[Capt Morgan]

Originally Posted by Clare Gledhill

I don't see how much more clear we can make it. You asked whether the dive can be completed, stages moved and carried without support divers and the answer is yes.

Support divers are there in case things go wrong - in addition to prudent gas planning in the first place. They lug stages around a bit to make the task easier for the gas divers and in this instance take empties away. If a support diver does not appear the gas diver just carries their own crap to the surface and has enough gas to complete the deco. No big deal.

There need not be a corralation between helping someone out in water and reliance. We plan ocean dives on a basis of carrying everything we need - but in water support just makes life nicer. It is supposed to be fun after all.

So the support divers are redundancy for redundancy, it's all clear now.