Undercurrent Magazine questions

[daylight]

A couple of the articles in the April issue of Undercurrent are especially worthy of note.

As I sit here sipping on Pepto-Bismol as part of the prep for my trip next week, The world famous author, Doc Vikingo, is to be commended for his literary contributiion titled "Diarrhea and Divers". I lift my dose of Pepto high as a salute to him for the information. It may not be a glamorous subject, but one worth reading because "La Turista" can ruin a trip and cost you some great dives. Thanks Doc and keep up the good work.

"Equipment in Diver Accidents and Deaths" by Dr. C. J. Acott of Adelaide, South Australia should be required reading for everyone diving. I honestly doubt that you would find an equivalent article in any Diving magazine other than Undercurrent.
The article describes the results of data analysis of 1,000 incidents and how equipment was implicated in 457, approximately 1/2 , of the incidents reported. This month's article describes how problems with BCD's, alternate air source failures and missing maskscause us to die. In the next issue the problems with regulators and weight belts will be presented.

I want to commend Ben Davison and Undercurrent for having the fortitude to publish an article that clearly shows how poorly designed and ill-fitting equipment and inadequate training are significant contributors to diver's deaths. I am assuming that Undercurrent is able to publish such an informative article because they are not depending on equipment manfacturer's advertisment for revenue.

I have no vested interest in Undercurrent, but wanted to share with everyone here that Undercurrent is worth subscribing to and is providing a valuable service to the diving community.

Addition thoughts and comments are welcome.

Just my $.02

DSAO,
Larry

 

[lakesdiver]

Originally posted by daylight
The world famous author, Doc Vikingo, is to be commended for his literary contributiion titled "Diarrhea and Divers".

Amen, Brother. It's an article that every new diver planning to travel (and some of us oldies) ought to read.

And, as usual, the rest of the issue was equally top-notch. Still best mag published.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

I'm a new subscriber, and I just wish I had taken the plunge a few years ago. I really look forward to the extension of the divers deaths and equipment articles.


I hate the pink stuff. I'd rather chew on a peice of chalk. I'm sure it was good advice, but I wish there was some other way.

Tom

 

[tentacle13]

I had the chance to suscribe to undercurrent. But I was worried that it would comparative to the Padi Magazine and be more concerned with promoting diving destinations rather than technical tips, articles on dives and advice.

Would you recommend it for a person who wants to hear about the How to's, tech talk, and experience rather than the dive destination?

:doctor:

 

[donacheson]

Originally posted by daylight
A couple of the articles in the April issue of Undercurrent are especially worthy of note.

...

"Equipment in Diver Accidents and Deaths" by Dr. C. J. Acott of Adelaide, South Australia should be required reading for everyone diving. I honestly doubt that you would find an equivalent article in any Diving magazine other than Undercurrent.
The article describes the results of data analysis of 1,000 incidents and how equipment was implicated in 457, approximately 1/2 , of the incidents reported. This month's article describes how problems with BCD's, alternate air source failures and missing maskscause us to die. In the next issue the problems with regulators and weight belts will be presented.

I want to commend Ben Davison and Undercurrent for having the fortitude to publish an article that clearly shows how poorly designed and ill-fitting equipment and inadequate training are significant contributors to diver's deaths. I am assuming that Undercurrent is able to publish such an informative article because they are not depending on equipment manfacturer's advertisment for revenue.

I have no vested interest in Undercurrent, but wanted to share with everyone here that Undercurrent is worth subscribing to and is providing a valuable service to the diving community.

Addition thoughts and comments are welcome.

Just my $.02

DSAO,
Larry

I concur with your sentiments, but would like to point out some suspicious conclusions in the article "Equipment in Diver Accidents and Deaths". In the section on Alternative Air Source Failures, it's stated "Air consumption calculations using the standard 155lb person reveal that to ascend to the surface from 65 ft. at 33 ft./minute, would reuire a surface volume of 5.6 cu. ft. The larger Spare Air contains 3 cu. ft. and is obviously inadequate. ... A safety stop for three minutes at 16 feet would require another 8.3 cu. ft. of surface air."

I have no idea what the surface air consumption (SAC) rate of a "standard 155lb person" really is, but working the problem backwards produces the results that the person's SAC rate was 1.43 cubic feet per minute (cfm) on the ascent and 1.86 cubic feet per minute at the safety stop. Damn, that "standard 155lb person was panicked big time! My 235 pound, 67 year-old carcass only needs 0.4 cfm unless I'm working hard against a current or am very cold. At 0.4 cfm, the ascent and stop described above would require only 3.4 surface cubic feet.

 

[lakesdiver]

Originally posted by tentacle13
I had the chance to suscribe to undercurrent. But I was worried that it would comparative to the Padi Magazine and be more concerned with promoting diving destinations rather than technical tips, articles on dives and advice.

Would you recommend it for a person who wants to hear about the How to's, tech talk, and experience rather than the dive destination?

:doctor:

I think I'd recommend "Dive Training" for what you ask. "Undercurrent" is more like a "Consumer's Reports" for divers.

 

[JustAddWater]

Is Undercurrent available at bookstores or news stands? Or is it a subsription only magazine? I've looked a bit for it, but haven't found it yet.

 

[The Chairman]

subscription info... sounds like one I SHOULD be getting. No that I get to read all the ones I get now.

 

[daylight]

For those of you wanting to investigate Undercurent further, you can visit their Website at www.undercurrent.org.

 

[100days-a-year]

Larry,I appreciate your dilemna.I travelled the world for the 1st 25 yrs of my life .Pepto bismol was always in the cabinet along with Pen VK 250mg tablets for bad cases.As far as undercurrents investigative and statistical abilities I remain very skeptical.In this litigious time in our society any mass sales of defective equipment would be disastrous.The DIR crowd come close to saying what the true apparent reasons are.That is a multiple tiered problem beginning with the training agency/instructor/LDS chain and terminating at the end with a person poorly trained oblivious of real dive skills and unable to perform a self- rescue due to neglected/rented equipment and/or poorly learned skills or diving beyond ones abilties.The sensationalism of the few actual equipment related failures does no-one any good as it invites further Govt intervention to protect idiots from themselves.The real burden must lie with the individual to insure thier training/equipment/maintenance and charter operators are adequate to the type of diving they do.The DAN report on dive accidents is far more comprehensive and I see no support for a near 50% equipment failure listing as the primary cause of accident.Technical divers tend to be far more anal about these things and when compared to rec divers they are far safer risks.