Tag Archive
Stress in Diving
I don't want to participate in any sport in which my species is not at the top of the food chain. Ken Fonte Stress in diving is probably the central problem in the accidents and resulting injuries and fatalitiesthat occur to divers . . . Art Bachrach and Glen Egstrom STRESS Many divers do not seem to place traditional activities in the context of stress-inducing scenarios. Diving is supposed to be fun, right? The following passage is excerpted from Bachrach and Egstrom's (1987) Stress and Performance in Diving: "We will cover your nose and eyes with a rubber and glass cup that will give you tunnel vision and prevent breathing through your nose. A snorkel which is partially filled with water will increase breathing resistance, especially when you work harder. A rubber suit will increase your surface area and your buoyancy while creating a restriction over each of the body's joints. (A partial adjustment will be made by fastening 15-20 pounds (6.8-9.1 kg) of lead to your waist.) Fins for your feet will make walking more difficult and require more energy when swimming. A buoyancy compensation device will provide additional drag, especially when it is inflated to increase your buoyancy. Approximately 40-50 pounds (18.2-22.7 kg) of steel or aluminum will be fixed between your shoulder blades by means of a backpack with a series of straps and buckles, which will terminate somewhere under the buoyancy compensator near the weight belt buckle. A regulator with various and sundry hoses and gauges will be attached to the tank and will cause you to breathe against an added resistance both during inhalation and exhalation. Various other items, such as knives, gauges, goody bags, cameras, spear guns, gloves, hoods and booties will be added for your comfort and convenience." These learned authors (by this... More »
Dad and Daughters take Family Vacation Diving with Great White Sharks
PADI and NAUI Professional Divemaster and Assistant Instructor Roger J. Muller, Jr. takes his Daughters on a Trip to Remember By Sally Deering Some families vacation in the mountains, some visit Florida's Disneyworld, but Roger J. Muller, Jr. of Hoboken, New Jersey, Professional Divemaster and Assistant Instructor who holds 80 PADI, NAUI, TDI, SDI and SSI certifications decided to give his daughters Kelsey, 19, and Taylor, 15, a trip to remember. Muller took his daughters, who are also certified divers, aboard the Nautilus Explorer to Ensenada, Mexico's Guadalupe Island where they plunged 40 feet below the water's surface to observe the behavior of the mysterious Great White Sharks. Muller chose the Nautilus Explorer, which takes small groups of scuba divers on unique diving expeditions to give his daughters a memorable vacation away from the daily demands of their busy lifestyles. Muller, a Certified Professional Insurance Agent oversees Muller Insurance, the family business, in Hoboken, and in his spare time serves as General Manager and Captain of the Hoboken Rockets Ice Hockey team; Kelsey is a sophomore studying economics at Harvard College in Cambridge and Taylor is a high school sophomore. "It's a wonderful bonding experience," Muller says. "They get the opportunity to see Great White Sharks in their natural habitat and learn about shark advocacy. It's also five days on a boat with no Internet access or cell phones to text boyfriends." Based in British Columbia, Canada, the Nautilus Explorer takes divers to the giant mantas and dolphins of Socorro Island and adventures into Alaska, British Columbia, the Sea of Cortez, the California Channel ... More »
The Use of Trial Exhibits by Expert Witnesses in Litigation
I did an article for Undercurrent called "Anatomy of A Diving Lawsuit" in 2009 that dealt with the analysis of a specific single case and trial that I worked on as the defense maritime and diving expert. This involved the disappearance of two divers at Cocos Island, nearly 500 miles offshore of Costa Rica. This is follow up piece that expands the narrative. A key thing at trial is being able to use exhibits during testimony to help the jury understand complicated facts, theories, and the geography on an area where an accident or fatality has occurred. It's a complicated process and most trials end up being won by primary expert witnesses during their live testimony. Doing the "grunt" work on the files is fairly routine but takes time and a bit of careful strategy in coming up with a defense posture that can play effectively to a judge or jury. But there is nothing like the pressure of a live deposition or trial wherein the absolute necessity for extemporaneous and calculated quick thought plays such a vital role. As an expert witness, it is impossible to fully anticipate where the cross-examination will go, what ploys are attempted by opposing counsel, what tactic to deceive you about the actual evidence or prior testimony may be taken, etc. It is a very stressful role to play as you must not only protect the defendants' conduct with sometimes very extemporaneous responses, but also remember to maintain control and speak to the jury as a credible, likable, and professional witness in whom they should place their trust to explain the complicated facts and nuance so they choose to favor your opinion over that of the opposition. It is an arena that few people do well in and requires a tremendous degree of control and... More »
Tanks and Weights
Well - maybe it shouldn't have taken me by surprise. But it did. A communicating New England area dive shop told me, "It's OK to sell integrated weights BCs because divers don't drop their weight-belts anyway." An honest peddler - at least honest in describing his outlook. Almost as bad as, "I have insurance for that." Under the banner of, "It's our livelihood," we have dangerous junk being sold because "...they don't drop their weight-belts anyway..." (that really floored me), "Sell the aluminums 'cause we can "crack fail" them in a couple of years." "It's a 'low-flow' regulator - they put them on pony bottles." Someone tried that one on me. Imagine? Putting what he classed as a "low flow" regulator on a "pony bottle" justified its existence in some way or other. I couldn't make the connection - but - if the effen thing was for making an escape to the surface, why put all your marbles into a "low flow" regulator? The last people who should be passing their hands over scuba cylinders are people who sell them. In this economy, the lure is too great. The DOT almost prohibits such a close association. TITLE 49 CFR 2010 (107.803):: "...No independent inspection agency...may have a financial involvement with any entity that manufactures cylinders ...except as an independent inspector (such as myself ). Fred Calhoun doesn't sell cylinders, he is "qualified" to inspect, and he inspects. His customers often visit dive shops for air fills, and are subject to a litany of questions implying that maybe there's something wrong with the cylinder, or the person who did the inspection and affixed the EOI sticker. I'm qualified (I don't sell the things). I have a wallet c-card that has my name on it - says I'm qualified. I wrote the book SCUBA CYLINDERS... More »
New World Record!
I was in the Bahama Islands in the late 1960’s. I had just awakened my mania for Scuba and decided that Going Diving was I wanted to do with my life. I was glowing with the excitement of self-discovery when I was confronted with the shocking news that two local divers had died trying to break the World Depth Record for Scuba Diving on Air. I seem to remember they were diving out of Small Hope Bay on Andros Island. The team of three had successfully completed previous practice dives to record depths and were ready for the officially sanctioned Record Dive to make them the World Record holders. Just hearing of the attempt got me thinking weird thoughts. I had just been studying partial pressures of gasses, and learned that their medical effect changed as the partial pressures increased. Nitrogen became narcotic and produced “Rapture of the Deep” – Nitrogen Narcosis. Oxygen at a high enough partial pressure became toxic and could produce out-of-control muscular spasms. The gases in air become poisonous with increasing depth. It seemed to me that what these divers were actually doing was equivalent to seeing how much Arsenic they could take before they would die. Pretty stupid, I thought, what is the point? And more than that, what organisation could possibly sanction such a record. Would it qualify for the Guinness Book of Records? But these divers claimed they had developed special techniques that prevented them from getting poisoned, something to do with ice packs and... More »
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