Rob Davie's accident. (aka. BigJetDiver)

[D_O_H]

And that's about all I have to say on the subject, and certainly all I want to write about. I'll go for a walk on the beach and watch the sun set, remember a friend. Tears me up inside that the old sod got complacent, I miss him a lot. Every time I come here, or to RBW, every time I start up IM. Every time I eat at the Fill Station we used to go to. Every time I think of him.

I don't have anything to contribute, other than thanks to you for participating in this exercise. I did not know Rob, but found myself very troubled by his accident nonetheless. I think it's losing the presence of someone I enjoyed seeing here online as well as being reminded of my own mortality that's got me more shaken up than I should be.

Following along with this analysis has been very therapeutic for me and I think it has left me with some valuable lessons learned. I don't think the discussion would have been nearly as useful without your participation and, from what I can surmise, some input from Rob's dive buddy through you.

For whatever it's worth, I'm going to take the following lessons from this:

(1) Try to resist complacency as much as possible. I will never be good enough to carry out a dive without a fully functioning set of essential gear. I have violated this rule on several occasions in the past with no adverse consequences, but hope that this will serve as a reminder not to do it anymore.

(2) Take care of myself. Exercise. Eat healthy food. Drink water. Stretch on long flights.

I say this as I'm sitting on my sofa, sipping a beer and eating a cold slice of pizza...

Maybe I'll start tomorrow.

R.I.P. Rob and thanks to everyone who participated in this thread.

--Scott

 

[caveseeker7]

Any idea how it got there?

That's the part that puzzles everyone who knew Rob and the rebreather.
Complacency? Didn't get many dives in lately? Used different equipment and different set-ups with it? Nobody knows, and I so much rather not dwell on it.

Is the presumption that it fell in accidentally and was not noticed?

As I said above, no way. It's a tight fit, had to be inserted deliberatly.

Am just having a hard time picturing this.

Imagine a piece of pipe. A second piece tightly fit inside. Gas in on one side. Gas out on the other. Just inside the the pipe are one way valves sp the gas can only flow in one direction. They have their own mounts and are removable for maintainance and replacement.

In between a hole in the pipes the diver breathes to and from. The inner pipe can be rotated to misalign the openings to the mouthpiece, thus closing the loop.

The foreign object was inserted on the exhalation side, pushed in all the way, then the one way valve was replaced. It's a tight fit, but is does fit.

Hope that helps you picture it, it's a picture I rather forget.

 

[caveseeker7]

Thanks Scott.

(1) Try to resist complacency as much as possible. I will never be good enough to carry out a dive without a fully functioning set of essential gear. I have violated this rule on several occasions in the past with no adverse consequences, but hope that this will serve as a reminder not to do it anymore.

Not new, but nevertheless important, can't be said often enough.

If it was indeed CO2 that took a major part in this as I believe, it's a danger that is in no way exclusive to rebreathers. Hypercapnia is usually associated with them as the chemical scrubber is supposed to remove it from the loop. Which on occasion doesn't happen.

But the CO2 is only dangerous once it builds up in the body. Breathholding will cause that, skip breathing will cause that. Poor performing regulators with high WOB will cause that. Could be a POS to start out with, badly maintained, wrongly assembled. I said that before, don't ever think because you're on OC the same dumb mistake won't bite you in the ***.

Hypercapnia can happen during freediving, OC diving, rebreather diving. The more oxygen is metabolized, the more CO2 is generated. The less you vent your lungs the more it builds up. it's as simple as that, and under pressure it doesn't take much of it to cause trouble.

 

[H2Andy]

So, brief version of what I believe happened:
- Foreign object obstruction due to complacency
- Hypercapnia due to obstruction
- Heart attack due to CO2 and physical stress/exhaustion
- Drowning due to heart attack

given the known facts, i don't think we'll ever get a better explanation than this.

i think it's very likely this is what happened

 

[scubapolly]

Stupid question:
What is WOB?

I've racked my brain to come up with what this acronym might stand for, and I'm still clueless.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Stupid question:
What is WOB?

I've racked my brain to come up with what this acronym might stand for, and I'm still clueless.

Work Of Breathing

Tobin

 

[mdb]

given the known facts, i don't think we'll ever get a better explanation than this. i think it's very likely this is what happened

H2Andy: Earlier in this thread I questioned its purpose. You, Lamont, and others, pointed out the value of analyzing and speculating. After finishing reading this morning I now know that this has value and lessons. As others have pointed out BJD would, no doubt, agree.