Tribute to Dave Shaw

[John C. Ratliff]

[h=1]"To Boldly Go" (2005) Dave Shaw's Final Dive [/h]This link goes to a half-hour video tribute to Dave Shaw, who lost his life in a cave diving body recovery attempt. Because he was wearing a helmet cam, they were able to record his last minutes in the dive. This dive was to 270 meters (886 feet in depth) using rebreather technology. I present this link without comment, so you can view it and comment as you see fit. It is well worth the half-hour viewing.

SeaRat

 

[durham64]

I noticed that this was posted in Dec 2012 and the accident happened in 2005 so my comments may be way too late. However, I would just like to say that I watched the 30 minute presentation and am truly sorry for Dave Shaw, his wife and children. He was trying to do an honorable thing and lost his life in the process. My heart goes out to everyone involved in this horrible event, but in the end, Mr. Shaw did what he set out to do, albeit in a different way, he returned the body of his fellow diver to the grieving parents. For this, he is a hero.

 

[Mike.D]

Although I agree his was trying to do the right thing, I believe he was wayyyy out of his league and looking for glory and fame. Seriously, a body recovery to 270m?????? Get real.

 

[EmJay]

Wow, talk about jumping to conclusions. How did you get to the conclusion that Dave Shaw did the dive for "glory and fame"? I have read quite a bit about this incident and I didn't come to this conclusion at all. Rather keep your snide comments to yourself. If you want to discuss the dive plan or how they planned to deal with physical work at 270m, rather do that than attack the character of man who died trying to recover a body of a fellow cave diver.

The diving community in South Africa is very small. The cave diving community is even smaller, so this incident resonated (and still does) through the entire community.

I did my training in SA, and this incident was brought up in my OW class to demonstrate the danger of getting out of breath / dangers of deep and cave diving. At the very least, this tragic incident will help future divers.

 

[Mike.D]

I'm sorry if that sounded snide that was not my intention at all.
I read multiple accounts of the incident including a written report from his rescue diver who is now suffering from lifelong medical issues due to the bends. My point of view is exactly that, a point of view.
A story I read about Dave Shaw which detailed his diving experiences (I am not 100% sure of its authenticity but if I can find it I'll post it) reported that as a pilot with Cathy Pacific, Dave Shaw did not have a lot of deep diving experience behind him and his friends commented on how much of an adrenalin junkie he was, always wanting to go deeper and push his limits further. It mentioned that Dave read about the body of a diver which was discovered in the hole and had made up his mind to recover it regardless of the extreme depth.
Again, I cannot quote the exact article nor confirm its authenticity.

---------- Post added May 8th, 2014 at 11:23 PM ----------

I suggest you read a more indepth article of Dave Shaw here http://www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php?page_id=695

 

[iamrushman]

regardless; he tried a noble endeavor and lost his life........my heart goes out to him, his family and friends...

 

[sebach]

I suggest you read a more indepth article of Dave Shaw here Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site

While I'm not an admirer of Dave Shaw, I'd definitively suggest you to find others sources than this one. This article is full of ridiculous claims written by an open water diver without experience in much of what he is talking about. And he is by no means a reference on what is reckless or not.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Okay, I put this video up in December of 2012, and did so without comment. Now, I will comment. This dive should never have been attempted. Deep/Cave divers push limits and do so with minimal support. This dive was beyond not only his experience, but that of most divers. (I would say all divers, but we have some divers who have been to 1,000 feet plus). This is a dive to 885 feet, which is beyond what even rebreather technology is designed for. There was no on-scene recompression chamber, which is a requirement for any commercial operation at this depth under OSHA rules. So my take on this is that this dive should not have been attempted. It is a tragedy, and the reason I posted it was so others could learn from that tragedy that these depths exact a huge price; many times it is the life of the diver.
https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_02-00-151.pdf

SeaRat

 

[Nirvana]

Okay, I put this video up in December of 2012, and did so without comment. Now, I will comment. This dive should never have been attempted. Deep/Cave divers push limits and do so with minimal support. This dive was beyond not only his experience, but that of most divers. (I would say all divers, but we have some divers who have been to 1,000 feet plus). This is a dive to 885 feet, which is beyond what even rebreather technology is designed for. There was no on-scene recompression chamber, which is a requirement for any commercial operation at this depth under OSHA rules. So my take on this is that this dive should not have been attempted. It is a tragedy, and the reason I posted it was so others could learn from that tragedy that these depths exact a huge price; many times it is the life of the diver.
https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_02-00-151.pdf

SeaRat

Wasn't Don Shirley put into a small chamber on site following his dive? If I recall correctly from "Diving into Darkness", the team had put in place a chamber and a system of pulleys to take a gurney or stretcher with an injured diver from the hole where the dive began to the surrounding land level, where a one-man chamber was.

 

[clownfishsydney]

While I'm not an admirer of Dave Shaw, I'd definitively suggest you to find others sources than this one. This article is full of ridiculous claims written by an open water diver without experience in much of what he is talking about. And he is by no means a reference on what is reckless or not.

Sebach, I think you will find that I have about 4 times the diving experience you have, albeit I do not dive rebreathers. My experience in investigating diving accidents/incidents has been recognised by courts and I have been asked to advise police on diving deaths.