Freediving Taylor Smith craves the caves despite dangers August 2, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : CaveDiving, Freediving , trackbackI can’t imagine anything more stupid than freediving in an overhead, but for some guys it is a big thrill. Taylor Smith, 17, recently suffered a seizure on his way to the surface after breathing a carbon dioxide filled pocket in a cave in Orange City’s spring. He was lucky enough to be rescued by his younger brother, Wesley, who had been taught CPR from his mother, and managed to save his life.
Incredibly, Taylor is seemingly unrepentant and will undoubtedly start freediving again, after the enforced six month layoff. This from news journalonline;
For Taylor Smith, there’s a brazen thrill in holding his breath and diving deep into the cave from which Blue Spring flows.
“I like feeling like I went down there with nothing,” said Smith, 17. “It’s a lot more hard-core (than scuba-diving).”
Taylor’s accident wasn’t the first close call for divers attracted to the Blue Spring cave. In 2002, there were at least two incidents in which free divers nearly drowned there. No scuba-diving fatalities there are on record with the National Speleological Society, which tracks cave-related accidents in the Americas. But at least 58 cave divers have died, 31 of them in Florida, during the last 11 years, the society’s records — which are admittedly incomplete — show.
“Lack of training is the leading cause of accidents,” said Tracy Grubbs, lead scuba-diving instructor and trained cave diver at Spruce Creek Scuba.
Grubbs, 35, prefers diving with breathing equipment.
“You can only hold your breath so long,” he said.
Grubbs cave dives sometimes in Blue Spring, but also spreads out his underwater ventures beyond Central Florida’s DeLeon and Alexander Springs, where cave diving isn’t allowed because of the dangers and liability issues.
Comments»
Yup, and being alive is a lot more hard-core than being dead. Foolish kid; his mother — a nurse and a diver — should be ashamed!