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HAIGH QUARRY OPENING FOR THE 2012 SEASON IN jANUARY?
Capt. Darrick Lorenzen
1/7/2012
No, the season at Haigh Quarry is not opening this weekend! It will open for the 2012 season on Saturday April 7th, but because of our unusually warm weather Tina has decided to give Midwest divers a chance to scratch th...

SCUBA DIVERS LEFT BEHIND IN FLORIDA
Capt. Darrick Lorenzen
10/6/2011
The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday that it was investigating RJ Diving Ventures of Miami Florida. The investigation was initiated because the dive operator left behind two tourists while they were scuba diving.   D...

10 WORST MISTAKES MADE BY RECREATIONAL DIVERS
Capt. Darrick Lorenzen
9/30/2011
1.      Don’t make safety decisions based on financial considerations! Many fatalities and injuries occur because people want diving, dive training or dive travel to be cheap, easy and fast. Always use the proper equipme...

CAPTAIN'S BLOG


PADI INSTRUCTOR INVOLVED IN DIVING FATALITY

9/29/2011 by Capt. Darrick Lorenzen | 2 Comments | 1014 Views

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A lawsuit that was filed in Alaska has been settled against PADI Instructor Robert Hicks and his employer Alaska SeaLife Center.

 

The suit alleged that Matthew Myers, a student training in Hick’s self created “A Scientific Diving Course” died when he ran out of air during a deep dive and was abandoned by Hicks in 9-feet of water 30-feet from shore. Myers was seriously overweighted and was being towed by Hicks using his octopus regulator underwater while Hicks swam on the surface above until Myers sank away from the regulator. Hicks swam to shore then returned to the dive vessel and called for help, which arrived one hour later. Hicks remained on the dive vessel during the rescue/recovery attempt.

 

Myer left a widow and two children, who were represented by Anchorage attorneys Philip Weidner and Cristina Tafs, together with noted Divelaw attorneys Michael Bass and Rick Lesser.



COMMENTS

On 11/27/2011 zane hamilton said:

To lose any student or friend while diving is not common but it happens.I do not know why Hicks let the student dive with to much weights. There is a math formula for weights. 7 to 10 percent of the student body weight. Mr Hicks should have checked his student out for proper weight. Then he should have dumped his weights. He skipped his pre dive check. Well I feel sorry for both instructor and the student family. You can not drop the ball while teaching not for one second



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