Läges Rapport Egypten 6.9 Skottdagen 2008
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Status Report Egypt 6.9 Leap day Feb 29th 2008
A friend of mine, who studied to become an engineer in road constructions, once told me that if you try to design a red light road crossing with the goal of zero accidents it’s theoretically possible, but in real life that crossing will be extraordinarily dangerous. That might seem illogical but the thing is that in order to get that high level of safety you will have to avoid every possible hazard and risk and take precautions on every single detail. This means you would need lots of red light and not so much green light. You would also need long time between red from one side and green from the other side. The problem is that no one would ever have the patience to sit and wait that long for a green light, hence a lot of people will run through red light and people will die. By trying to achieve 100% safety you’ve accomplished the opposite. With this in mind, continue through my story about a week with 22 British soldiers and the British Armed Forces view on diving and safety rules applied.
As I’m preparing for the safari I get some instructions from Nathan (owner of BlueOtwo) regarding the procedures involved when catering for an Official Army Adventure Training Expedition: I will be on the boat to brief the dive sites, overlook general safety and if I want I can go on some dives to avoid getting bored stupid. When the guests arrive, the first thing I do is play the “boat briefing DVD” and collect qualification details such as; dive certificate, number of dives/date for last dive and so forth. Now, according to British Army Regulations, the philosophy of diving safety is to avoid every possible hazard and risk and take precautions on every single detail. This means, for example that the group is then administered by two official BSAC/Army supervisors, Bob and Duncan. Bob, who is the main supervisor, again needs to collect the same details plus some more. One of those extra things is medical examination certification. Two of the guests happen to carry expired examinations certification. Therefore Bob can not let them dive on this expedition. A wild discussion breaks out, from which I try to keep as clear as possible. As it gets obvious that there is no realistic solution in view I suggest I’ll take the two guests to Dr. Hannah, who happens to be the main dive physician/dive instructor in Hurghada in addition to being in charge of the local recompression chamber. However, after a half hour long telephone conversation with the HQ back in UK it’s clear that this will not due. The examination has to be completed by a British Army Dive Doctor… Bob says he can not let the two guests dive from this boat and the options are: #1 to come with us on the trip as snorkelers or: #2 stay on land. The Army has paid a significant part of the expedition costs and everybody onboard is officially “on duty”, therefore everything has to be done exactly as the Army wants it, or not at all. It’s easy to read the disappointment in the unfortunate guest facial expressions.
Yet another plan comes to my mind. If the ill-fated two leaves the boat the army’s got nothing to do with what they do after we leave… If there is space on another of BlueOtwo’s boats, and I can get them on there, they are theoretically not under “Army Supervision”… A quick call to Natalie in the office confirms that we have space on The Blue Horizon (Bob is, so to speak, our uncle…) The Blue Horizon trip goes to Brother Islands, Daedalus and Elphinstone. An Itinerary commonly known as “Simply the Best” and there is a reason for that. The two guests collect their personal belongings and jump ship with a big grin on their faces. Nightmare turned Dream in the wink of an eye. Nevertheless, if these two aren’t qualified to dive under Army supervision they are now going to dive far more difficult and demanding dive sites without Army supervision… Hmmm… A matter of liability release I suppose…
While collecting the guests’ details I also learn that some of the guests are not yet qualified divers. They’ve done all theory and confined water training but are supposed to complete their training during the trip. This means I have to go to dive sites suitable for this purpose as well as give the experienced divers quality dives. The amount of such are limited. It’s sort of a tricky combination. We start off in Shaab El Erg where we have a shallow lagoon with flat sandy bottom on the right depth and a few fairly interesting dives along the outside of the reef. Now, according to British Army Regulations, the philosophy of diving safety is to avoid every possible hazard and risk and take precautions on every single detail. This means, for example that a group of 8 divers must have one supervisor in the water and one on the surface. With 22 divers where of 2 supervisors this means every dive has to be made in 3 waves. First 8 divers, then 8 more and then 4 or 6,6,8, or any other combination of 3 numbers (8 or less) that adds up to 20. As the days are short this time of the year this is a massive undertaking. On top of this the majority of the guests are also taking a course and then these divers must be taken separately with surface cover. There is not much time in between dives to eat and rest. Everybody seems stressed and tired all the time. It’s in situations like that divers tend to start making mistakes in buddy checks and forgetting things. Diving is not a forgiving sport and it’s conducted in one of the most hostile environments you can find on the planet. It’s not a situation you want to be beleaguered. To be able to squeeze three day dives in every day the maximum time on each dive is set to 35 minutes which means that some divers come out of the water with a tank pressure of 130 bar. This adds to bad atmosphere within the group and that doesn’t help divers to concentrate.
Normally our guest jump in from the boat or roll in from a Zodiac, make their dive and then as they start their safety sop they send up a delayed SMB (inflatable surface marker buoy) so the crew know where to go and pick them up with the Zodiac. Now, according to British Army Regulations, the philosophy of diving safety is to avoid every possible hazard and risk and take precautions on every single detail. This means, for example that these divers have to swim the whole dive under a delayed SMB. Of course a 15 metre long line plus a SMB on the surface creates water resistance and the risk of entanglement is immense if there are mooring lines from boats to the reef or even to catch the reef itself in the line. Obviously it makes it easier for the supervisor to keep an eye on all buddy teams. However an SMB is supposed to increase not decrease safety. One girl gets her SMB caught in another boat’s Zodiac, dragging her to the surface before she knows what’s going on. Another guest is not capable to control his buoyancy while inflating his SMB and makes an ascent to fast. He’s becomes the first diver I ever have to administrate oxygen to. On the third day there was a atmosphere of silent mutiny in the air and divers started to deliberately “lose” their SMB at the beginning of the dive. Some of the reels have also broken under more or less supernatural circumstances.
On any average safari we know who can go to what depth. Entry level divers has a maximum depth of 18 metres and divers that’s gone through continuing education, are limited to 30 metres unless they have deep diver training which means they can go to the maximum depth of 40 metres (according to Egyptian law) providing their insurance cover these depths. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy, Japaneezy. Now, according to British Army Regulations, the philosophy of diving safety is to avoid every possible hazard and risk and take precautions on every single detail. This means, for example that there has to be a “depth progression” during the week, i.e. the supervisor limits the first day to 12 metres for every one. The second day the limit is 15 metres. The third day it’s 18 metres and by then people starts lying about their maximum depth. This of course is not good. It’s like lying about your weight when checking in for a bungee jump.
On Wednesday morning as I come down to knock on cabin doors to wake my guests up I find Kelly (Captain Rhodes, Expedition leader) sitting with a cup of tea and a DIVER magazine in the saloon. “Oh hey there! You’re up early?” I say and she responds; “No I’m still up. I couldn’t sleep because of this weird tingling sensation in my feet.” Oups I think and ask a few questions that make me come to the conclusion that she might have the bends (decompression sickness). I put her in her cabin breathing O2 (as number two in my career as dive instructor) while I wake up the captain to tell him we’re going straight back to Hurghada. Bob is immediately on the phone with the Army Doctor back in UK who says “It’s probably not DCS because it’s very rare that that would appear in the feet… Ok… Strange way to look at the proplem… I call Nathalie in the Office and inform her. She organise pick up from the harbour to take Kelly to the Naval Hyperbaric Hospital and we let the moorings slide. When Captain Rhodes is at the Naval Hyperbaric Medical Centre It’s me, via sms, who comes up with the right diagnostic. The local doctors, as well as the Army physician in UK that’s been consulted have both failed. Kelly has been walking around on the wet deck and somewhat complaining about cold feet. This of course minimise blood circulation in her feet which leads to less off gasing. Hence this is the most likely place for a nitrogen bubble to form.
I fully appreciate Bob’s position. The Army has sent him on this trip for one sloe reason; to be the one who makes sure that all rules are followed immaculately and to be fair, he’s doing his job flawlessly. On the same token, he’s not here to win a popularity contest. I also understand the frustration from the group of divers who have to follow all these rules. I’m happy I’m not a part of the equation. I’m a spectator to what could easily qualify as a reality TV show. “The Liveaboard” I’m reasonably sure that when my guests reunite with the two who were unfortunate enough to be moved to another boat they will all be thinking twice before taking the piss out of them for not renewing their medic…
I think that it’s a similar concept as what my friend was talking about when he explained that you can’t make a red light crossing 100% accident free by avoiding every single micro risk. That will only have the opposite effect. Taking the safety rules to the ridicules level will make people breaking the rules. Keeping it on the right level where everybody is happy and respect their own responsibilities result in safe dives. I have strict safety rules when I run my boat and I make no exceptions. However, I believe that safety rules can be taken to the point where they have the opposite effect. Common sense also has to be added to the equation.
Everything this week has been executed according to British Army Regulations, with the philosophy of diving safety; to avoid every possible hazard and risk and take precautions on every single detail. And this week has, without the shadow of a doubt, been the “theoretically safest” week I’ve ever experienced since I started working full time with diving. It has also been the first week ever that I had to put some one (not only one but two!) on emergency oxygen. The first week I’ve had an SMB caught in a Zodiac. The first week I’ve had guests breaking their own safety equipment so they won’t have to use them. The first week I’ve had guests lying about maximum times and depths. Those things never happened before… But on the other hand… Before, I’ve always been in charge. ;o) In my profession I can’t afford the luxury of discriminating any dive education agency. However, I have to admit that this week BSAC lost a few points on my list. There are many funny ways to read out the abbreviation of PADI and I’ve got a new one for BSAC for you: Better Send Another Chopper!
The absolute safest way to avoid dive accidents is to follow my aunt’s Majvor’s recommendations: “Don’t dive! It’s dangerous!” Or as it said on a T-Shirt I once had: “There is only two ways ton100% avoid the bens: Don’t dive… or don’t go up!”
I’m not sure if I already wrote any status report that I left M/Y Rosetta in October and now work with the liveaboard operator BlueOtwo, this year’s winner of “liveaboard of the year award”. Previous years the Tornado Fleet has won. But as they say: After every storm, comes a Blue Horizon! Have a look at www.blueotwo.com
Furthermore I can divulge that I met a Dutch girl named Marieke who has moved in with me in my penthouse. She’s 26 years old, extremely intelligent, stunningly gorgeous and has the most intensive eyes I’ve ever seen. She works in a dive centre called Voodoo Divers here in Hurghada and is a Padi Staff Instructor which means that she outranks me as I am only a Padi MSDT. Here I’d like to quote Jack Nicholson in the movie A Few Good Men: “There is nothing sexier than a woman you have to salute in the morning!”
Can the Dolphin – Save the Tuna
Anders Samaka Jälmsjö
Dive Instructor – Philosopher- Dirty Old Man
If you like the Status Reports Feel free to forward them to friends around the world. The amount of people reading them is as far as I know around 500 and the longest thread of forwards I’ve heard of is 5 times. If you want to get earlier Reports send a request to me, Anders Jälmsjö at jalmsjo@hotmail.com subject: Hey man! You’re my new Dive Hero! Who was that Jacque Cousteau anyway?
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