 |
|
The liveliest letters from the DIVER mailbag...
|
|
Your article Hidden Legacy of the Bends (April) was very sobering. The importance of seeking help when you have a decompression illness symptom was well made.
The problem is, are we confident of being able to distinguish between an ache from lifting heavy gear, or one caused by a bubble? I know I'm not.
When I've had an ache after a dive I try to think of what could have happened to cause it, and wait to see how it develops.
Perhaps this is just what I should not be doing, but I have not wanted to waste people's time when I was unsure if I had a bend or not. So far I guess I've been lucky.
This probably shows an area of training/understanding of mine which needs improvement, but am I alone?
Generally, it seems that divers do not want to raise an alarm if unsure that there is a need to do so. If we all adopted the attitude "when in doubt, seek treatment", would the decompression chambers be able to cope with the extra people coming forward?
So in view of how important it is to treat a real bend, would it not be beneficial to have a DCI triage line, with an expert on the end of a phone who could give advice on any symptoms?
If such a service were to be made available, its number could receive extraordinary exposure, along with the message to ring whenever there is a DCI concern. This may then ensure that more people receive faster treatment, which may improve the outcomes of decompression treatment.
Dave Ireland, Exeter
In response to the letter A Lot of Hot Air by Mark Clegg (April), about flatulence as a means of drysuit inflation, I would point out that a healthy adult can supposedly produce up to 5 litres of gas a day and that this can be increased if sufficient quantities of beans are eaten.
Drs Jammala Machaiah and Mrinal Pednekar at the Bhabba Atomic Research Centre in India have conducted experiments. Unfortunately I have been unable to discover anything of their methodology, particularly regarding the collection and measurement of the 5 litres.
I have consulted my friends in the medical profession but their response has been: "We would rather not know." The problem for divers seems to be a) producing enough gas at one go and b) controlling the quantity. No one wants to make a sudden uncontrolled buoyant ascent.
Mark should also be warned that it could be dangerous to remove his drysuit in a confined space. Death has been known to occur. This was reported in the Bloomsberg News Service and is described in full in Great Domestic Disasters by Michelle Lovric and published by Past Times.
Apparently the man died in his sleep in a small unventilated room after living on a diet of beans and cabbage. A post mortem revealed death by methane poisoning. Three rescuers became ill: one was hospitalised. You have been warned.
Denis Sanderson, Kendal & Lakes BSAC, Cumbria
Comment: All more or less true, we fear, but it should be made clear that, to our knowledge, no training agency is yet advocating baked beans as an approved method of suit inflation.
I'm 13 and I've recently become a PADI Open Water Diver. I read your magazine often, in between lessons, but I can't figure out why in the March edition on sharks (Hit the Hot Spots), raggedtooth sharks weren't included. They are truly wonderful creatures and they swim gracefully through the water, always watching you with their unblinking eyes.
Stuart Barker, Bristol
I'm standing in the morning sun at the mooring to Jackson Reef in the Straits of Tiran. I'm with my dive-school chums on holiday in Sharm El Sheikh and civilisation seems a million miles away.
I've been buddied with a diver who has Divemaster certification, so any anxiety is allayed. The water is surprisingly warm as we drop down the wall to 28m to do our Advanced Diver skills.
As I turn round to my buddy, I realise he has gone off about 10m in the other direction. A little perturbed, I make sure to keep my wits about me from now on and stick with him.
The aquatic life on the reef garden is spectacular, with spotted rays aplenty. We begin our staggered ascent up the slopes to 5m for a routine safety stop and a little extra photography.
But nothing could prepare me for the next bit. My instructor gives the signal to surface, but my buddy decides to stay for five more minutes on the reef when the rest of the group has already surfaced. He has been doing this solo at 10m and ignores my indication that I am low on air.
When we both finally surface, we have to swim around four boats and the open currents out in the blue to our boat. Our instructor, who has been waiting on the swim steps for 10 minutes, is not happy. The result is a firm ticking-off for disobeying safety rules, and a lesson in role-model behaviour.
I haven't mentioned that I was a Divemaster in training at the time. This dive taught me a valuable lesson in diving safety and especially in common sense. The Divemaster in question wasn't part of our dive school and continued to adopt his solo attitude with several buddies for the rest of the week.
Luke Heath, Essex
I booked to do a PADI EANx course in Sharm el Sheikh in February 2002. I completed the theory and gained 100% pass rate in the examination, but was unable to do the two qualifying dives because of a medical condition.
In June I completed those dives with a PADI instructor, Hamad Eman, on a Red Sea liveaboard. I paid him the certification fee and he assured me that he would post the PIC card to me, as he had none on him.
Nothing arrived and, after several e-mails between myself, the instructor, Crusader Travel and the liveaboard-owner, I contacted PADI, which said it would contact the instructor and sort it out.
Another six months have now passed - 13 months after embarking on the course, I still can't dive using nitrox as I have no PIC card to prove that I am qualified.
After badgering the liveaboard-owner, I did eventually receive a full refund of £80 for the two qualifying dives, and was sent a PIC card which, as I discovered when I sent it to PADI, had been signed by a different instructor!
PADI says there is nothing it can do until Hamad Eman gets in touch. It says it has suspended his PADI membership as "this was a surefire way to make him contact them as he wouldn't be able to teach or certify students while suspended."
I have now learned through the Diver forum that Hamad is still teaching and issuing PADI certifications at Ocean College Diving Centre in Sharm. Unfortunately for those divers, their qualifications will, like mine, be useless.
So much for paying PADI member and certification fees and checking instructors' qualifications (I did, and it was valid in June when I completed my course).
You can do all the checks possible but still end up out of pocket unless PADI changes the way it controls its instructors and dive centres.
Claire Hodge
Eric Albinsson of PADI International replies: Mohamed (Hamad) Eman was never suspended from PADI. When we initially received no response from him, he was placed in "administrative hold status" and when he responded that status was removed. As he was working on a liveaboard and then moving between employers, he was naturally difficult to contact until he began working at Ocean College, a large, well-established dive centre
Ocean College has nothing to do with this case. It did not employ Mr Eman when this situation occurred, nor did it have anything to do with the EANx course. There will be no delays for any other PADI diver students trained and certified by Mr Eman due to this case.
Mr Eman was not an authorised PADI EANx Specialty Diver Instructor when Ms Hodge boarded the liveaboard, so would have been unable to train or certify her to this level. The liveaboard had booked her onto the course and arranged for an appropriately certified PADI instructor to conduct it but unfortunately the instructor did not show up due to illness.
According to our information, it was agreed that Mr Eman would accompany Ms Hodge on non-training nitrox dives but that these would not count towards a PADI certification and that she would be refunded the course fee. We understand that this has happened.
The liveaboard operator is not a member of the PADI International Resort and Retailer Association (IRRA). While we sympathise about Ms Hodge's situation, we do recommend that divers use only authorised IRRA member facilities, or at least ask to see their instructor's certification card before embarking on a course. I am not aware that Ms Hodge did such a check or contacted PADI directly to verify the credentials of her instructor before enrolling.
We are still investigating how a PIC came to be issued by the other instructor in Ms Hodge's name instead of the intended student. We are also in contact with Ms Hodge to try to help her finally gain her certification.
In February 2002 while on holiday in Spain I bought a then newly released Cressi Archimede dive computer. I was fairly new to diving but had confidence in the supplier, CMAS/PADI instructor William Kauffeldt at Aqua Tech, Benalmadena, who had given me my first tuition 12 months earlier. Besides, it was Spanish priced!
The computer performed OK until I went on a club trip to Weymouth in April. Mr Archimede didn't exactly die but he thought he was still in the water hours after I wasn't! In addition, the "mode" button had the occasional sticking fit.
I contacted Cressi UK. It was nice and helpful on the phone and asked me to send Archi in to be looked at. It came back after several weeks, with the same problems.
After phone calls and e-mails the offending Archi was returned to Cressi UK, which informed me that it was forwarding it to the manufacturer in Italy. It was now August.
In November it was eventually returned and, guess what, no change! Cressi UK now washed its hands of it as it was bought in Spain. The manufacturer's guarantee was still intact but no-one apparently wanted to help.
Trading Standards told me that as Archi had been bought on credit card I could approach the card company for a refund, but only after I had contacted the original supplier.
I had resisted doing this, expecting problems with distance, language, post etc. But off went my e-mail to Aqua Tech and I received a same-day response from William saying that he would contact Cressi Spain on my behalf.
A further e-mail from him, along with Cressi Spain's statement that what I'd described was "a known fault"(!), requested that I return the Archimede to be replaced with the new model with revised casing. The defective one would undergo tests.
In January I received a new Archimede Mk 2 from Spain (as yet untried because in the meantime I had bought a Vyper). Among many lessons is that if you buy abroad, don't be afraid to contact the original supplier in the event of problems.
Tony Wooderson, Hollesley
James Munt of Cressi-sub UK replies: From the word go, our advice to Mr Wooderson was to return the item to the retailer from which it was purchased - good advice, later repeated by Trading Standards, but at first ignored.
In each country, the Cressi-sub agent or distributor has a system for dealing with customer complaints. Our system in the UK works very well when followed, and Cressi-sub is held in high regard for our customer service record.
That said, we are always looking to improve, and recently carried out a comprehensive review of how we deal with complaints. Our policy can be read on www.cressi-sub.net.
The Archimede computer was recently fitted with a modified cover, but the sole reason was to enable a face protector to be fitted. No modification of the buttons was deemed necessary, as this is the only complaint of this nature of which Cressi-sub is aware.
Two friends and I are going to the Red Sea with Tony Backhurst Scuba. The fly jumps into the ointment with the airline, Astraeus, flying direct to Marsa Alam. It's the old chestnut: excess baggage with a limit of 20kg and excess charges of £4 per kg, the worst I have come across so far. This is a new airport, and other airlines flying to the Red Sea will give up to 30kg if asked.
If I call and ask for some excess baggage allowance I'm told no, and that's the end of the conversation. What worries me most is that divers will cut back on the weight we take at the expense of safety equipment such as flags and other backup items.
Kevin Quinn, Andover, Hants
Several years ago Diver set up the Weightwatch campaign to press for extra allowances for divers when they fly abroad. In 1999, IATA gave a sympathetic hearing to proposals but didn't make any changes.
At the time British Airways' Corporate Pricing Controller, Martin McCool, said: "Divers will I hope begin to notice, at least on an airline-to-airline basis, a shift in attitudes toward their diving baggage." He said BA would continue to work on an individual allowance for its own diving customers, while Diver continued to campaign for fairer treatment within the industry as a whole.
Over the past four years I have organised many trips for my club and have always phoned airlines in advance. Qantas , Kenya Airways and Airtours have been among the companies giving us extra weight allowance
Today I called BA as 21 of us are off to Malta on its GB Air flight. I asked for extra and was told that there were no special allowances for divers and that we had the standard 23kg. I asked about its policy for golfers and was sad, but not surprised, to be told that they get an extra 7kg.
Hey, Diver, it's time we took up the campaign again!
Marjolein Thrower, Kew, Surrey
I read with interest John Liddiard's account of diving on the wreck of the Hoveringham off Anglesey (The Joys Of Spring, April). I was however a little concerned at the discovery of a "triangular air pocket" and the announcement that the gas there was "relatively safe to breathe"!
In June 1989 two police divers in their early 30s were involved in an operation on a sunken barge. Sadly, both died at the site because of carrying out the practice John deems to be reasonable.
Diving practice and experience should ensure that you commence your dive with enough gas for its entirety - there should be no need to breathe from "air pockets". Remember too that there has to be a "first" diver to try this in any suspect environment. If devoid of O2, death will be instantaneous. There will be no second chance.
Please alert your readers to the dangers of such an act.
Andy Clark, Thames Valley Police
John Liddiard replies: Overall I agree with Andy - dead air pockets are extremely dangerous. In the case of the Hoveringham the air is exchanged at each low tide and my use of the term "relatively safe" was specific to this particular situation.
I wish to express a deep resentment towards the item Do Come Again, It Was a Blast, (Beachcomber, March), which discussed a letter written to AP Valves by Neil Richmond.
Perhaps Beachcomber doesn't realise that if spaces are free on a boat the club involved can offer them back to the skipper to fill, and with-hold any responsibility for divers who turn up.
Beachcomber commented that "they would have to be wreck-diving novices to pick up phosphorus". I'm sorry, but how many divers are aware of what phosphorus looks like, let alone that it combusts in air? When they see something shiny and metallic, wouldn't most divers bring it up?
I understand the threat of phosphorus but must confess to not knowing how to tell it from other metals. A very experienced advanced instructor I know brought a lump up the month before the incident. He got it on the boat and only realised there was a problem when it started fizzing in his suit pocket.
Perhaps space in Diver would be better used by informing divers about the threat of phosphorus as well as known sites, so that these incidents could be more avoidable, rather than using it to slate a very, very good diver, without whose fast response to the problem everyone on that boat may have not been so lucky.
Nicola, Bromley
John Bantin in his test of the Aquapak slate (Diver Tests, May) mentions the mystery of triple bowlines and double anchor-bends coming unravelled under water.
I had the same problem with the lanyard on my digital camera housing and was worried about losing it. A drop of superglue on the knot seems to have done the trick - I defy it to come undone now.
Steven Hall, Leigh, Lancs
In response to Tim Stobart's letter "How Can I Try Before I Buy?" (May), Capernwray is as close to Lancaster as anything connected with diving and I think advertises a try-before-you-buy service. If they have it in the shop, then apparently it can be tried in the water.
Paul Leadbetter, Euxton, Lancs
Comment: We checked. Capernwray Diving & Leisure at Carnforth in Lancashire says divers can try out certain lines "from most major manufacturers" in its lake, though by no means everything in its shop. Also note that Dacor gear can be tested free before purchase through 13 dealerships.
|
|
|
