Rob Murphy's Day in Court

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Rob's a tank diver. He now uses a scooter to get him around.

As per Rob's testimony, he saw the boat coming. He tried to get the attention of the captain, to no avail. So he started to kick to the right to get out of the path of the Master Plan and he succeeded. The captain of the Dykoke tried to put his boat between the Master Plan and the divers. That's when the Master Plan made a hard right, sped up and ran over Rob. Barry did dump, dive and balled up. His fins got hit by the boat.

I'm going to start practising that manuver. Dump and Dive! It scares the crap out of me to be on the surface in West Palm waiting for the dive boat to pick me up. I have a 6 ft. SMB with a dive flag attached at the top. I deploy it on a reel BEFORE I leave the bottom.
 
I'm going to start practising that manuver. Dump and Dive! It scares the crap out of me to be on the surface in West Palm waiting for the dive boat to pick me up. I have a 6 ft. SMB with a dive flag attached at the top. I deploy it on a reel BEFORE I leave the bottom.
Some good instructors teach eye level buoyancy with empty BC & 500 psi 80 cf tank. I carry a few pounds more so I can always sink if needed. I might want to work on speed.
 
Hi DiveGal.

So was it pretty much established at trial that Master Plan was on auto pilot? I know there was some discussion that the Master Plan might have been coming in to get numbers for the site.

I met Petra after it happened and I seem to recall she said something to that effect. I don't know if that is what the people on the Dykoke assumed or if it was after the fact supposition. In any case I did not press her for details.

My mother searches for the silver lining in everything. I'm going to find one here:

The outrage, public outcry and notoriety associated with this outrageous and tragic act will save lives.
The credit goes to Rob's friends everywhere, but mostly you guys on Spearboard and John et al. at Scubaworks who got the word out. Also credit to Rob and his folks for continuing to speak out and put a face to the cause. Weaker people might be inclined to wallow in self pity. And all of the divers around the world who are here to contribute.

Rock on Rob!
 
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Rob's a tank diver. He now uses a scooter to get him around.

As per Rob's testimony, he saw the boat coming. He tried to get the attention of the captain, to no avail. So he started to kick to the right to get out of the path of the Master Plan and he succeeded. The captain of the Dykoke tried to put his boat between the Master Plan and the divers. That's when the Master Plan made a hard right, sped up and ran over Rob. Barry did dump, dive and balled up. His fins got hit by the boat.

I'm going to start practising that manuver. Dump and Dive! It scares the crap out of me to be on the surface in West Palm waiting for the dive boat to pick me up. I have a 6 ft. SMB with a dive flag attached at the top. I deploy it on a reel BEFORE I leave the bottom.

What I typically do, is wear enough lead so that I will sink, even with an empty tank. As I complete my safety stop and start the final ascent from 10 feet, I dump all the air from my Bc and KICK to the surface. I hope that if I find a boat bearing down on me, I can exhale and give a stroke with my arms and quickly sink back down, feet first. Being boyant on the surface, dumping air and then rolling or kicking back down is much slower in my experience.

Once on the surface, I can do a quick scan and make sure things look safe before I establish positive buoyancy.

Rob is a courageous guy and is handling this situation much better than 99.99% of the people out there would.
 
Rob's a tank diver. He now uses a scooter to get him around.

There is a paraplegic diver around here who does not have the use of her legs and she wears webbed gloves instead of fins. They apparently work really well. Rob may want to look into those as well in addition to the scooter...
 
The fact that the Dr fled the scene and had his attorney waiting at the dock should stipulate some type of criminal negligence...I am not talking simple misdemeanors!
 
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