I agree with the premise that rebreathers are inherently dangerous. The idea that you or your system makes one tiny mistake equals death by putting you to sleep is just too dangerous for my likes. Sure, you can die on OC, but if you watch your gas consumption and stay within rec limits you are fairly safe. I understand that almost all activities have an element of danger. However, one mistake from a rebreather can put you to sleep eternally. The real answer isn't banning rebreathers, but we need more innovation and more safety systems to ensure deaths don't happen due to simple errors by machines or humans.
As for the lawsuit, I say full speed ahead. If Dive Rite did nothing wrong then that will come out. However, if they suppressed information on a faulty design to keep making money then they deserve to be hammered. I know the general public hates lawsuits, but many times they are needed to punish offenders and they often result in sweeping safety changes industry wide that are beneficial to all.
I think that's over simplification of the issue. I think if you haven't been trained on a rebreather, then to make claims like "one simple mistake can put you to sleep forever" is a bit exaggerated. Because honestly, if you haven't had training, you really don't know what you're talking about. I don't mean that to sound harsh, but really, what do you know? Especially when ONE simple mistake in OC can put you to sleep forever also. How many of you have ever gotten a Nitrox fill and not analyzed your gas? Yet, that is the SIMPLE industry standard. Everyone should be analyzing their gas, but how many do?
Guys, if you're not trained at the level you are diving, and you die, you really have no one to blame but yourself. I trained on a rEvo. I believe the rEvo to be stupidly simple. I equate it to combining an O2 analyzer and a 2nd stage regulator. That's how simple it is to me. But as simple as it is, there's no chance in hell I'd ever consider jumping into another CCR without training. Because while the rEvo is simple as can be, the Optima might not be. I have no idea how to turn on the Hammerhead (the computer the Optima uses). I have no idea how to calibrate it. I don't know the bells, the whistles, the alarms, nothing. Just as you probably don't know any of that on the rEvo. To jump under the water in a CCR I wasn't trained on is as stupid as letting my 15 year old daughter drive the 175hp Hayabusa Motorcycle. Sure, she can ride a bicycle, but does that knowledge transfer over? No way.
I've gotten off on a tangent, and I'm sorry. I'm too tired to edit. But my point is, rebreathers might screw up, but there is tons of redundancy in them. Many O2 cells, not just one. Many computers, not just one. There's bailout, there's buddies, there's common sense. Wes had no idea how the Hammerheads worked. So those redundant O2 cells and computers were useless. He used no bailout. He had no buddy. He had no common sense.
I don't care how simple and how bullet proof and how redundant a system is... if you are not following industry standards and you got no training, no bailout, no buddy, no common sense and you die, it's your fault and your fault alone.
Now, lets talk about the Optima (for which I am not trained)...
Dive Rite has been the pinnacle of tech gear for more than 20 years. When you get that big, you are a target. Lamar owns Dive Rite. Do you think for a second Lamar would let his son dive an Optima if it were defective? Do you think for a second that Lamar would dive the Optima if he thought it was unsafe?
Anyway, that's my tangent. I think the lawsuit is frivolous, and I hope to hell it goes to trial. Unfortunately, the world is about to learn things about Wes that only his close circle of friends knew. I hope the money Mrs. Skiles might win is worth trashing an icon, a good name, and a hero in the diving world that Wes Skiles became.
