flawless man...just flawless.   Thx for the nudge!

Mike and Ken are agreeing on something?! the world has ceased to turn. And JC and I get along  criminy it's so scary. Guess I will sell the gear as the world is ending soon!!  

stephen_clark wrote on 10/02/06 at 13:42:14:



Don't forget, Lobsters can BITE!  They have very very mean mouthparts that can just crush the end of your finger off.

I recall some photos on scubaboard from about a year ago of some unfortunate hunter holding up the end of his pinkie between the thumb and forefinger of his other hand.  It had still been contained within the neoprene glove when it was bit off.  The bizarre part is he was laughing in the photo, or he had a very strange grimace of pain.

MHK: "Ken, I thought I understood you yesterday to say there were 2 additional fatalities, one was the married couple doing the anniversary dive and the 2nd I thought you said was at Anacapa??"

Not exactly. I said I'd heard there was an incident at Anacapa and that it might have been a fatality or it might not have been but that I didn't know for sure. The two people I talked to weren't clear. It turns out it was NOT a fatality, but did require Chamber treatment.

MHK: " . . .  but I'm still uncomfortable with your inconsistent position regarding tech diving -v- solo diving . . ."

I've had an interesting private discussuon with another poster about this. I think what it comes down to is this:

You think solo diving is too high-risk to even merit consideration and is insane. I think that cave diving, deep air, deco diving, wreck penetration, and a few others are too high-risk to merit consideration and are insane. Bascially, the argument that we each try to make is "My brand of insanity is safer than your brand of insanity." Neither argument is truly tenable.

What is real is that all of us choose to do dive behaviors that contain risk. Whether you can quantify that risk of not is, IMHO, not material. Receational diving in and of itself contains risk and as you add layers (solo, cave, deeper, longer, etc.) you most likely increase the risk.

You do things (cave, deco, wreck penetration) that I think are way too risky. I do things (solo) that you think are way too risky. And, in the same way you find my position incnsisntnet, I find it inconsistent in your positions that you can so strictly focus on solo while at the same time endorsing other forms of diving that I think carry a higher risk. Risk is risk regardless of the source of the risk.

But the bottom line is that all divers choose levels of risk they think they are comfortable with. And the overall goal should be that we choose a level of risk and have the skill set to deal with that risk as best as can be anticipated.

MHK: " . . . and to a greater extent the inconsistent position you have respecting banning Nitrox as a tool due to the added risk associated with it, but then by the same token allowing solo diving."

Apples & oranges. (You surely can't be arguing that a solo nitrox dive is "safer" than a solo air dive????)

MHK: "Other then that, I think your analysis was on target.. "

Well, I certainly would agree with you there.

OK boys I retract that last statement.  We are back to the two opposing teams and I am not betting on either at this time.  

Ken Kurtis wrote on 10/02/06 at 16:41:32:


I misundestood you then..  Glad to hear it was only a chamber ride and hopefully all is OK


Quote:


Ken,  Im not arguing that cave, deco aren't an increase in risk so the anaysis I've specifically limited my comments too are Nitrox -v- Solo..  That is the issue I can't square away.

Quote:


Absolutely not what I'm saying.  Im saying that Nitrox isn't that risky of an issue, whereas I think solo diving is a HUGE increase in risk, so I can't phathom how you allow solo diving but ban
Nitrox.  I'm not talking about anything else such as caves, wrecks, deco, etc.  It's a simple comparison of Nitrox to solo divng..

I have a lobster carapace on my computer desk that has 1 inch long chompers on it the cutters are at least1/2 inch long. Pretty easy to lose a finger if you were not careful with placement of fingers. I never knew they had teeth until I caught one that big.