New Must-Read Book: "Raising the Dead"

PaulTG2

Hello,

I don't think the number of dives someone has done is necessarily a good indication of competence and capability. The real question is what those 330 dives were.

I know people with thousands of hours, and thousands of flights, in small single engine piston aircraft that shouldn't be put behind a jet fighter... yet the military has create incredibly capable fighter pilots with just a few hundred hours. Of course I wouldn't want one of those fighter pilots behind the yoke of a single engine piston aircraft without some training.

Sincerely,

-p

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Paul's first law states that the safety of an activity is determined by how forgiving of mistakes the activity is.

Paul's second law states that the difference between an adventurer and an explorer is whether the doing or the learning comes first.

Nailer99

Your point is a good one. I, myself, have been told that I've gone "too far, too fast", and shouldn't be diving trimix yet, let alone a CCR. Of course, the people who say that haven't dived with me. I know I'm OK, even if I'm new- good training, always learning, follow my checklists, yadda yadda.

On the other hand, I'm not doing 270 meter dives, either. That's extreme, by anyone's standards. From what I've been able to gather, Mr. Shaw was an incredible diver, and I mean no disrespect to his memory. I'm just amazed that he went *that* far, *that* fast. Would he have survived his last dive if he had twice as much experience? Maybe. Or maybe not.

Marvintpa

You kinda have to read the book and get a look into his diving habits to see for yourself if he was too far too fast. Along with the limited # of dives was the fact he would go several months without getting in the water and suddenly go deep again. Not sure I'd be recommending that to any of my students.
Perhaps he was just exceptional. I have no idea.
I thought the Don Shirley recommendations for a new diver was an interesting touch - guess he didn't want someone reading the book thinking it was a recipie for going deep.

Pawel Szopinski

I think it's a great read anyway. I knew the story before I have bought the book, but once I started reading it last week, I couldn't put it down til I have finished.

There are very few books that I have read right from the beginning to the very end. Very emotional.

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"It's better to live one hour as a tiger than a whole lifetime as a worm." The Cat

Nailer99

Just finished it. It's a great book- well worth the price. Dave Shaw's diving career amazes me- I don't think he was as crazy as I originally thought he was, now. He was, well........something else.

w ripley

Thanks for the tip - might not have known about this book without your post.

I only wish that we could meet women as "moonstruck" by technical Rebreather divers as the author was. It was a nice ego boost, however, even though we all know better.

Still, I thought it was a good book, and about someone who was certainly a natural diver. You meet a few of them along the path, every so often.

Regards,

Bill

fireman

Good read, got mind from Amazon...

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Heres to you Capt. Bill
Never Forget, and stay safe everyone.

OceanOpportunity

Perhaps not, but it does have alot to do with it. I just recently surpased the 2000 dive mark (I am a commercial/scientific diver professionally - all modes, all depths). I can tell you this...at 500 dives I felt like a big shot (recently certified instructor at the time), at 1000 dives I became much more humbled and appreciative of the entire u/w experience, at 1500 dives I finally feel like I stopped letting my equipment dictate my dives and I started driving my equipment, and now at 2000 dives it is truly amazing to appreciate the level of interaction you have with the environment. It's like a whole new level.

I wouldn't boast a level of credentials by #'s of dives, but I can say for certain that with more and more time underwater comes a new perspective on the whole experience. 270m after a few hundred dives...f-that. I wouldve thought I was ready too, but looking back was still in diapers. No one is ready at that point. IMO-no one should be diving mix at all til around then, or later. Today it might be a consideration, but would be with a much more educated gear selection than Dave Shaw, as that was clearly the fatal mistake (for such a deep dive anyway).

my $.02.
I'm still going to read the book from an educational standpoint.

__________________
Michael Lombardi
Oceans of Opportunity
www.oceanopportunity.com

Elected Director, Society for Human Performance in Extreme Environments

MN'07, The Explorers Club

Project Manager, Diving a Dream

Marvintpa

Does anyone aside from those mentioned in the book, abide by the "three strike" rule they mentioned?

The author said the divers would call the dive if there were three equipment issues before the dive started.

David Pye

I was under the impression from what I've read is that the problem with the MK15.5 was that it was incorrectly assembled with felt blocking the gas path through the scrubber, rather than the original foam (which had a hole in as well).

I wouldn't have thought that the choice and use of the MK15.5 was the fatal choice therefore.


David