Safety Culture - diving in the zone
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“Thank [beep] for that! How lucky were we? We better not do that again.
Don’t tell anyone though, we don’t want to look like amateurs...”
Tech and Training
Technical Diving & Training
Section
Full Cave Navigation Protocols in Mexico
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Larry Cohen
Massimo Ardizzoni
Guide line in Cenote Chac Mool, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. Photo by Larry Cohen.
I started cave diving in Italy in 1990. At that time, the rules were very clear, codified and related to the kind of caves that were encountered in my region. Very often, they were resurgences with current (sometimes strong) or sumps inside caves, with water ranging from crystal clear to the color of coffee and variable visibility, depending on the rains.
Depth record called into question
In September 2014, Egyptian national and technical diver Ahmed Gabr performed a deep dive off Dahab in the Egyptian Red Sea under the auspices and observation of adjudicators from The Guinness Book of Records. After the dive, Gabr was acknowledged for having reached the record depth of 332m, surpassing South African Nuno Gomes who made it to 318m in 2005, also off Dahab.
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Diving Then and Now: The Wookey Hole Caves—Birthplace of Cave Diving
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Lee Callaghan (Cave diving photos)
Mendip Cave Registry (Historical photos)
Archive Cave Diving Group (Historical photos)
Penelope Powell and Graham Balcombe kitted up in Wookey Hole Cave for the first ever cave dive in 1935. Historical photo courtesy of Mendip Cave Registry and Archive Cave Diving Group.
The beginnings of cave diving can be traced to the Wookey Hole Caves in England. And 85 years later, divers like Matt Jevon are still doing their part to discover this cavern’s full potential.
Getting Lined Up: Troubleshooting Sidemount Tank Configuration
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Roger Williams
Cave photo by S.J. Alice Bennet
A pair of divers wearing cleanly-configured sidemount kit. Cave photo by S.J. Alice Bennet.
I like sidemount. I will frequently, jokingly, disparage the configuration, but I do like it. It can be comfortable and streamlined. It can be very flexible. There is an argument to be made for completely isolated redundancy. Mostly, it is good for moving through places no bigger than the space below your coffee table.
Rebreather Forum 3: Failure is NOT an Option: The Importance of CCR Checklists
Richie Kohler told the audience "The human element is most fallible. We prepare and train for equipment failure. We have a great advantage over pilots who cannot jump into another airplane mid flight. We can carry bailout systems and use them. But our checklists is our primary defense to not ever having to get there."
Human beings will make mistakes and have memory lapses. Richie Kohler
"We need to approach rebreather diving with reverence and remain humble to it. I do not want to pay the ultimate price" stated Richie Kohler.
Rebreather Forum 3: Be RoSPA CCR Aware
To this end RoSPA worked with a number of rebreather industry experts to identify key safety issues.
RoSPA Video
The result was a film that gives divers and those new to rebreathers a solid awareness of the key safety factors for diving with rebreathers.
Eight years ago today – Friday 18th May 2012 – this film was unveiled at a very important international safety symposium called Rebreather Forum 3. In fact ‘CCR Aware‘ opened #RF3.
What were the aims and objectives of Rebreather Forum 3
Over the course of the following three days 400 experts, manufacturers, instructors, training agencies and divers from around the world gathered to improve understanding, with the hope that this would translate to improved safety across the board.
We can always do things better. So it is a rationality check to see if we can make things safer.
Dr Neal W Pollock
What were the aims and objectives of Rebreather Forum 3
Over the course of the following three days 400 experts, manufacturers, instructors, training agencies and divers from around the world gathered to improve understanding, with the hope that this would translate to improved safety across the board.
We can always do things better. So it is a rationality check to see if we can make things safer.
Dr Neal W Pollock
Rebreather Forum 3: Diving with Rebreathers
Richard Pyle is an early adopter of technical-diving practices and is known around the world as a rebreather diver and designer. He is a highly respected Ichthyologyist (in plain English a scientist who studies fish) and he has discovered many new species of fish.
A dive with a profound effect
When Richard Pyle was 19 he was living and diving the western Pacific Ocean off Palau. During his time there he suffered a very serious case of decompression sickness and became quadriplegic.
Rebreather Forum 3: Anatomy of a CCR Dive: A Comparison / Contrast
RF3 was convened primarily as a platform for discussion of various issues that may have an impact on the safety of diving with rebreathers. It was attended by many expert presenters and rebreather divers who contributed to these discussions.
It was recognised however that the forum would also attract some divers who were not rebreather users, but who were perhaps contemplating purchasing one, or simply interested in learning about them. For this reason the program included this presentation on the basics of rebreather devices.