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83
: IT’S NO ACCIDENT
UNDERSTANDING THE
TRIGGERS OF DIVE FATALITIES
during the dive. Establish a point at
which you will begin making your
way to the exit. That may be when
the first diver reaches half of his
breathing gas supply, but it may be
sooner than that.
Many cave divers use the rule of
thirds, which has divers using the
first third of their gas supply for the
dive, the second third for the exit
from the cave or the ascent, and the
final third set aside for contingencies.
This may seem conservative for open-
water diving, but the idea of leaving
a significant reserve for emergencies
or other unexpected circumstances is
absolutely relevant. Anything short of
total management of your breathing
gas puts you, your buddy and every
diver in the vicinity at risk.
ENTRApmENT
The next most common trigger in dive
fatalities is entrapment. Approximately
200 divers in the DAN fatality records,
or 21 percent, found themselves
trapped in an overhead environment
and unable to get back to open water.
An overhead environment is any in
which a diver does not have direct,
vertical access to the surface — such
E PH E N F R I N K
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