Still remembering Dave Vecella
Nov. 16th, 2009 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
randy_byersI was reminded yesterday that the 13th was the anniversary of Dave Vecella's death. I wrote about learning of his death last January. The reminder of the anniversary also reminded me that a few months after we heard the news from our Yapese friend, Theo, my brother discovered a blog post indicating that Theo's story about how Dave died was wrong. But the post that my brother found was still very vague on the details, so I did some more googling yesterday and found something with further details that seem to confirm this other story.
What Theo told us, as I wrote on February 1st, was that "[Dave] had apparently taken some people out diving, and a young woman started heading away from the group, going deep without heeding the danger. He went after her, and by the time he caught up with her she was out of air. He shared his air with her as they headed to the surface, but he started running low too and so he held his breath and let her have the rest. ... They made it to the surface, and he said he had a headache. He went to the hospital but told them he was feeling fine now. They let him go home, and he went to bed and never woke up."
What this forum post says is, "What I heard from several sources was that he was deep diving with (his buddy). They went down to 284 ft. on the way up they were supposed to pick up tanks at 150 ft that they had left on the reef, but they couldn't find the tanks because of currents. Apparently (his dive buddy) started to panic and he shared his air . . . . they ran out of air about 60 ft. and had to head up fast. They were both taken to hospital and put in the chamber. He was in a couple of times I think, but he was non responsive and then his heart failed . . . ."
These stories are obviously significantly different, other than that in both he shares his air and surfaces before the nitrogen has left his bloodstream, causing the bends. The second story is still hazy on why the hyperbaric chamber was unable to save him. Above all, however, I really wonder how Theo's version of the story -- with the foolish girl leading Dave to his death -- came into existence. Was Dave's diving buddy a woman? Is this other story meant to protect somebody's identity? The dive they were on is described elsewhere as a technical exercise, perhaps to see how deep they could go. When my niece and I took the advanced diving course from Dave, the deep dive we went on was 100 feet, which is the level at which you supposedly can start suffering from nitrogen narcosis, or "raptures of the deep."
Anyway, as I was thinking about Dave this morning, there was part of me that felt I should correct the story here. Doug Faunt is out sailing, so he won't see this, which is too bad. He was the one who helped me understand what it was that probably killed Dave after I related Theo's version of the story.
In any event, here's to you, Dave. I hope someday to visit your grave on the hill above Kadai, looking out on the reef and beyond.
What Theo told us, as I wrote on February 1st, was that "[Dave] had apparently taken some people out diving, and a young woman started heading away from the group, going deep without heeding the danger. He went after her, and by the time he caught up with her she was out of air. He shared his air with her as they headed to the surface, but he started running low too and so he held his breath and let her have the rest. ... They made it to the surface, and he said he had a headache. He went to the hospital but told them he was feeling fine now. They let him go home, and he went to bed and never woke up."
What this forum post says is, "What I heard from several sources was that he was deep diving with (his buddy). They went down to 284 ft. on the way up they were supposed to pick up tanks at 150 ft that they had left on the reef, but they couldn't find the tanks because of currents. Apparently (his dive buddy) started to panic and he shared his air . . . . they ran out of air about 60 ft. and had to head up fast. They were both taken to hospital and put in the chamber. He was in a couple of times I think, but he was non responsive and then his heart failed . . . ."
These stories are obviously significantly different, other than that in both he shares his air and surfaces before the nitrogen has left his bloodstream, causing the bends. The second story is still hazy on why the hyperbaric chamber was unable to save him. Above all, however, I really wonder how Theo's version of the story -- with the foolish girl leading Dave to his death -- came into existence. Was Dave's diving buddy a woman? Is this other story meant to protect somebody's identity? The dive they were on is described elsewhere as a technical exercise, perhaps to see how deep they could go. When my niece and I took the advanced diving course from Dave, the deep dive we went on was 100 feet, which is the level at which you supposedly can start suffering from nitrogen narcosis, or "raptures of the deep."
Anyway, as I was thinking about Dave this morning, there was part of me that felt I should correct the story here. Doug Faunt is out sailing, so he won't see this, which is too bad. He was the one who helped me understand what it was that probably killed Dave after I related Theo's version of the story.
In any event, here's to you, Dave. I hope someday to visit your grave on the hill above Kadai, looking out on the reef and beyond.
