Family feud leaves Cousteau’s ship high and dry, his scuba diving legacy all at sea December 28, 2005
Posted by Andy Carroll in : News , add a comment
In a News story by Adam Sage, of the Times Online, A legal dispute is preventing the repairs necessary to make the explorer�s floating world seaworthy.
Calypso, Cousteau’s famous research and scuba diving ship, has decayed beyond repair due to a feud between his wife and son as to the ownership of the vessel. It is now said that the ship will need fully rebuilding before ever going to sea again.
Both the wife and son run rival organisations which claim to carry on Cousteau’s work, L’Equipe Cousteau, run by his wife, and Les Campagnes Oceanographiques Francais, run by his son. Each claims to own the boat and have differing plans for it and neither can pursue these plans until a court case is settled establishing ownership of the Calypso.
The Calypso, made famous by Cousteau’s scuba diving documentarys, was damaged in Singapore harbour in 1996, a year before Cousteau�s death at the age of 87. She was brought back to La Rochelle and has not sailed since.
Rebreather Scuba Diver dies of Asphyxia in Swimming Pool December 28, 2005
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Accidents, Rebreathers , add a commentscuba diver who was found dead in the pool at Thunder Reef Divers on Monday ran out of air while using a rebreather, a highly technical device that allows divers to breathe the gases in their equipment over and over, says CDNN
Havey Harris is reported to have died of accidental drowning by asphyxia. Harris was reportedly an advanced scuba diver with rebreather qualifications. He was found sitting on the bottom of the pool, ‘as if asleep’ Brad Lunberg, jumped into the pool and dragged him out, but he was unresponsive to cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He was regarded as a highly experienced diver which is why he was allowed in the pool by himself.
“He dove solo with his rebreather in the ocean all the time” said Nikki McGinnis, manager of Thunder Reef Divers
CDNN were not able to report the manufacturer of the rebreather but they have determined it was semi-closed. Read the full story here.
Scuba Diving World Record Broken by Khoo Swee Chiow December 26, 2005
Posted by Andy Carroll in : News , 1 comment so farIn a previous article I mentioned the world record attempt by Khoo Swee Chiow to do the longest ever scuba dive. Well I received this press release this morning and it appears he has done it. Congratulations Khoo Swee Chiow.
Singapore adventurer Khoo Swee Chiow broke the Guinness World Record for the longest scuba dive on Sunday by staying underwater for 220 hours. Khoo went into a special mineral water tank on December 16 to challenge the then record of 212 hours and 30 minutes, which was set by British diver Michael Steven in 1986.
He took some 200 to 400 milliliters of liquid like fruit beverages and isotonic drinks every two hours and used a special cubicle within the tank as his toilet during the past nine days. Having beaten difficulties like dehydration, nausea, hunger and boredom, Khoo said that he felt very tired but happy after he emerged from the tank.
Scuba Diving Air and its Effects on Decompression December 25, 2005
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Decompression , add a commentFirstly, an intro into what happens when we go scuba diving underwater. As you know air is made up of 20.9% or .209 Oxygen and 79.1% or .791 nitrogen there or thereabouts. As we go deeper these numbers or partial pressures increase. So at 10 mtrs or 2 bar its .418 and 1.582 (we show these as Po2 and PN2) as it is multiplied by 2. Scuba diving to 30 mtrs we multiply by 4 bar which is .836 Po2 and 3.16 pN2, you can see how the nitrogen part is growing quite quickly. The oxygen part we don’t really worry about as it is a metaboliser (we do but its not relevant today) and our body uses it in other ways, but the inert gas, the nitrogen, is soaked into our body, we could call it saturation.
You will maybe have heard of fast tissues and slow tissues. We use these terms to describe how quickly the tissue in question is saturated with nitrogen. This is determined largely by bloodflow (perfusion) If a tissue has good bloodflow then it is said to be a fast tissue. The blood itself is a fast tissue, along with the major organs and central nervous system. Slow tissues have poor blood flow such as bones, skin and fat. These classifications are quite important in scuba diving deco as it is how they behave which determines how long we decompress and can effect our scubadive plan.
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Scuba Diving Treasure Hunters say there is more Treasure at Elba December 24, 2005
Posted by Andy Carroll in : News, WreckDiving , add a commentA group of diving enthusiasts who found sunken treasure in the sea off the island of Elba this year are convinced there is more and are preparing for a new expedition in 2006, says Ansa
The coins they found on their earlier scuba diving expedition will be displayed in an exhibition in Portoferraio, one of Elba’s ports.
Enrico Cappelletti, a writer and diving enthusiast who spearheaded the initiative after extensive research, thinks there is more treasure to find;
Penny Glovers family facing up to Scuba Diving Tragedy December 23, 2005
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Accidents, Rebreathers , 1 comment so farRELATIVES of a missing Suffolk diver who disappeared off the coast of France are trying to face up to the reality that she may now never be found, says the East Anglian Times.
Penny Glover, a very experienced diving instructor, and one of BSAC’s chief rebreather instructors, has not been seen since she and her diving partner, Jacques Fillipi, scuba dived off the south coast of France on November 21st.
Last week the official search was called off and the family is now trying to come to terms with the loss of Penny Glover.
�We will try to finalise matters as best we can by working with the French authorities. It is a complicated matter to sort out Penny’s estate as her body has not been recovered and French law is different to the law in this country,� said Mr Denny.
The two divers were lost in deep water near the island of Porquerolles, and the search operation included the use of a mini submarine but with no success.
A sad time for divers. My condolences to Penny’s family and many friends. Please feel free to leave a message and I shall pass it on to BSAC, who will be able to forward it accordingly.
