the seven steps of rebreather enlightenment

A while ago, I posted the Seven Levels of Enlightenment for PhD students. Well, here is an alternative world view, centered around a slightly more intriguing subject: rebreathers! (originally posted on rebreatherwold.com by schford).

The funny thing: also here I seem to have reached the fourth level... ;-)

"Come in, Come in my young journeyman. I see you are a seeker on the path of Rebreather Enlightenment. Sit - let me tell you of the way before you.

Tis a difficult and challenging path for all, some steps are easy for some but none are easy for all. Before we begin let me warn you tis a long and expensive journey you face but one filled with adventure, travel to far off lands, great people and even treasure for some!

Well I see you are still with me journeyman so let me begin ….

Step 1 – The Monkey



This step is where we all begin and must see break free from, this is where the dreaded bubblers or even worse they who must not be named seek to poison you with tales of woe.

You doubt that Rebreathers are for you, tales of woe, of mistakes, of sorrow are presented to you passionately, jokes involving shovels or insults are thrust upon those nearer enlightenment. Tis easy to flounder at this step but you must break through and move on to become a seeker.

Step 2 – The Seeker



You have broken free and are no longer a monkey – welcome seeker.

Tis often joked that you are joining the dark side – this as a result of the ill informed meanderings you suffered as a monkey.

As a seeker you are seeking the knowledge and the truth. You must speak to all who are nearer enlightenment than you. Your questions are keen and your mind is sharp. I hear your questions echo towards me:
Why do you dive a Rebreather?
Which one is it?
How does it work?
Where is it from?
How much is it?
How many Rebreathers are there?
…. and on they go.


Those seekers who do well, discover one of our fountains of knowledge where many lords of rebreatherhood gather to drink and discuss the path to enlightenment.

That fountain is http://www.RebreatherWorld.com use it well journeyman.

Step 3 – The Diver




Welcome journeyman, you have come far and now are well on your way to enlightenment.

Many find this is a truly challenging step, there is considerable expense both financial and time in mastering this step, with many new skills and hours to spend training.

You must put the knowledge you learned as a seeker to good use, selecting your Rebreather and your instructor.

It is important that you do this step well as it truly is the foundation as you move ever closer to enlightenment.

Although perhaps the most difficult step very very few fail here. This step it is said by many gives the greatest pleasure to you – as when mastered you may float free and silently amongst the citizens of the deep.

Step 4 – The Evangelical



Step 4 can be a painful step to watch for those who are further towards enlightenment, fortunately for most tis a relatively short step.

The evangelical Rebreather diver now after only a few short hours thinks he knows everything about Rebreathers, they are the only way to dive and his particular unit is absolutely the best because of x, y and z.

At this stage the evangelical diver is very vocal and can alienate new divers and those further towards the path of enlightenment (who he should still be learning from) and even non Rebreather divers. Tis often the case to see pages of well written arguments on why either their Rebreather or style of diving is the best.

Fortunately most seekers of enlightenment leave this step quickly behind them as they move on.

Step 5 – The Progresser



As we move towards enlightenment we realise that our journey is very much work in progress and we need to build on our solid foundation.

...

Step 6 – The Sith Lord



Sith Lords are truly those who have mastered the dark side of diving as others call it.

...

Step 7 – The Builder



Little is known of how one reaches the pinnacle of enlightenment.

...
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For the full version of this post, go to the original post by schford @ rebreatherworld

from Antarctica to Greenland

My friend and fellow expedition cruise guide Rolf Stange has returned from his Antarctic season a bit earlier than me, and is already working at the other end of the world, i.e. in East Greenland. Here he will devote the next months to dogdriving with traditional 'Grønlander' husky teams, living in a small hut in Ittoqqortoormiit and learning to master his team of 12 more or less tame and more or less well-behaved Greenland dogs. His main tools for this task are fitness, determination and his 'kuskepisk', a long whip which is used to impress the dogs and restore a driver's ('kusk') authority in case of a turmoil.

For those who cannot find that name on the map - or do not know how to pronounce it - the Danish have invented "Scoresbysund". This still contains a surprising amount of consonants, which usually tend to get washed out of Danish pronounciation, but at least it is a bit easier than double-t's and double-q's. But I deviate...

Rolf has set up a very nice website and supplies a newsletter which can be found here in English version.

Here is an excerpt:

"As soon as the first dog is in front of the sledge, you have to get the next one. In the meantime, of course, the first one doesn't simply stay where he should, but stampedes around the sledge or, even better, under it (before you start, make sure there isn't any left there!). This means that the set of twelve lines, which you have just prepared so carefully, is soon turned into one big knot again, but just ignore it - there's nothing you can do about it anyway.

As soon as the second dog is there, you have to get the third one. In the meantime, the second will join the first one's activities, just to add to your pleasure. As soon as the third is there, things change a bit, because this is when they should start a nice little punch-up. Just pretend you don't see it and hope that they've soon got enough. Otherwise, put the wip into use. That sounds very hard, but it isn't. You will soon realise that this is an extremely important tool to improve communication between person and dogs..."

Final report into the Interactions between humans and leopard seals now available

Just returned from yet another Antarctic tourist diving expedition, I received an email from Keith Reid of the BAS and Shona Muir of the Kirsty Margot Brown Fund, announcing the final report on investigations of human-leopard seal interactions. This is a quote of the email text:

"Following the tragic death of Kirsty Brown, who was attacked and drowned by a leopard seal in July 2003 a one-year study, sponsored by the Kirsty Brown Fund and hosted at British Antarctic Survey, was set up to review the available information on humans and leopard seals in the Antarctic. Data on interactions between humans and leopard seals, from over 180 questionnaires and interviews, were analysed to provide the information required for any assessment of the risks posed by leopard seals to people working in the Antarctic. The results have been published in the journal Antarctic Science (Antarctic Science 18 (1), 61*74, March 2006) and the full report is available to download from the BAS website at this site."

The report includes reported data of all the nations involved in Antarctic aquatic research as well as nature photographers, film makers and tourist dive operators. I had been asked along with several others to participate in the online questionnaire data survey on behalf of the German Antarctic scientific diving activities, while well-known underwater photographer Göran Ehlmé, who is also in charge of Oceanwide Expeditions' polar diving activities, had been extensively contacted as advisor for the authors of this publication.

The report also decribes in detail the incident resulting in Kirsty Margot Brown's death and reviews it in comparison with other known leopard seal behaviour and seal-human interaction pattern. The appendix contains the dive policies of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the United States Antarctic Programme (USAP), and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) for reference.

This is a most useful compilation of leopard seal interaction reports as well as a review of risk avoidance/evasion strategies.

It is also well in agreement with the position of Antarctic tourist dive expedition operators and their dive guides, who will certainly use this publication as reference for future staff and customer preparation and briefings.

BTW: In the near future, some spectacular shots by underwater phtographer Andre Crone of a leopard seal handling a freshly killed gentoo penguin near Jougla Point, Goudier Island (near Port Lockroy base), can be expected in relevant publications.

back from the Polar Circle

Just returned from another dive trip along the Peninsula. One leopard seal on the very first check dive, none for the rest of the trip. Several opportunities to snorkel and dive with Crabeater and Weddell seals, while fur seals could not be bothered. One exteemely curious minke at Cuverville, would not let us go and even chased after the zodiac...

A good bunch of people. Russians, Dutch, Swiss, German, Mexican and American with very different backgrounds and expectations, but all okay in the water and even nicer in the bar afterwards... some good UW photographers among them, and they even managed to take "one or two good ones"... which is all you can ever hope for as dive guide, anyway.

One diving passenger had been taking up scuba diving, dry suit diving, buying tons of equipment and training in a thick neoprene suit in Florida (!!!) just to be able to join this trip. Talk about commitment... but the person was "distantly related to Amundsen" so there you go.

The mexicans had been training in a volcanic crater lake at 4000m a.s.l. (Lake Tacho/Taho...?)to gain cold water experience for this while the Russians had even cut holes into the ice-covered Dnjepr and had been hanging on for dear life in the current on taut lines just to get some "under-ice experience".

As always, exchange between diving and landing pax. and guiding was mostly limited to mealtimes, where the Russians often dominated the conversation level ("Russian Tradition"!) but everybody else still seemed to enjoy themselves a lot.

Tonight we are heading out with another trip, again with divers, and this time they are Austrian, Dutch, and Russian again. Let´s see how it goes (back in 10 days).