Just Wondering

[MORGAN]

You are right about training, equipment maintenance, and pre-dive prep being important. To me, it's good judgement that's paramount. As Kelly notes, it's easy to become complacent. When following the rules seems like too much trouble, and you start talking yourself into doing things you shouldn't, or not doing things you should, it's time to call the dive, get out of the water, and have a serious talk with yourself about why you're doing this. It is very rare for a cave diver to die as a result of equipment failure. It's also very rare for one to die as a result of something the cave does, such as a collapse or a sudden spontaneous loss of visibility. Almost always, cave divers in trouble got themselves there due to bad judgement.

Common instances of bad judgement are such things as not running a primary, not putting in a reel at a jump, starting a dive with known equipment problems, letting buddies talk you into dives you're not comfortable with, doing a traverse without setting it up from both sides, pushing thirds because you don't want to be the one to call the dive, etc. Another is having a goal in mind and pushing the safety envelope to get there. In mountaineering we called it "summit fever". It can be very tempting to see what's around the next corner, but you've got to be willing to turn back with your goal in sight.

The first time I got into the Courtyard at Madison, about 500 feet up the Courtyard tunnel I was down to 200 psi above thirds. It was big and beautiful cave and I started thinking, well, I'm still above thirds, I'll have the outflow helping me exit, I have a stage out at the mainline, I can push it right down to hard thirds, I can go a little further...
As soon as I caught myself and realized that I was trying to talk myself into doing something stupid, I flashed my buddies and put up my thumb.

The other thing is that all of the safety rules and factors are important. In a lot of activities, there are a few important things that have to be right, and then more that you can kind of let slide if you get the important ones right. In cave diving they're all important. When I was learning to be a critical care nurse, my preceptor told me: "The patients on this unit are the sickest people in the hospital. Every single aspect of their care, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, has to be done exactly right every single time. No shortcuts, no "good enough". It's only good enough if it's the best you can do." That applies to cave diving as well.

Mike