Solo Death Criticism

[Docc]

It almost seems like he wanted to commit suicide.

There's a big difference between "reckless" and "suicidal", although the end result is often the same.

 

[rx7diver]

IMO the OP ... has been flamed too excess.

AfterDark,

I haven't felt at all flamed. I've found interesting the various responses (those that stayed on topic, that is). Indeed, I love to read various opinions, even those I don't agree with, even those that are not exactly about what I thought I was expressing in my initial post. Some of these I learn from.

 

[FritzCat66]

As to the Into the Wild reference, I liked the movie. Didn't read the book. I'm not too familiar with the incident, but if it happened at Vortex, it seems like the guy wasn't looking too hard to get away from people. Vortex is maybe Florida's most commercial spring.

I don't think for either this guy or McCandless it was a matter of just getting away from people. If you saw the movie, you saw where McCandless was a loner about a lot of things. I think for McCandless, Alaska meant more than just solitude; it meant a chance to explore something new and unknown on his own - even if, to make it unknown, he had to simply discard the map. Same with this guy: I think for him he wanted to feel like he was exploring the unknown, even if, to make it unknown, he also had to ignore the existing maps.

In the end, both guys essentially died from willful ignorance - they were both aware that what they were doing was dangerous and that they really needed more training and more skills, but they actively and consciously chose to find everything out on their own. And they both paid the ultimate price.

 

[AfterDark]

AfterDark,

I haven't felt at all flamed. I've found interesting the various responses (those that stayed on topic, that is). Indeed, I love to read various opinions, even those I don't agree with, even those that are not exactly about what I thought I was expressing in my initial post. Some of these I learn from.

I just can't understand how some of the posters got what they got out of your post. It seems that some read into it what they wanted it to say and came away with a totally different take than what was actually written. I hope they don't do that when they read text during their certification classes! Always interesting often funny here at SB

 

[ItsBruce]

IMHO, learning through experience may give you confidence, but it rarely gives you competence. You may do 100 cave dives or solo dives without incident. This will surely give you confidence in your ability to do the next dive. However, when you suddenly find yourself faced with a completely new situation you may not know what to do and you may not have the time to figure it out or the opportunity to do a “do-over.” Others will surely learn from you, but that won’t do you any good.

As someone noted above, the pioneers of cave diving developed the “rules” through trial and error. Unfortunately, many of those perished in the process of discovering what did not work.

I’ve learned a lot of things through mentors. I’ve become quite accomplished at some of them. However, none have involved things where a bad result could not be fixed, i.e. where I might die if something went wrong. One thing I’ve learned about learning through mentors is that you rarely learn all of the nuances and details. You may learn great tips and tricks, but only a formal program will cover everything. (I’m reminded of when my best friend, tried to teach me to ski … he forgot to mention that when getting off the lift, one should make sure one’s poles were clear of the bars on the lift.)

 

[tracydr]

I don't think for either this guy or McCandless it was a matter of just getting away from people. If you saw the movie, you saw where McCandless was a loner about a lot of things. I think for McCandless, Alaska meant more than just solitude; it meant a chance to explore something new and unknown on his own - even if, to make it unknown, he had to simply discard the map. Same with this guy: I think for him he wanted to feel like he was exploring the unknown, even if, to make it unknown, he also had to ignore the existing maps.

In the end, both guys essentially died from willful ignorance - they were both aware that what they were doing was dangerous and that they really needed more training and more skills, but they actively and consciously chose to find everything out on their own. And they both paid the ultimate price.

Ive been wondering if the victim had a history of mental illness. The way he wrote and posted his logs, planned these dives to "answer more questions" makes me wonder about a manic phase. Used to have a bipolar husband. Something about this young man really strikes me as bipolar. Maybe it's the whole breaking the lock and putting his own on the hinged side, doing unbelievable dives with no training. It's kind of like the invincibility that manics get.