Wikipedia & Cave Diving

[Cindy]

David! Great to hear from you! Not only have I flippered along a line and not known what way I was going but on occassion forgot what planet I was on....
Come back soon and bring the family, the kids should be old enough for Disney now, we'll send them all off and swim in a few caves.
Thanks for the input and of course the way we train is different also. Different environment and different skill set. It takes a while to learn to adapt.
Have a fantastic Holliday, Cindy

[Duncan Price]

Nice read Duncan!!

Excellent post Duncan!! Comprehensive as always

The credit should go to David Brock who wrote it and has posted on CDF above.

Maybe we can update wiki with the following 4 major risks:

• Lack of Training
• Poorly Maintained Equipment
• Poor Line management
• Use of (or dependence on) Buddy Diving

All of the above factors can be lumped together under the umbrella term: STUPIDITY - which translates into insufficient experience or inappropriate equipment. Line management and teamwork (even for a team of one) is a skill that comes with experience.

Cave diving is a mature sport, the risks are largely known and mitigating actions well-established. Sadly, all the cave diving incidents I've ever heard of can be analysed and prevented post mortem (especially over the internet). Never let the risks outweigh the rewards.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.

Duncan

[Gary]

Of more importance to a solo diver is the development of a personal Ethos. You must understand WHY you are doing what you do otherwise you will end up "doing" and then wondering why.

What you say I find to be somewhat true. Solo diving is an advanced technique in many ways requiring the diver to have the responsibility and redundancy of two divers. Like most advanced techniques (like sidemount, scootering) it should not be attempted by those who's awareness of the cave and basic skills are not well developed.

Many who have spoken to me about their first solo dive have noticed how very AWARE they felt the first time they were in the cave alone - almost paranoid. Without another diver nearby breathing and providing a second light it is peaceful, quiet and dark. Everything is "at your own pace" and every action is done BY you and not just observed or verified by you.

A personal ethos obviously develops here in the US and is the very root of the "contributing factor" thing. Since solo diving is not taught and is generally discouraged or disallowed in the US the solo diver often is in a grey area where the rules seem almost broken already.

The solo diver by the act of taking up solo diving is in a group of persons that is open to questioning rules and is ready to break the rules they do not understand or agree with. Why limit themselves to just the buddy rule? What about running lines all the time or since they don't need to supply a buddy back they might not see much harm in pushing thirds a little. Maybe they question the training organizations who they feel are picking their pocket and unable to agree on anything anyway and feel the next level of training is unnecessary - and/or they take the training and don't care to take the instructor’s criticisms and advice to heart.

For some people wandering into the grey area makes the other rules and input much more important for others each rule broken and survived justifies questioning the next. In von Mier's book Solo Diving: the Art of Underwater Self Sufficiency one phrase stood out in my mind: "Those who break the rules must stay honest". For von Meir writing the book was one way he was "staying honest".

Not only must you "understand WHY you are doing what you do" but you must honestly access the risk it poses, seek to mitigate those risks as much as possible, and take actions to add safety in other areas.

Taking honest assessments of your condition and environment accessing the dangers it imposes and taking actions to minimize and counter those risks is an important skill. Even as a buddy diver and honest adherent to the 5/6 rules of safe cave diving. If you are likely to encounter restrictions and low visibility will you have extra air or will you be close to the limit of your available gas? Are you in a public place where help is readily available? Do you carry a med kit and emergency O2? Do you carry a phone in case of emergencies? Does anyone even know where you are, what you are doing, or when you might be expected back? If something happens and you dive is longer then expected do you have enough deco gas?

Everyone has some sort of personal ethos. Some people use thier head to find ways around the rules or justify that they are safe because they haven't broken any of them, others not only obey the rules but find ways to be safe in other ways - taught but not actually listed as risk factors.

For the solo diver already in a grey area to be cutting back on safety in other areas is a real danger sign. There was a solo diver at Little River many years ago (SEP 93) that took the time to explain how he had calculated that he could get out on 800 psi from anywhere in the cave thus he could breath down his tanks past normal 3rds to 1600psi and still get out in an accident. Ironically he died the same dive after explaining his method to a cave class prior to entering the cave - getting in a silt out and lost off the line ( http://www.iucrr.org/aa_misc.htm ). At least one of the two buddy divers who died together in last year's Eagle's Nest tragedy was also known to frequently stretch the rules and push safety limits on multiple fronts at the same time. Even though he never solo dived and was technically diving within the 5 rules of safe cave diving his ethos led him into frequent danger and proved just as deadly.

It is important to choose a safe and honest personal ethos.

[DeWayne]

That is a very good addition Gary to the excellent article offered by David Brock.

[Duncan Price]

Of more importance to a solo diver is the development of a personal Ethos. You must understand WHY you are doing what you do otherwise you will end up "doing" and then wondering why.

What you say I find to be somewhat true. Solo diving is an advanced technique in many ways requiring the diver to have the responsibility and redundancy of two divers. Like most advanced techniques (like sidemount, scootering) it should not be attempted by those who's awareness of the cave and basic skills are not well developed.

Gary/all

Please don't get forget the differences in style between UK sump diving (in which Dave and I have some expertise) and Florida Spring diving (which we've both enjoyed but cannot really comment on in detail).

The reason that the CDG advocates a self-sufficient approach is one of practicality. Caving is a very social activity (as is open water diving) and we chose to dive independently not because we don't have any friends, but because a conventional buddy system does no work effectively in a confined low visibility sump. For many CDG members its the only method they know (I hold no open water qualifications - I don't know about David) and I guess that we have very poorly developed buddy skills as a consequence. The "team solo" approach is widely used in many UK situations whereby a group of divers will operate as a team to achieve some combined objective beyond one or more approach. We will help one another between sumps and at the water's edge when gearing up. Underwater we give one another enough space to ensure that we are not a hazard to one another.

If I lived in Florida, I would prefer to dive with a buddy for the simple pleasure of sharing something that I enjoy with another human being - in particular, to have someone to go for a beer with afterwards. I would think it was a bit sad to swim around a cave on my own when I didn't need to.

Edited in: Actually its against my agency's rules to dive on my own - I should always have someone on the surface looking after me - http://www.cavedivinggroup.org.uk/Ar...afetycode.html