Polish diver dies in world record attempt to 333m

[W W Meixner]

Some newest "info" from FB chatter:

- weather was bad that day at lake Garda
- there were waves and strong currents
- the whole team was not in agreement that day and was advising Sebastian not to attempt that day, but he had none of it
- Frederic Swierczynski was supposed to be the missing diver supporting at 200m, he failed to show up
- stage bottles along the guide line were not properly staged to the point that Sebastian got entangled twice in his own equipment lines

H.

Not wanting to belabour this post...and with all due respect...if your above post is accurate...it clearly indicates that of all the protocols/contingencies that were planned for the record attempt date...getting back safely to the platform wasn't one of them...

You've narrated five bullet points...any one of which more than justified cancellation...

There is a ''line''...and we all must make sure we're standing on the right side of it...and not the wrong side...most of the time...standing on the right side of it...is difficult enough...

W...

 

[scubaozy]

What happened to Fredric?

If I read correctly, he has not showed up to the record attempt, so there was no safety diver at 200m.

- weather was bad that day at lake Garda

When I look at the weather report of last days, it does not look too bad..

Past Weather in Lake Garda Region, Italy — Yesterday or Further Back

 

[Hiszpan]

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.
- the 100m diver descended as mentioned before to 150m, saw motionless light down below, was trying to give light signals but there was no response. He couldn't go deeper due to his gas set up and strong current making it very difficult ayway.
- both support divers completed "long deco hours" and exited the water, informin EMS services


@Ucarkus : you are right - it doesn't seem to be any bad weather on that website. Garda is surrounded by mountains though and weather there could be unpredictable, albeit short-lived.

 

[chillyinCanada]

If I read correctly, he has not showed up to the record attempt, so there was no safety diver at 200m.

When I look at the weather report of last days, it does not look too bad..

Past Weather in Lake Garda Region, Italy — Yesterday or Further Back

I meant why didn't he show up? Has that not been said? Did he not show up at 200m or did he not show up that day?

 

[Hiszpan]

I meant why didn't he show up? Has that not been said? Did he not show up at 200m or did he not show up that day?

Failed to show up on that day for the dive.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Failed to show up on that day for the dive.

One must wonder . . .

 

[Sbiriguda]

@Ucarkus : you are right - it doesn't seem to be any bad weather on that website. Garda is surrounded by mountains though and weather there could be unpredictable, albeit short-lived.

I have read that the record attempt was in Limone sul Garda, in the northern part of the Garda Lake. In that area the hills on the lake shores are like the walls of a canyon, if a strong wind rises in the direction from the north to the south the currents underwater can become very strong for a lake.
It might be Marczewski underevaluated this and other risk factors
R.I.P.

 

[Hiszpan]

I have read that the record attempt was in Limone sul Garda, in the northern part of the Garda Lake. In that area the hills on the lake shores are like the walls of a canyon, if a strong wind rises in the direction from the north to the south the currents underwater can become very strong for a lake.
It might be Marczewski underevaluated this and other risk factors
R.I.P.

I have found a picture on Sebastian's FB, presumably taken on the 3rd of July, which shows conditions on Garda (and 2 support divers):

Limone is at the northern, very narrow end of the lake. The platform must be somewhere close to Limone, at the northern tip of the lake, as otherwise they would have chosen a different base if it was far from the deep spot.
That day (3rd of July) wind was at similar strength to what happened at night and early morning of the 6th of July (day of the attempt) - gusts to 17km/h. Wind was from the North on that day.

I'm thinking that in a long, narrow and deep body of water with wind blowing parralel from the shore, pushing the water away from land on the surface must create a strong, upward current in the depths to replenish the surface water. That could confirm strong current descriptions.

 

[Centrals]

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.

What is the merit to climb Everest? It has been done back in 1953. It has been done with no supplementary O2 . It has been done with Alpine style.
How many people have summitted Everest? Several thousands.
How many divers have gone beyond 300m in OC without surface support? You can count with one hand.

Remember what Mallory said about climbing Everest?

 

[Chidiver1]

It's not my place to comment on specific issues that were told to me. As far as publicly available info goes, I know that Nuno had a lot of back issues afterwards, which is fairly general knowledge. Nuno had "The Monster" on his back the whole dive, Ahmed decided to go to side mounted deco as soon as possible, getting weight off his back. He also did, in his words, "underwater yoga" during deco to assist blood flow. The theory was that the continuous pressure on the back may lead to gas perfusion issues, basically leading to localised DCS if I understood correctly. Ahmed said he definitely had an easier time of it post dive wrt back issues than Nuno did.

Sorry, should have been more specific about what I was asking. I wasn't asking for anything that he told you in confidence, nor would I ask.

Your post made me intrigued as to the after effects(physilogically) of such a dive. I never really thought about it because I never knew people really suffered long term issues after completing such a dive. That is until you made your post. Thanks for the insight as not too people know such a diver.