat, which was crossing the deepest lake in Poland (Hancza, 105m) on the bottom. He has submitted inconsistent dive profiles that some people were very critical off.

Now, and this is only my speculation from what I read on FB, I think it might be probable that he was pushing for the attempt that day despite his team advising him not too (weather? lack of preparatory dives?). It might be that Frederic didn't show up as he didn't want to risk his own life at 200m in not so ideal conditions (strong current?). Everything else (entanglement,death) is just a derivative of those poor decisions, that were extrapolated by the extreme of this dive.
Again, it's just my speculation.

On a side note, I don't know how much of a help can anyone be at 179m when you and your 15 stage tanks get tangled in a line. Only people who dive to the depths could shed some light on this.

 

[fsardone]

On a side note, I don't know how much of a help can anyone be at 179m when you and your 15 stage tanks get tangled in a line. Only people who dive to the depths could shed some light on this.

Not sure at 179 mt (never been there and no intention to find out), but at the bottom of a cave or in a dark water dive, having a buddy disentagle you while you relax allows you to save gas and not to build up CO2. I guess that is much more important at 179 than at 60 (were I was glad I had a buddy to help me free my stages from the monofilament entangled guideline ...)

 

[Kay Dee]

First, condolences to his family and friends.

He was quite "controversial" figure in the polish diving community. He has claimed records and feats, that had a dubious documentation.

Reminds me of another French chap who was proven to have done the same years ago out in Asia.

On a side note, I don't know how much of a help can anyone be at 179m when you and your 15 stage tanks get tangled in a line.

To answer the first part of your question as to how much help a safety diver could be (at even 200m, where a safety diver was originaly scheduled to be), I'd say it could be the difference between life and death.

Now, although having never been deeper than 130m on OC (wreck survey dives in early-mid 90's, not record attempts), but having kept abreast of some very deep dives, I cant get my head around why someone in this instance would have 15 stage bottles around them at 200m!

Please correct me if I am wrong, but what am I missing? Isnt that figure of 15 the total of what he needed for the dive (or at least what he needed until he was 'shallow'), not what was around him at 200m? Be that as it may, given what he was carrying, you wouldn't need 15 to get seriously entangled anyway, but I still wonder why 15 @ 200m is being cited.

 

[CuzzA]

Could be that in order to set the record you need to bring all of your gas down and back up since this is an OC scuba record. I would think having pre placed stages would not make it a true traditional scuba record.