The calendary of the Skandalopetra games for the 2010!!!!

[ploum]

But then again, Loïc's death, who did have several backup safety systems in place, including a counter-ballast, makes me wondering whether our safety measures are really redundant enough.

The problem is that redundancy is done on the "pulling the rope" level. There's still one single point of failure : the rope itself. And that's what happened to Loïc : rope's failure.

Never understood why Loïc or Audrey didn't had an inflatable jacket as a backup (just like in the Big Blue movie). If I remember correctly, it looks like Musimu had one for its 209m dive.

Herbert 214 dive was also safer in that regard : the buoy could be used without the rope. (but was by itself a single point of failure. If it crushes, that's the end)

 

[trux]

Loïc did have an inflatable vest, but since he probably blacked out already during the descend, he did not trigger the inflator, and there was no way to trigger it remotely from the surface - that would be a nice option.

 

[ploum]

Loïc did have an inflatable vest, but since he probably blacked out already during the descend, he did not trigger the inflator, and there was no way to trigger it remotely from the surface - that would be a nice option.

Didn't know that. I thought that he blacked out during the ascent (that's why he was found by the scuba diver).

Indeed, security is not always easy.

 

[trux]

Well, I may not remember it properly, but I think the lift bag was not deployed, though functional. Loïc was first lifted with the counterweight, but due to entangled lines it blocked, so they had to pull the entire cable system with a second boat, which was not perfectly successful either, but they managed to lift him shallow enough for the rescue diver to reach him. His safety vest was not deployed.

Pipin used an inflatable vest too as a backup. Not sure whether Audrey used one too, and do not know why she had none at the fatal dive (or why it was not used, if she had it - but I do not think she had one).

 

[ploum]

Pipin used an inflatable vest too as a backup. Not sure whether Audrey used one too, and do not know why she had none at the fatal dive (or why it was not used, if she had it - but I do not think she had one).

She had none. If I remember correctly, that's one of the argument in the book against Pipin.

 

[Kars]

Thanks Trux,

My understanding of Loic's accident is still rather murky, but your words give a little more clarification on how the rescue flawed.
It also advocates rethinking the CB system.

Entanglement isn't an issue with the Greek skandalopetra system.
But wonder how good the surface crew can sense the athlete's health from the top?

Love, Courage and Water,

Kars

 

[trux]

In fact it is rather murky for everybody. What I described are in big part just speculations, because nobody exactly knows what happened, and the CW together with some other equipment still lays on the bottom of the Nice bay, at some 300m.

You will find a detailed report of the accident at Freedive Central here:

LOC LEFERME :: General

I hope that at Skandalopetra, the divers are at least attached to the rope with a lanyard.

 

[Nikolas Trikils]

Greetings everyone, glad to receive your questions!
I have to tell you once again that we have never (ever) had any accidents. Never! And we have done thousands of dives.
http://www.skandalopetra.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=25&posts=2&start=1
I have been also searching some bibliography, trying to find clues for any kind of accidents during diving with skandalopetra, but I couldn’t find any (samba, black out or else). There are also some ancient documents (which I have in my position) that indicate to the same conclusion (Oppianos 200 b.C.).
http://www.skandalopetra.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=123&posts=5&start=1
Of course we check the diver in every phase during the attempt with depth meters or even with ROV. The diver is always attached to the rope with lanyard (gassa in Greek). I’ve been reading about “gassa” from many ancient writers. They seem to consider it as the best safety measure. In addition, I have a photo from an ancient vase in which we can see an ancient sponge diver who is ready to dive, and he is also attached with a gassa.
http://www.skandalopetra.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=388&posts=2&start=1

What I am trying to say is that during my career in free diving I have seen and used all the safety measures that exist. Believe me I do not trust none of them, not the mechanical or the electrical ones, because as you also said nobody can finally understand why they jammed and how the accidents happen. I can only trust what has to do with man… At skandalopetra we pull the diver ourselves with our own hands and we can do that at minimum time. Many athletes that have dived with us, have seen the method, they trusted it and they all say the best about it. You can ask H. Nitsch!!

Finally I have to say that Karol has to break the -54m record that Paila Tgliablue has achieved in Kalymnos at 2006. She wants to make an attempt at -70m!!

Thank you all, and you are all welcomed to come and dive with skandalopetra so that you can all see what we are really talking about.