Quote: (Originally Posted by Crazyduck)
The biggest aid I have seen and not too many people add to the equation is “safety divers.” It would be a good to way to bring in new divers to existing groups and provide the newer diver with direct contact with older and more experienced people.
Quite a good point although having been involved with a few trips involving deep dives and pushes, the biggest problem is getting the "safety" diver to fully understand their role and appreciate what they are responsible for. Most seem to have the blinkers on and are looking for some of the "glory" and really want to bypass the "learning" by jumping in and "doing". Technology and advanced knowledge readily available (and possibly better training) has made that easier for people to bypass the "experience" bit.
I had a similar conversation with the person who trained me in OC Trimix on similar issues, especially after Bennet's vertigo during his deep dive and to some extent issues during the dives by Dave Shaw. His take on it was that you need your most experienced people as the support or "safety" team for the divers doing the dive as when things go wrong, you need people with the experience to control or manage the situations as the diver who went to the bottom may be incapacitated and unable to help themselves.
When Jason McHatten had an issue during a dive in Sydney and one of the most experienced divers in the team recognised that Jason had a major problem. Lesser experienced team members may have resulted in a less successful outcome.
For those that may not be aware of the history, I dug around in the archives and found Jason's account:
http://www.diveoz.com.au/discussion_...&TOPIC_ID=2567
Cheers
