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Book review "The Last Dive" by Bernie Chowdhury


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#16 Diverbrian

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 12:59 AM

You must also keep in mind the time of the book... The events took place a few years ago..
So much was still new and unknown in the diving world.


Like what?

Mix was readily available, tables were established, not doing deep air dives was pretty well established in the tech agencies, using snapbolts instead of suicide clips was pretty well understood, etc.

What amazes me, is that I still see a lot of the NE Wreck guys doing all the same things that killed these people and plenty others. As evidenced by the triple fatality last year on the Grove.


The difference was that the cowboy stuff was actually seen as courage by many divers in that time. Now it is seen as something a little different.


Most of us who do decompression dives and wreck pentration have a certain level of self-confidence. We wouldn't be able to do it if we did not. Self-confidence can quickly turn to arrogance.

Mix was available, but not as popular in that community at the time of the book. Most of the Doria dives are done on mix now. That wasn't necessarily the case then.

Another fact... this happened during an economic recession. The divers on air were only diving air because they could not afford mix financially due to the recession's impact on their excavation business. Do you think that couldn't happen now with helium prices skyrocketing? Add in the factor of many people living in areas that are no longer providing the jobs/ pay levels that people have had for much of their lives. It is emotionally difficult to accept that someone can't live the way that they once did. Emotion can trump intelligence. It happens all of the time.

The bottom line is that although we may know better, it may become tempting to do something that we shouldn't. Books like this remind us that our loved ones stand a great chance of paying for our poor judgement. They may help us to rein our egos so that we don't do something stupid. These things happen in real life, not just in some hypothetical sitaution.

I think that is important. Humility lessons can be a good thing : ) . That is why I keep a copy of this book in my locker at work and read it (along with Dark Descent and Deep Descent )when I think that I am getting really good. Then I walk away a little more humble and a lot more careful while still enjoying the dives that I love to do.
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#17 PerroneFord

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 05:56 AM

The difference was that the cowboy stuff was actually seen as courage by many divers in that time. Now it is seen as something a little different.


Is that right? Then why do we still find not only divers, but instructors and people who ought to know better refusing to run line for wreck-pen? Again, I cite the behavior of last year's triple homicide, and the hero worship of Chatterton who still espouses progressive penetration even though the technique has killed dozens if not hundreds of divers. This is not to say that the attitudes aren't changing with some shops, some instructors, and some divers. I just don't believe it is widely embraced when we still see deaths every year from the same couple of macho attitudes and techniques.

Most of us who do decompression dives and wreck pentration have a certain level of self-confidence. We wouldn't be able to do it if we did not. Self-confidence can quickly turn to arrogance.


As a deco diver and someone moving to wreck-pen, I will attest that self-confidence is important. Mine comes from the literally hundreds of hours of work I put in to try to make my skills as sharp as they can be. It comes on the backs of those who have perished before me and the lessons learned that I know I will make me a safer diver. If anything else is giving us the confidence, we really need to re-evaluate what we are doing in the water.


Mix was available, but not as popular in that community at the time of the book. Most of the Doria dives are done on mix now. That wasn't necessarily the case then.


Yes, it wasn't as popular because the people who SHOULD have been championing it, were not. And I don't think mix is all that popular now. At least not with the divers from that area that I've been in the water with, nor the ones I keep reading about. What HAS changed is boats like the Seeker requiring mix training to make the trip out to the Doria. Not all boats do.

Another fact... this happened during an economic recession. The divers on air were only diving air because they could not afford mix financially due to the recession's impact on their excavation business. Do you think that couldn't happen now with helium prices skyrocketing? Add in the factor of many people living in areas that are no longer providing the jobs/ pay levels that people have had for much of their lives. It is emotionally difficult to accept that someone can't live the way that they once did. Emotion can trump intelligence. It happens all of the time.


You know what, it's an economic recession right now. You know my response and that of my friends similarly affected? Don't do the dives. Not being able to "afford mix" is an incredibly poor excuse for making the decision to do one of the hardest dives on the east coast, KNOWINGLY impaired, especially with the track record on that boat. Yes, it is emotionally difficult. It's been emotionally difficult for me not to be able to do 40-50 dives a year too. Emotion can trump intelligence, but we are talking about the equivalent of russian roulette here taking air to 180+. The idea that it happens all the time is one I'll take under advisement. Sure doesn't happen all the time in my community. It's sad that it does in others.


The bottom line is that although we may know better, it may become tempting to do something that we shouldn't. Books like this remind us that our loved ones stand a great chance of paying for our poor judgment. They may help us to rein our egos so that we don't do something stupid. These things happen in real life, not just in some hypothetical situation.


If these books serve to rein in those who might otherwise risk their lives and the lives of their friends, then I am all for them. And I sincerely appreciate you framing this in that context. It's one that I should have considered but didn't.

I think that is important. Humility lessons can be a good thing : ) . That is why I keep a copy of this book in my locker at work and read it (along with Dark Descent and Deep Descent )when I think that I am getting really good. Then I walk away a little more humble and a lot more careful while still enjoying the dives that I love to do.


Again, I agree. In our community, we have the IUCRR reports and other things that we read that keep us more grounded. But I think one of the major differences in the cave community and others is that the entire chain of ownership in this community takes responsibility for deaths. From the agencies, to the instructors, the dive shops, etc. I have watched the manager of a popular shop in this area grill divers about their mix choices and their destination. I have also watched 2 NE wreck divers come down to do the Oriskany with a planned depth of 160ft on air. And they had a card that said they could take air to 200ft. That kind of foolishness MUST stop. Although I blame the divers, I put more of the blame on the agency for offering the dumb class, and on the instructor teaching a class that in my view equates to assisted suicide.

I am not slamming you here DiverBrian, please understand that. I am venting my anger and frustration at a dive industry that allows this garbage to continue. And somehow attach reverence to acts of supreme stupidity. The macho attitude lives on in the tech side of this sport. We lost a diver in Ginnie Springs last year. A guy, diving solo, sidemount, and on a rebreather. Trying to lay new line at Ginnie Springs when the best divers in the game have long abandoned such things. Problem? The guy had zero training on sidemount diving, and had been rebreather certified for about a year. In other words he was so far out of his element, it was inevitable he would make mistakes. But the biggest one happened before he got in the water. Bad attitude. And it made his dive unsafe.

For those of you who read these things and are recreational divers, please don't be alarmed. This is a natural process in the tech community and it sometimes spills out. But I hope those who have aspirations of moving into technical diving read these things, and it resonates with you. Make safe choices and come home to your loved ones.

#18 peterbj7

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 07:04 AM

Perrone - do you really think the events of "The last Dive" were occasioned by the divers being on air? That's not how I read the book, nor what I believe. Nor can I subscribe to your statement, echoed by some but not all others, that deep (whatever that means) diving on air is an act of "supreme stupidity". Assuming that is what you meant - I would agree that a person diving with unfamiliar equipment and/or configuration, especially involving a rebreather, should not penetrate a cave system by himself to the extent of laying new line.

I get very fed up when people claim to be able to see inside my mind, and assert that I should not have made a particular dive because in their opinion I was mentally impaired. I get very annoyed at narrow-minded people who seem to have little general education pontificating about what I should or should not do (I'm not thinking of you), and asserting that the effects of nitrogen narcosis are absolute and cannot be escaped, when the scientifically-derived evidence is that it is the physiological effects that appear to be absolute but there is considerable doubt whether the psychological effects, which vary considerably from person to person, are even understood or can be predicted.

"The Last Dive" was a story of arrogance and single-mindedness that eventually cost the divers their lives, but had for a long time been producing visible antagonism. The technical errors that were made and which led to the final outcome were IMO more to do with arrogance and mis-placed competitiveness than with anything else.

#19 Diverbrian

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 07:11 AM

I will say that things have changed. Great Lakes wreck diving might see more trained cave divers (which I am not certain of), but I know that many of my buddies who used to dive deep air would be the first to refuse. Most of them have cave training now. That is a good thing. I have neither the time or the money for cave training, so I do the best that I can with what I have. I did my normoxic course on deep wrecks for example.

Believe it or not, I share some of that frustration that you talk about. I haven't kept up on the dive accidents for the last year or so, because I have been relatively dry during that time. Those incidents appear to be a constant. They have happened for as long as I have been diving deep wrecks and paying attention to the incidents under the theory of "those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it". I still see people who dive deep air or use progressive penetration. However, they are fewer are farther between anymore.

Look at it another way... if I am being told to "be careful" by a loved one, I may respond with a "I'm always careful" or " Don't be such a worry wart" . You know what? I am being reminded that it isn't all about me. The story doesn't end if something happens to me. Someone cares enough to have to deal with the consequences of my loss if something happens. That could be over a simple drive to work or a dive on mix to 200 ft. Maybe that puts a little more of a seed of common sense about activity in my mind. That is never a bad thing.

Incident reports don't talk about the reaction of the loved ones when it is over. They coldly deal with the facts of the incident for analysis. That is their purpose. They stop when the wives, children, and relatives are talking about what this loss meant to them. That is where books like this fill in the gap. No matter what you or others think of them, that is the value in books like this.
A person should be judged in this life not by the mistakes that they make nor by the number of them. Rather they are to be judged by their recovery from them.

#20 Diverbrian

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 07:16 AM

Perrone - do you really think the events of "The last Dive" were occasioned by the divers being on air? That's not how I read the book, nor what I believe. Nor can I subscribe to your statement, echoed by some but not all others, that deep (whatever that means) diving on air is an act of "supreme stupidity". Assuming that is what you meant - I would agree that a person diving with unfamiliar equipment and/or configuration, especially involving a rebreather, should not penetrate a cave system by himself to the extent of laying new line.

I get very fed up when people claim to be able to see inside my mind, and assert that I should not have made a particular dive because in their opinion I was mentally impaired. I get very annoyed at narrow-minded people who seem to have little general education pontificating about what I should or should not do (I'm not thinking of you), and asserting that the effects of nitrogen narcosis are absolute and cannot be escaped, when the scientifically-derived evidence is that it is the physiological effects that appear to be absolute but there is considerable doubt whether the psychological effects, which vary considerably from person to person, are even understood or can be predicted.

"The Last Dive" was a story of arrogance and single-mindedness that eventually cost the divers their lives, but had for a long time been producing visible antagonism. The technical errors that were made and which led to the final outcome were IMO more to do with arrogance and mis-placed competitiveness than with anything else.


I happen to concur with your last point. In my experience, arrogance and diving should never go together. I believe that complacency is another element that is a killer.

Thanks for making that point.
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#21 PerroneFord

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 08:04 AM

Peter, no the events in the Last Dive were not occasioned by divers being deep on air. That was symptomatic of a thought process that I am talking about. It's a piece in the puzzle of the thought process that I find reckless and unnecessarily dangerous. In terms of my comments about supreme stupidity, I am addressing the ideas of doing highly specialized and technical dives, without proper training, proper gear, and proper mindset. In the instance of the diver at Ginnie Springs, we are talking about a diver who did not turn off his o2 bottle when he dropped his rebreather to lay new line on sidemount. So we have a diver in a cave, on a new-to-him rebreather, diving solo, laying line, and diving sidemount in a restriction without ANY sidemount training whatsoever. The fact that he died 50ft from one of his safety bottles that would have EASILY been reached had he not spent so long trying to revive a rebreather with no oxygen left, is indicative of the lack of experience and foresight.

I would be a hypocrite to state that diving deep on air could not be done. A large proportion of the cave system below my feet was mapped that way. However, it is my personal feeling that the effects of narcosis are ever present and I choose to not dive below a 130ft END. I personally know divers who have done better than a 240ft END and lived to tell about it. I listened to a talk given by Wes Skiles and Jill Heinerth two years ago as they rattled off the names of their "deep air" friends who had perished. As they both ran out of fingers counting up the names, it was a sobering reminder that there is a better way. And I'm not going to let a things like a couple of bucks stand between me, and doing the dives I want to do as safely as I can.

Of course, others are free to do as they choose.


Perrone - do you really think the events of "The last Dive" were occasioned by the divers being on air? That's not how I read the book, nor what I believe. Nor can I subscribe to your statement, echoed by some but not all others, that deep (whatever that means) diving on air is an act of "supreme stupidity". Assuming that is what you meant - I would agree that a person diving with unfamiliar equipment and/or configuration, especially involving a rebreather, should not penetrate a cave system by himself to the extent of laying new line.

I get very fed up when people claim to be able to see inside my mind, and assert that I should not have made a particular dive because in their opinion I was mentally impaired. I get very annoyed at narrow-minded people who seem to have little general education pontificating about what I should or should not do (I'm not thinking of you), and asserting that the effects of nitrogen narcosis are absolute and cannot be escaped, when the scientifically-derived evidence is that it is the physiological effects that appear to be absolute but there is considerable doubt whether the psychological effects, which vary considerably from person to person, are even understood or can be predicted.

"The Last Dive" was a story of arrogance and single-mindedness that eventually cost the divers their lives, but had for a long time been producing visible antagonism. The technical errors that were made and which led to the final outcome were IMO more to do with arrogance and mis-placed competitiveness than with anything else.



#22 PerroneFord

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 08:12 AM

Cave training is not a magic bullet. I see cave trained divers doing things that should go in the annals of foolishness. Doing your normoxic class on deep wrecks is fine. I may do mine on the Oriskany. But I'd prefer to do it in a cave for reasons that I am sure are obvious.

I'll take your word for it that progressive pen, and deep air are waning. I am very happy to hear it. I'm not sure how close knit that wreck diving community is, but I know in the cave community, when we lose a diver, we ALL feel it. I think one thing that makes this community unique, is that it doesn't tend to be the "boys club" that some other kinds of diving are. Wives are often dive buddies, or constant companions at the socials and events. So when we lose a caver, we are often well acquainted with the spouse, and many times the children also.

Again, I am very happy that you point out the value in books like this. I felt there was little value in them for ME personally, but there might be great value in them for others. That should not be discounted or marginalized, and I apologize for being shortsighted in that regard.

-P


I will say that things have changed. Great Lakes wreck diving might see more trained cave divers (which I am not certain of), but I know that many of my buddies who used to dive deep air would be the first to refuse. Most of them have cave training now. That is a good thing. I have neither the time or the money for cave training, so I do the best that I can with what I have. I did my normoxic course on deep wrecks for example.

Believe it or not, I share some of that frustration that you talk about. I haven't kept up on the dive accidents for the last year or so, because I have been relatively dry during that time. Those incidents appear to be a constant. They have happened for as long as I have been diving deep wrecks and paying attention to the incidents under the theory of "those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it". I still see people who dive deep air or use progressive penetration. However, they are fewer are farther between anymore.

Look at it another way... if I am being told to "be careful" by a loved one, I may respond with a "I'm always careful" or " Don't be such a worry wart" . You know what? I am being reminded that it isn't all about me. The story doesn't end if something happens to me. Someone cares enough to have to deal with the consequences of my loss if something happens. That could be over a simple drive to work or a dive on mix to 200 ft. Maybe that puts a little more of a seed of common sense about activity in my mind. That is never a bad thing.

Incident reports don't talk about the reaction of the loved ones when it is over. They coldly deal with the facts of the incident for analysis. That is their purpose. They stop when the wives, children, and relatives are talking about what this loss meant to them. That is where books like this fill in the gap. No matter what you or others think of them, that is the value in books like this.



#23 Diverbrian

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 08:58 AM

Perrone,


I appreciate your comment and will say that the wreck diving community feels the losses as well. We probably feel them as much as the cave divers do. We analyze incidents to death and mourn our fallen divers. Most of us learn what is to be learned from the analysis. Some do not.

It is frustrating when the same wreck claims divers over the same mistake. After a while, analysis doesn't help much. Checking one's ego at the boat dock with that analysis is a far more effective way to return safely.

I am glad that you understand my points about aids in the process of checking that ego, even if you don't completely agree with them.
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#24 peterbj7

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 09:45 AM

Perrone - I agree fully with your first paragraph, and with the sentiment of the rest of your post though not some of the detail. Or rather, I accept what you say as perfectly valid for you, but I place the boundaries slightly differently.

The important thing here is that people no longer embark on dangerous dives without adequate planning, but that they do assess the risks of the dive and take whatever measures they reasonably think will help them adequately. Key factors are training and experience, with depths only increased incrementally and progressively. We have come a long way in attitudes over the past few years and certainly since the events of "The Last Dive", and for that I am much relieved.

This is one reason it disturbs me to see posts requesting advice on eg. "what BP/W should I buy?", when the very question suggests the enquirer is in no way yet fitted for the sort of diving he is apparently contemplating. In my dive center in Belize I have seen an awful lot of BS merchants, people who have very expensive and advanced gear, often black and usually new, whose diving skills fall way short of anything I would term "advanced". So many of these people are accidents waiting to happen.

There will always be people like that, in diving as well as other activities, but gradually the process of education is weeding them out. A thread like this shows that people are thinking about it, which is always a good thing regardless of the conclusions they reach.

Edited by peterbj7, 11 September 2008 - 09:45 AM.


#25 ScubaDadMiami

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Posted 11 September 2008 - 12:06 PM

Nowadays, many more people are learning. Unfortunately, too many are still learning the hard way after experiencing accidents or losing someone close to them. Hopefully, by studying the mistakes and smart moves of others, we can learn and improve ourselves.
"The most important thing is not to stop questioning." Albert Einstein

"For the diligent diver, closed circuit rebreathers are actually safer than open circuit scuba." Tom Mount




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