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technical matters 20 years on... AquaCorps ...What has changed?

—A Personal View Deep D(r)iving Motivations

Text by Wes Skiles deep on air. I only wish that I could have It was hard to admit at the time, but the dive and known back then the scenarios that my first face-slamming experience with exiting against Every time I think of deep div- were rushing full speed towards me and narcosis occurred at just 160ft. I was the current were ing, both good and bad memo- the consequences of my misdirected crushed—demoralized. I knew that expe- accounted for actions. rience and repetition would help get me by our use of a ries surface together in my mind. One of the most common reasons deeper, but how was I to get that experi- conservative 1/5- I can recall those exciting eve- people experiment with deep diving is to ence if I admitted to anyone that I got air rule, that is, nings over 15 years ago when see how they handle narcosis. Invariably, narced at 160ft? Eventually, after about we would begin my friends and I would drive they share these experiences with their 20 dives, I had worked my way well past our return when diving peers, but more often than not 200ft. I was finally the victor; I had beat- we had used from Jacksonville to Eagle’s Nest they hold some of the truth back about en narcosis—or so I thought. 1/5 of our air just for an evening dive. We how they reacted to the depth; either At this point, let me pose the same supply. This dive were full of anticipation back they do not want to admit that they questions I ultimately had to ask myself: would require an then for the promise each dive experienced any level of narcosis, or What is the point? Why would you want additional stage they want to give the impression that to go that deep on air? What purpose bottle, as well held. Among other things, these they “overcame it” and “kept it under is served beyond the excitement of the as oxygen for dives offered the challenge of control”. moment? To my mind, if you don’t have decompression. testing ourselves against nar- I am sure that there are a few divers a really solid justification and you are Certified cave divers, we descended on I did not comprehend the scope of his that can be completely honest and doing it for the challenge alone, then it our adventure. problem, I realized that we had better cosis, which we viewed as an objective about their experiences. But becomes just another cheap thrill. Only The dive proceeded as planned, with slow down. Then, swimming only a few obstacle to be overcome, so most of us would have to admit that we not so cheap. the new passage being explored and feet further, I turned to see my friend los- that we could be “good deep have been a little more narced than we survey data collected. When the allot- ing consciousness. My mind raced, with divers”. Mastering the depths were willing to let on to our companions Deep diving on air ted air was consumed, we began our heartbeat and breathing following, as at the time. This situation is not helped Deep diving on air must be approached return trip, having spent considerable the full impact of the situation hit me. was extremely satisfying to my any by the existence of those anomalous with a strong sense of the possibilities of time already at the 170-ft level. We gave Fortunately, he was still breathing and ego. divers who seem to have total immunity uncontrollable circumstances and nega- each other the double-time signal, which not yet fully blacked out, but there was to the effects of narcosis. Unfortunately, tive outcomes. Our dive plan that day meant we would pick up the pace dur- no way he was going to be able to get I must admit that I enjoyed the sensa- these unusual individuals—along with was to descend to a depth of 165ft, and ing our exit. Retrieving stage bottles on out on his own. tion of narcosis, but the real reason I was others who simply deny feeling any then to explore a virgin cave passage the way, we prepared for our final exit Grabbing him by the arm and pulling there was to develop my skill as a deep effects—set the standard for the mass downstream. The depth and distance from the cave. him over my shoulder like a sack of pota- diver. For some unknown reason, I just of divers interested in quantifying their we would both be travelling down- Seconds later my partner signaled me, toes, I began a desperate swim for the had to be able to say that I had been capacity to dive deep. stream with the current before turning indicating that he felt so-so. Although exit. Less than a hundred feet later, my

84 X-RAY MAG : 44 : 2011 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED tech talk

Rebreather Forum 3

“Rich has a relaxed, Powered by: progressive, effective AAUS, DAN and PADI body began to succumb to the teaching style which stress, my brain pounding like tribal enables him to thoroughly Are you a rebreather death drums. I clearly remember a prepare divers for the flash of regrets—not the kind peo- rigours of ‘real life’ diving” diver, instructor or ple supposedly have before they dive centre ? die, but much more pragmatic thoughts. Why didn’t I realize that It’s time for a Peer Review; this could have happened? Why was doing this dive so important? Rich Walker - Rebreather Incidents By the time I got to deals and High quality training promises with God (I will never using the best do this again, really...) I regained curriculum - Physiology and control of my runaway breath- available Rebreathers ing. Reorganizing my thoughts, I www.wreckandcave.co.uk - Rebreather Design, got underway at a pace I hoped Construction and Testing would keep us both alive. It was still a touch-and-go exit, but both the responsibilities of leading, I was - Training and Operations of us survived. unconsciously lowering my guard. The descent and dive went - Rebreathers in What went wrong smoothly with the exception of a Expeditionary Diving An analysis of our situation pointed couple of minor communication to a combination of CO2 buildup glitches. I was surprised at how Come and be part of a and narcosis—a very real prob- far we were getting, and that my major event in Rebreather lem that is often ignored by air- buddies had not yet hit their air thinking – Rebreather Forum breathing deep divers. Our own turn-around point. I called the 3 - the biggest international level of difficulty with this problem dive on air and gave the thumbs- Rebreather Conference could only have been amplified up, confident that the others at a greater depth. I ask the air- would be ready to turn also. That breathing, deep-diving readers is when the horror of a narcosis- Supported by if they are confident of their own clogged challenged whatever Fourth Element abilities to handle a sudden injec- senses I had left.

IANTD Some advert tion of mental and physical stress As I turned to begin our exit Juergensen Marine at depth. If the answer is a smug out, the others flashed me with “yes,” how do you know that? their lights, the beam sweeps rEvo Instead of modifying my dive featuring me as the victim was personal motivation at the time It was on one of my deepest an imparting sense of urgency. Shearwater Research habits after this incident, I contin- unthinkable. was simply to explore deep caves. dives, as part of a three-person Spinning about in response to a ued to deep dive. Having been In retrospect, exploration impera- team exploring a deep tunnel, possible emergency, I now faced Friday 18th - the “victor” of that round—at least Deep diving ego syndrome tives were probably only 20 per- that things caught up with me. my buddies who were signaling Sunday 20th May in my mind—my response was to These experiences played out in cent of that motivation; I will now On two previous dives here I had emphatically that the surface change buddies and stick with the the late ‘70s, when many large, admit that the other 80 percent led the team, so on this third dive was in the direction we had been 2012 “challenge” of deep diving. I was deep cave systems still remained was what I call “deep diving ego I was to be along “for the ride”. swimming. This meant that either I in control. An upcoming scenario virtually unexplored. I believe my syndrome”. Relaxed, confident and without Orlando, Florida, USA

85 X-RAY MAG : 44 : 2011 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED tech talk Deep Diving

it? Or were so-close calls, I began to reassess my trusted the reasons that others and I had buddies used to justify a deep dive on air. mentally blind with Mixed-gas sport diving narcosis? Many years have passed since my This 50/50, “air-powered” deep-diving days. coin-toss Now my friends will tell you that I moment am reluctant to dive below 130ft of deci- without the benefit of a gas mix. sion nearly I have come to feel that there is caused me nothing down deep worth visiting to pass out while on air. It is just not worth the from the risk, especially with the advent of rapid dump mixed-gas sport diving techniques, of adrena- equipment and table, and with line entering one-atmosphere suits on the hori- my system. zon. But it was A wise old diver once told me, two against “If you stick around long enough, one. Being you will see the whole show repeat not sure itself time and time again.” I have but shaken, been around long enough now to I decided agree with him, having seen the to give in. loss of a few divers—some really Either they good ones among them—as the would lead show gets replayed. us to our Deep diving on air never offers doom or to a guaranteed safe return, no mat- dinner. I sim- ter what your reason and confi- ply followed dence tell you. I constantly hear them, not people say, “Boy, that person is at all sure of a real good deep diver.” I now who knew know there is no such thing as get- what. ting “good” at deep diving on The gravity air. While a person may be truly of that error competent, trusted and liked, their ended my competency will only allow them misdirected, to be lucky when diving deep. ■ ego-driven deep dives Veteran explorer, filmmaker and had gotten confused or the both on compressed air, which, up until photographer Wes Skiles died dur- of them had. that time, had seemed so very ing a working dive for National Had we turned the dive and important. From that experience, Geographic in 2010. begun the exit without my noticing along with a few other not-quite-

86 X-RAY MAG : 44 : 2011 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY EDUCATION PROFILES PORTFOLIO CLASSIFIED