Imported post
Matt & All!
as one of the 3 who were at the surface and called the boat!
1) I would do it again everytime, as people have said after 6 minutes, the scale of an incident increases hugely.
2) the boat is therefore safety cover at stoney and was already manned and in shouting distance, so to do as we did, which was to make the safety cover aware of the potential situation, seems to me the most effective and potentially safe option. I have been working with safety and rescue services on and off for the last 20 years and as people have said they all like to be given an early warning in preference to recovering a body!
3) Unusually for me, I have been keeping my gob shut and just reading some of the mail and replies here at YD and elsewhere. What is good here is that people overall are supportive in both their points but also in the general review of the dive.
I thought for me, it was a good little wake up call, I did surface after loosing my buddy and spent 5 minutes looking for him prior to meeting Matt and Nigel, however, it was a good 3 to 4 minutes before I noticed he was missing and was'nt with us! (ie.still buggering about in the helicopter!)
![]()
and I think part of it was due to becoming lax in my own dive planning with my buddy (Ben) cos I knew I was diving with solid buddies who were competent and I was at a familiar site, combined with the informal bit of the 4 of us will jump in and swim out and do the staingarth. I also think its easy to forget the importance of a good Buddy check and disagree with Ben! We all take responsibility for ourselves and our own diving, but as part of that we need to remember few if any of us are infallible and so make mistakes.. any system that helps to reduce those or the potential for those is worth keeping with.. Mr cock-up can visit at any point and does, its why planes end up sticking out of mountains or crashes occurr and reading Divernet it has obviously (human error) contributed to recent diving accidents.
In the Outdoor industry and in other places..We have a near miss procedure, which is just a means of reviewing an incident that could have been more serious and untangling the learning from it. The reviews work best when people arent on the defensive and are in an atmosphere where they feel supported to be open and Honest..
I think the posts on YD have encouraged that and long may it remain so.. I think (My opinion) that it could be one of the most useful functions of a dive forum, Give people the chance to learn from real life incidents or occurences and to improve their knowledge and learning. Maybe it may save a life or at the least an emergency. Research from Cave diving proves that accident analysis is one of the most effective ways of improving safety. (you do need a supportive arena for that rather than a blame culture or a score points off people attitude!)
My final point to share with you all was passed on to me by an ancient mariner some years ago, whilst I was in the navy! which was to remember that a Dick in a wet suit maybe a diver but he's still a Dick!! - It appears that some dive forums are full of them, either wanting to create an argument to feed their ego's or to prove points in order to look good for their mates... I read the crap their infrequently and I frankly don't give a rats arse.. what they have to say!!
I hope YD will continue to be a Divers' Forum made up of people who like a laugh along with the realisation that weve all got something to share or to learn!
P.S> Matt, Ben & Nige are all top Blokes in my book and I'll dive with them any time (though I try not to follow Ben anywhere, as he is to navigation wot Cyril Smith is to hang gliding development!)
It was great to meet Ali and his mate and Ali 'the torch is tops! thanks very much'....
