opinion

Text by Simon Pridmore Photos by Andrey Bizyukin In the book Into Thin Air, journal- ist Jon Krakauer tells the story of five people who died near the summit of Mount Everest in 1996. Two were expedition leaders, one was a professional guide and two were their clients.

The clients, like most people who sign up for Everest expeditions, were not mountain- eers or hard-core climbers. They were folk with little advanced climbing experience, but plenty of money, plenty of guts and a dream. They died primarily because they placed their lives in the hands of profes- sionals, who then failed to keep them safe. On that day, the professionals broke rules and departed from set procedures, which they themselves had established and which had previously contributed to their exceptional safety record. What does this have to do with ? Look After Your People When people sign up for scuba diving courses, they also put their lives in the hands of an instructor. Non-divers are more experienced divers when they tor failed the student in that respect. 300ft (90m) dive. The instructor signed her Charlotte’s hand, congratulating her for incapable of saving themselves if they embark on . Until they In the mid-1990s, technical diving was up for a diver course and invited having achieved her goal. Her big smile have a problem during a training dive. acquire the skills and knowledge to identify still in its early days and an instructor in her to join him and a number of already- was clearly visible behind her mask. They rely upon their instructor to ensure the risks and learn how to deal with them, had a student named Charlotte, qualified trimix divers on a dive the fol- Having reached the target depth, the as far as possible that nothing goes they are placing responsibility for their sur- with whom he had been working for lowing weekend. divers began their ascent through blue wrong and, if it does, to make sure they vival in the hands of their instructor. some time, as she made her way up the The descent was uneventful. The water. They had no anchor line or shot do not come to harm. Here is an example of a dive where ladder of technical courses. group reached the seabed at just over line to follow. On the way up, as they The same thing applies in respect of something did go wrong and the instruc- Charlotte’s primary ambition was to do a 300ft (90m) and the instructor shook approached their first required decom-

67 X-RAY MAG : 102 : 2020 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO ...until [instructors] see that opinion the students can handle the higher risk points of the dive, such as the latter stages of the ascent, they must be all over them like a rash. They do not leave them to their own devices. pression stop, the instructor attached his using the instructor as their depth refer- respond and kept reel to a delayed ence. Charlotte did the same but, after sinking. (DSMB), which he then inflated and a while, the instructor noticed that she Aware that some- sent up to the surface, to give them had drifted away from the team and thing was wrong, all a temporary ascent platform. He was having difficulty staying neutrally one of the other held on to the reel and line, while the buoyant. He signalled to her that she divers swam down other divers gathered loosely close by, should ascend a little, but she did not to try to catch her but she was now falling faster than he could swim and he A New Book from Simon Pridmore eventually gave up the chase, worried When his country need- him this title, people about his own dwin- ed him most, Palauan were speaking both dling gas supply and Francis Toribiong came literally and figura- increasing decom- along and helped the tively. pression burden. The instructor and the tors in particular—must have the same insurance, they could relax and be less Pacific island nation rest of the group all watched in horror as mindset. If they have students embarking attentive, believing that their insurance find its place in the Toribiong was so com- Charlotte sank out of sight. All they could on a new level of training, they have to would protect them if any of their cus- world and become pletely different from see was a thin stream of bubbles rising babysit them through lesser dives before tomers had an accident.” an independent, all of his contemporar- from the depths. Eventually, the bubbles attempting bigger dives and, until they Now, when I was teaching people forward-looking 20th ies in terms of his de- stopped coming. Her body was recov- see that the students can handle the to dive, I always had liability insurance century state. And meanor, his ambitions ered a couple of days later. higher risk points of the dive, such as the and so did my staff. But, I understood he achieved this, and his vision, that it Like the climbers who died on Everest, latter stages of the ascent, they must the point Francis was making. Of course, improbably, via the was as if he had come Charlotte put her life completely in the be all over them like a rash. They do not having insurance does not mean you sport of scuba div- from outer space. Palau hands of someone whom she had every leave them to their own devices. can neglect responsibility. Neither does ing.This is the inspiring had never seen any- reason to believe would look after her, having customers sign a waiver of liability tale of an absolutely body quite like him and and died because that person did not Liability before they dive absolve you of blame if unique life, written there was no historical follow a number of standard, estab- Last year, I had the huge pleasure of you are negligent. But, there is a danger by Simon Pridmore precedent for what he lished safety procedures and completely going to Palau to research the biography that some people will think it does. and illustrated did. He had no opera- neglected his duty of care. I wrote on Francis Toribiong, the scuba This is where the instructor in Florida with images of the tions manual to consult diving pioneer who single-handedly and the guides on Everest went wrong. beautiful islands of and no examples to fol- Anticipating risk changed the face of his country. During They did not look after their people. They Palau, above and below the water. low. He wrote his own life. Going back to the 1996 incident on a late-night chat reminiscing about the failed to carry out their number one task. Everest, extreme climbing guides know old days, he told me about a salesman Toribiong was born poor, had no Toribiong was the first Palauan ever to that the vast majority of people who who had approached him once, offering and pre-breathe academic leanings and no talent for seek and seize the international nar- pay them to be taken to the top of the liability insurance for his dive guides. He In my book Scuba Exceptional, I wrote diplomacy. Yet he was driven to suc- rative. No Palauan, in any context or mountain and brought down again are told me he had declined and sent the about recent developments in ceed by a combination of duty, faith, field, had previously thought to go out not capable of doing this without them. salesman away. I asked him why. diving and focused on two paths to a deep-seated determination to do into the world and say: “This is Palau— Therefore, they need to babysit them He told me: “When I trained my guides, increased safety: the technological path the right thing and an absolute refusal what we have is wonderful. Come and all the way. They have to know where I used to tell them: ‘Rule number one— and the human path. In terms of the ever to compromise his values. And, as see!” This is his astonishing story. and how problems are likely to occur look after your people! That’s the most human path, for the past few years, the well as all that, he was Palau’s first ever and anticipate and mitigate the risk at important thing you have to do. Look mantra for rebreather divers has been parachutist—known by islanders as “the Available in paperback or ebook on: these points. after your people!’ I didn’t want any of “checklist and pre-breathe.” Palauan who fell from the sky.” In giving Amazon, Apple, GooglePlay and Kobo Instructors—and technical diving instruc- them getting the idea that, if they had Now, if you have never dived on a

68 X-RAY MAG : 102 : 2020 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO opinion Get the series! All dive profes- they have an impressive qualification Essential books by Simon Pridmore that sionals claim to and an attitude. Know that you can no diver should be without. offer safe div- only trust yourself and make it your duty ing. It is a stand- to educate yourself as much as you ard selling point. can so that you make the right choices. Available as Some clearly lie. And, if you are an instructor or plan to paperback, ebook Incidents such as become an instructor someday, I leave or audibook at those I recount you with the words of my friend Francis: Amazon, Audible here, make it and iTunes. apparent that “Rule number one: Look after your there are dive pro- people.”  fessionals out there who just don’t Simon Pridmore is the author of the care. They don’t international bestsellers Scuba Confi- care about their dential: An Insider’s Guide to Becom- people. They don’t ing a Better Diver, Scuba Professional: care about doing Insights into Sport Diver Training & Oper- a good job. And ations and Scuba Fundamental: Start they don’t care Diving the Right Way. He is also the enough to make co-author of the Diving & sure that those in Guide to Bali and the Diving & - their charge do ing Guide to Raja Ampat & Northeast not come to harm. Indonesia. His recently published books rebreather, it may be that the word prevented accidents AND that incom- One of my aims in writing my books include Who Fell From The “pre-breathe” and the concept of plete or absent pre-dive checks have is to help divers make the right deci- Sky, Dive into Taiwan, Scuba Exception- Buy it today! using in dive preparation contributed to fatalities. We have all sions when employing dive profession- al: Become the Best Diver You Can Be, Click on are new to you. However, it is abso- lost friends in this way. als to teach them or guide them—to Scuba Physiological: Think You Know All each book lutely IMPOSSIBLE that anyone involved Yet, in Hawaii, in mid-2018, a young help them sort the wheat from the About Scuba Medicine? Think Again! even peripherally man on a trimix chaff in the scuba world. and the Dining with Divers series of cover to go with rebreather div- Every one of us in the rebreather training dive, As a diver, know that no dive profes- cookbooks. For more information, see to its order ing, is unaware of the with his instructor on sional can be trusted simply because his website at: SimonPridmore.com. page. fact that every single sport rebreather div- board the boat super- expert in the world of ing world knows that vising dive preparation, sport rebreather div- managed to enter the ing, in both the manu- pre-dive checks and pre- water with the valve facturing and training breathes have prevented on his cylin- worlds, advocates accidents AND that der closed. He passed doing a pre-breathe out on the surface and using a checklist incomplete or absent pre- and drowned, leav- when preparing for a dive checks have contrib- ing behind a wife and rebreather dive. three children—a terrible Nor is it possible that uted to fatalities. waste of a young life. any rebreather instruc- The instructor in this tor could be unaware of the number case had failed to verify that the diver of rebreather divers over the last two had performed his standard checks decades who have died, but who and a pre-breathe before going into would not be dead if they had just the water and the diver died. Learn more! done a pre-breathe and run through For someone to die like this on a train- Visit the author’s a checklist before the dive that killed ing course is unthinkable and unforgiv- website at: them. Every one of us in the sport able. This is not an accident. This is sim- world knows that pre- ply a case of an instructor completely dive checks and pre-breathes have failing to look after his people. SimonPridmore.com

69 X-RAY MAG : 102 : 2020 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO