A Discussion of Hypothetical Incidents

[JohnAd]

As a former literature teacher, I well know that many works of fiction begin with a true event. The writer then asks ?what if???, changes a few details and creates a work of fiction that could have happened but did not. I did this with a couple of dive incidents that occurred over the last couple of years. I asked ?What if??? and came up with two scenarios that I think could very possibly happen. I will describe them in the next two posts.

In my stories, two people survive fatal incidents due to their actions. I invite people to respond, especially to the ethics of those actions. I am putting both scenarios in the same thread to invite comparisons.

If you think you recognize the incidents that spurred my thinking, please be assured that I am in no way suggesting that my scenario did in fact happen. They are both fiction.

[JohnAd]

Incident #1

Peter and Tom and doing a challenging exploration in a tight conditions with especially challenging restrictions. Both are highly skilled and experienced, but Peter is more skilled and experienced than Tom. During their exit, circumstances become bad enough that they are in serious trouble, in large part because Tom is having trouble getting through restrictions. He panics and struggles with Peter. Peter gets him calm and they go back to work, but Tom panics again and struggles with Peter in that panic. Peter begins to panic himself, feeling they are both going to die, and it is largely because of Tom’s struggles. As Tom grapples with him, he yanks Tom’s regulator out, and Tom drowns. Peter gets out and tells a thoroughly believable tale of their struggle and poor Tom’s death.

[JohnAd]

Incident #2

Edgar and Sally made a navigation error that ended up with their exiting late. They both know that it is very possible that they might not make it. Sally has a better SAC rate and assumes that at some point she will be sharing air with Edgar. That moment comes. Edgar signals OOA, and they begin to share her air as they near the exit. They are not far from the exit when Sally’s tank runs dry. They didn’t make it. At that moment, Edgar drops the shared regulator, puts his own regulator back in his mouth, and starts to swim ahead. Realizing she had been duped, Sally tries to get him, but he pushes her off. Edgar barely makes it to the exit, telling a thoroughly believable tale of how they had become separated during their exit and only he had enough air to get out.

[Dsix36]

I do not think that I can put any blame on any of the divers or say their ethics were bad either. I say this simply because nobody will ever really know how they will deal with a situation until it happens in real life. Panic, flight for life, fighting, and freezing are many peoples natural tendency and may or may not ever be controllable.

From my computer it would be easy to place blame or say that I would do this or that different. I do believe that I would be able to give an honest report of what happened though.

[bent]

And the point is?

You focus on how people would get killed which make no sense to me. What would make sense is to focus on how someone gets himself into a situations like that. What causes people to get lost and what causes people to go places where they in over their head. That you could learn from. I dont see how you could learn anything from your cave-accident-porn. So what's the point?
When people are already lost or already in panic the train has already left the station.

[bent]

During their exit, circumstances become bad enough that they are in serious trouble, in large part because Tom is having trouble getting through restrictions. He panics and struggles with Peter... As Tom grapples with him, ...

If you're in a restriction, how are you supposed to struggle with someone? The buddy is either in front or behind me.

[Rich]

nobody will ever really know how they will deal with a situation until it happens in real life.

This pretty much sums up the whole thread and I've seen numerous examples over the years. I was lucky enough to be able to cave dive on a daily basis when I started out and had some brilliant mentors over the years and got a bit lucky!

While this may be controversial, I much prefer to solo dive because I've definitely had some "fun" times like that. Over the years countless people have asked me if they're ready to do this or that dive, IMHO if you need me to answer that question the answer is no.

If I dive with others I choose them very carefully and have done some fantastic dives 'cause of this. This also applies to whom I mentor and decide to teach.

Hopefully everyone gets a bit lucky when they start out (I know I did) and will learn from these experiences. Remember muscle memory becomes a huge key when the proverbial %$&* hits the fan. Just my humble opinion as always...

Safe diving,

Rich

[OFG-1]

Stick with Byron and Shakespeare.

[ARY]

I only read OFG comments.