"The best divers" is an subjective concept.
By my definition the best divers are probably mostly military. Guys who are rescue swimmers PJ's, folks who lock out of subs and tap into communications networks. Next are folks who are commercial divers in places like the North Sea and the Golf. Next are some Scientific divers like Pyle, WKKP cavers and some of the folks that move those HIDEF cameras around. Then there are a whole group who you may have dove with without realizing it, but have the tools and mind set to help people they don't even know.
I was involved with a recovery in Chicago. The diver was 400#, and an eyewitness stated he was out of breath carrying his gear to the boat. Had a heart attack in the water. If I was the captain I wouldn't have let him on the boat. Probably would have gotten sued too ah well.
The idea that the recent accidents/deaths can be attributed to poor fitness is a bunch of hooey as there has been zero evidence to support such a statement. With diving accidents, there is rarely ANYTHING to go on other then... drowning.
You aren't serious. I was just reading the 2006 DAN report. And although the data is a bit incomplete, I still think some conclusions can be drawn:
Figure 4.4.2-1 shows the distribution of COD in the judgment of the DAN pathologist who
reviewed each case. Fifty-six cases (64 percent) were designated as drowning; acute heart
condition was cited in 10 cases (8 cardiac dysrhythmia, one myocardial infarction, and one
severe atherosclerosis). Arterial gas embolism was judged as COD in 9 cases (10 percent). COD
was unknown in 10 percent (n=9) because the body was not found (n=4), or COD was not
specified by the medical examiner.
I haven't seen any data stating that fitness doesn't help with Panic. I have looked if anyone has data that indicates fitter people are more likely to panic, I would love to see it.
So I think one can conclude that Panic was involved in at least some of the drowning, and AGE. And one would hope that our medical system is good enough to catch at least some of the cardiac events.
Figure 4.4.5-1 shows the initial triggering event that began the sequence ultimately leading to
death. The most frequent initial event was insufficient gas (14 percent) followed by rough seas
and strong current (10 percent), natural disease (9 percent), entrapment (9 percent), and
equipment problems (8 percent). The triggering event could not be established for 20 percent of
the cases.
Gas, entrapment...fitness might have helped here.
The biggest problem with these stats is they don't look at the data in terms of incidents per dive.
So
Figure 4.3-2 shows the reason for diving. Sixty-three percent of fatalities (n=55) involved pleasure
or sightseeing, 14 percent involved wreck diving, 13 percent were in training, and seven percent
were fishing or collecting game. Two died while retrieving an anchor or lost property. One was
crushed by a boat he was repairing in shallow water. One was sucked into a drain and one
drowned in a strong current while collecting sharks teeth in a river. Ten percent of the cases
occurred during cave diving. Four of these divers were trained and experienced in cave diving,
two were novices, and there was no information on training or previous experience for three
divers. One case occurred in a lake partly covered with ice but not under the ice.
So it looks like certification is almost as dangerous as wreck diving. 13% of fatalities in 2004 were during training. Perhaps we should be doing a better job training our instructors.
On training level:Figure 4.2-3 shows the certification levels and gender for 47 male and 10 female fatalities. Most
had open water or advanced certification. Of six student fatalities, three were males and three
females. One had no formal training.
On BMI:
Figure 4.2-2 shows obesity in the fatality population as measured by body mass index (BMI;
weight in kg divided by height in meters squared). Except for individuals with increased muscle
mass, the level of obesity increases with BMI. BMI data available for 49 fatalities indicated that 26
percent were classified as normal weight (18.5 to <25 kg/m2), and 74 percent were overweight
(BMI 25 to <29.9 kg/m2) or obese (30 kg/m2 or higher).
