Posted by MHK on July 03, 2001 at 11:05:17:
In Reply to: about "that" Wreck... posted by Wood on July 02, 2001 at 19:11:07:
Bill Johnson brought up one of the points that I was going to raise which is if unqualified divers continue to die on wrecks, particularly when penetrating, if will be much more difficult to get access to ships..
Everyone is so afraid of liability that it paralyzes our society because everyone is also lawsuit happy.. Take for example the steps that they put in at Casino Point.. That took years longer than it should have because the city was concerned that if they made access easier and an accident happened they could be held liable.. How silly is that logic??? You had diver's climbing up and down slippery rocks which in my view was more dangerous and less accessible if in fact there was an accident.. Accordingly, it the minds of the lawyers it was less potential liability by doing nothing as opposed to making it safer and easier..
Expand that twisted logic to artifical reefs.. When most people hear the word scuba they immediately conjur up images of sharks and deaths.. Whether we like it or not, the fact of the matter is that most people outside our dive community have the knee-jerk reaction and it's risk and lawsuits.. My point, of course, is that if unqualified divers are granted such unchecked access to wrecks the fatality rate will likley increase and the difficulties in getting added ships will be more difficult..
I'd like to hope that some of our ranting's have raised the awareness level about the Yukon and as such have in fact lead to the boats doing a better job during the briefings.. Atleast that's my observations..
Also, the Yukon was primarily promoted as a very diver friendly wreck, which had it gone down as intended, it is.. But the fact is that the premature sinking added a unplanned complexity and I didn't think the response rate was quick enough.. You had so many divers on her with ill-advising maps that were directing them to exits that did not exist.. Panic sets in quick 3 levels inside, low on air at 100' when you're cute little map says you should see an exit and instead you see sand.. A couple of weeks after she went down you'll recall the instructor ][ ie; experienced diver] got lost inside and didn't make his way out until he had 100 psi left and he rocketed to the surface.. Absent the raised awareness level that could have happened with more frequency..
I didn't have so much of a problem with divers staying on the outside as much as I had problems with what little respect was being paid to the complexities of a wreck dive and how many people we willing to go inside *just to take a peak*..
For better or worse, our market isn't really set up for wreck diving [ for sure we have our fair share of wrecks ] but by in large Calif. is more well known for reefs than they are for wrecks and as such teh understanding, the educational requirements and the basic infastructure wasn't yet in place and I'd say that due in large part to the Yukon alot of good information was brought to the forefront and now I'd like to build upon that success..
Later