Polish diver dies in world record attempt to 333m

[doctormike]

@doctormike : I do not think that climbing Mount Everest by laypeople is anything different than trying to reach a record depth.

Agree to disagree. Leaving aside how you would determine who is a "layperson" and who is not (I guess if they get paid for diving or climbing?), the difference is that Mount Everest is a specific physical place, and a very special place on the planet. You either want to go there or you don't. You either think that it's worth climbing or it isn't. That's a matter of opinion, and clearly people disagree about it, but plenty of people throw a lot of money in an effort to summit it.

Whereas 333 meters is an arbitrary depth. If that record is reached, then 334 meters will be the sought after depth, and so on and so on. The ONLY thing special about reaching 333 meters on OC scuba is that no one has done it before. Once someone does it, what little point there was in getting there will be gone. For example, suppose this diver had done all of this prep and training to go to 331 meters, short of Gabr's 333.35 depth. Do you suppose that there would have been a big push to get this diver to a depth that was a two meters short of the record? Would there have been promotion and publicity for a non-record dive? Of course not, the reason why he tried it was to break the record. That is the whole point. And once that record is broken, it just resets the bar for the next diver.

Those folks climbing there see the tips of their toes for most part and as soon as they are on the top the start to rush down. They do not have time to enjoy the view from the top , just like deep dive record attempts do not sit down on the bottom looking at fishes...just my 5 cents.

Well, while I also don't see the point in climbing Everest, I wouldn't imply that anyone who does it doesn't get anything out of it.

I am in no way gloryfying or condemnign anything, I am simply pointing out that Sebastian's attempt was not ill-concieved or a gung-ho attempt. There were previous attempts in Garda, with fatalities, from polish divers where the whole enterprise consisted of 3-4 days rush in and out. This one here seemed to be planned to last few weeks with preparatory dives done in no rush whatsoever.

I agree, he wasn't Doc Deep. But that doesn't change anything that I have said upthread.

Nothing different than Ahmed Gabr's attempt, the difference being an outcome that could as well be so diferent if it wasn't for some minute details that derailed everything.

I totally agree with you. Both Sebastian Marczewski and Ahmed Gabr attempted something that I wish people wouldn't do. The fact that one survived and one didn't doesn't change that. As you mentioned, in this one lake several others have died chasing that record. Don't you feel that the glorification of these record attempts has some responsibility for these deaths?

 

[Sbiriguda]

My respect to Sebastian Marczewski for his courage
May he rest in peace

 

[dcbill]

What do people think about the support divers and emergency responers in these attempts? I suppose they have signed on to the dangers just as the would-be record holder but if this is incident analysis then don't you have to consider the potential for one tragedy to multiply quickly?

 

[fsardone]

What do people think about the support divers and emergency responers in these attempts? I suppose they have signed on to the dangers just as the would-be record holder but if this is incident analysis then don't you have to consider the potential for one tragedy to multiply quickly?

Absolutely.
If you read the story of Shaw’s fatal dive, you will see that Don Shirley risked his life going beyond his planned depth in a desperate attempt to save Dave’s life. Then a wrong gas switch started a cascading event that brought Don to almost lose his life.
They had tens of support divers and Verna’s hardest task was managing the support divers exposure in order to have somebody available to go to support the injured diver decompressing, vomiting, completely disoriented ... and they had a deco chamber available on site. So surviving a mishap is luck but especially preparedness.
The least support the greater the risk. Which means to face greater risk you need larger logistical footprint a bigger team a chamber a phisician on site .... an evacuation plan support divers in the water and the whole circus and even then people loose their life. Not sure all of this was in place.

 

[arew+4]

with all due respect,
"This one goes to 11"

With enough time and money i could make a steam train do 300 mph.

There is no point, but it could be done.

 

[Dsix36]

What do people think about the support divers and emergency responers in these attempts? I suppose they have signed on to the dangers just as the would-be record holder but if this is incident analysis then don't you have to consider the potential for one tragedy to multiply quickly?

This really depends on the team members and their plan. I did a deep bounce dive awhile back and I made it perfectly clear to all my team members that they were in NO WAY supposed to violate there assigned depths. If I did not make it back to my stops on time, then leave me to be. No one was to foolishly risk their life to save me.

 

[Hiszpan]

I went to his FB and tried to piece the puzzle of the timeline and preparations for this record dive. Here are the facts:

1) This clip dated 22nd of May shows him at 86m in the configuration that was probably very similar to the attempted record dive. I am in no way an expert, but I can see that , compared to Ahmed Gabr, most of his stages were in front of him as opposed to on the sides and at the back

He was using 20L steel stage tanks.

2) 7th of June - arrived at Limone su Garda in Italy
3) 9th of June - dive at 150m:

4) 10th of June
The custom-made platform for this dive is ready and assembled:

5) 11th of June - 120m dive

6) 15th of June
Dive to 170m

7) 17th of June
Dr Rafal Kijek, hyperbaric medicine specialist joins the team:

8) 19th of June
Another dive (depth undisclosed)

9) 26th of June
Dive to 222m (pictures already posted in previous posts). Dive with italian CCR diver Ivano Predari

10) 2nd of July
Two CCR divers join the support team, Jo Vita and Marek Bochniak. Ivano Predari is the third support diver, also on CCR.

11) 4th of July
Quote: "At the moment we are still running preparatory dives below 220m. Everybody is asking about the date for the record attempt - at the moment there is none. We still have few more weeks of preparations, we have time, take it easy"


So...

a) looks like support divers were three CCR divers. From description of the support team I assume there was only 1 support diver at depth at a time?
I have also learned from the FB posts of support divers, that there was supposed to be another support diver waiting for Sebastian at the 200m mark. Unfortunately, he has not arrived on time to take part in the record dive.
Here is some photos of the support divers:

b) the endavour was supervised by the hyperbaric doctor
c) there were supposed to be more preparatory dives beyond 220m, or at least that's what the "official" line was
d) the guideline used (see video above) seems to be quite thick and tense, I wonder how likely is to get entagled in it. Was it more the case of getting one od those 20L steel stage tanks clipped or wedged somehow against the line?

I know most of you condone those attempts, but I am trying to figure out the mistakes done here, so that we are richer in some knowledge that comes from this tragic event.

To me it looks like the case of "too deep too fast" (not enough dives below 220m) and a crucial decision to not wait for the support diver capable of waiting at 200m mark and proceeding with the dive attempt (body was found at 175 tangled in the guideline). Third factor could be the configuration (if we can speak about one) of having most stage tanks in front of you, between you and the guideline - maybe that contributed to "entaglement"?

Judging from FB talk there might be some more details revealed by the support team in the near future.

 

[Centrals]

A great deal of work had been done by various concerned party to prepare for this dive.
A dive with this magnitude is NEVER to be easy. And whether there is any merit is absolutely irreverent.

RIP

 

[doctormike]

. And whether there is any merit is absolutely irreverent.

Why would you say that? This is the A&I forum, this is exactly what the forum is for. Thinking about this stuff helps save lives.

 

[Landau]

In the photos above they are posing in front of a lot of logos. Sponsors of the record attempt?

I plan to write a few and encourage them to spend their marketing dollars elsewhere as this makes me less inclined to purchase their products.