Just Wondering

[Dominick Gheesling]

So,

I?m one of those newish Cave Divers that still think that Cave Diving is an incredibly dangerous endeavor, considering that everything about the environment of a water filled cave is completely hostile to human life without the assistance of technology. In water filled caves it is dark (can?t see), cold (hypothermia), and of course that most critical consideration, humans can?t breathe water (at least not for any extended period of time).

I am not freaked out when I get in the water, which is the point that I?ll be getting to; I think that I just have a healthy appreciation for the risks involved.

I?ll get to the point, which is that I was just playing with ideas in my head and wondering, How much, like a percentage, does a successful Cave Dive rely on Training, Gear Maintenance and Surface Preparation Pre-Dive? I?ll qualify a successful Cave Dive a little more narrowly than ?any dive you surface from? (which is still the gold standard) to something like, no life-threatening emergencies transpired during the course of the dive. I?ll further qualify that as defining life-threatening as one of the following: Breathing Equipment Failure, Lack of Realistic/Conservative Gas Planning, Loss of Contact with Team or Serious Navigational Error. So, far most of the other problems I have encountered are simply that, inconveniences or problems provided I use my training and rely on the Stop, Breathe, Think, Breathe, Act mantra.

For myself, it seems that the successful Cave Dive almost exclusively relies on Training, Gear Maintenance and Pre-Dive Planning. I understand that even when working diligently to address these three aspects of Cave Diving, #### can and will go wrong but even then having diligently addressed these three aspects less #### will go wrong, which will lessen the stress.

And then of course there is PANIC. Seems to me that the BEST preparation for panic is to avoid it. It seems that it would be incredibly difficult (possibly inhumane) to accurately predict an individual?s stress threshold that will result in PANIC.

Just a few thoughts I was ruminating on and more than ever I believe that successful Cave Diving starts with a plan well before entering the water or at least avoiding bad Cave Dives is probably more easily achieved through constructing a plan well before entering the water.

[FW]

Cave diving is incredibly dangerous. Back in the '60s there were up to 40 fatalities a year. This all changed with the advent of training. Now only the cocky divers that think they are too good to follow the rules get into trouble, and sadly the ones that scooter into silty conditions and loose the line.

"Plan your dive, and dive your plan."

[Randall]

For what it's worth, Its really hard to quantify or put a percentage on what it takes to make a successful dive. Obviously the three criteria you listed are all important If I had to list them in terms of importance I would say #1 is training. Most incidents involve someone diving outside of their training level or comfort level. #2 would be proper dive planning and sticking to it. #3 would be properly maintained equipment. If you adhere to 1 and 2, number 3 should have already been taken care of. If something happens and you have trained and planned properly you can survive most any gear failure. This is just my opinion.

[DogDiver]

I?ve always said in 54 years of diving and 21 years of cave diving.
There are old divers.
And there are bold divers.
But there are no old, bold divers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kelly Jessop]

You mention some great things,but ultimately a successful cave dive is one you survived and drove home. That is overly simplified, but this culminates in the elements you have mentioned,but also the development of experience, which reinforces skill. What becomes dangerous is complacency- I know that jump and don't need a reel, trust me we can do that traverse on the gas you have, those bubbles aren't too bad and I don't need to get out of the water for maintenance etc etc.

[Diverlee]

Well said Kelly


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[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

[WEPIV]

Very well said Mike...

[TraviTheDiver]

So,

And then of course there is PANIC. Seems to me that the BEST preparation for panic is to avoid it. It seems that it would be incredibly difficult (possibly inhumane) to accurately predict an individual?s stress threshold that will result in PANIC.

Actually, the research is pointing towards panic being more of a psychological response to a physiological trigger - excessive CO2 build-up and a person's individual CO2 sensitivity. This also partially explains why some people seem to panic more than others. The risk of excessive CO2 build-up can to an extent be lessened. Adding He to any mix below 100' to reduce gas density, proper breathing techniques, choosing a breather (if you're CC) that has a lower WoB, just being aware of how hard you're working if you're trying to swim yourself through high flow, etc.

The standard Stop-Breathe-Think-Act is actually reducing CO2 build-up - stopping movement reduces CO2 production and breathing deeply promotes proper ventilation and CO2 reduction.

[FW]

You mention some great things,but ultimately a successful cave dive is one you survived and drove home. That is overly simplified, but this culminates in the elements you have mentioned,but also the development of experience, which reinforces skill. What becomes dangerous is complacency- I know that jump and don't need a reel, trust me we can do that traverse on the gas you have, those bubbles aren't too bad and I don't need to get out of the water for maintenance etc etc.

To me, the drive home is FAR more dangerous than ANY cave dive, including extreme sump dives.