A Tribe Called K2 Buhl-oog!

Posted By Scuba Diver Girls Margo on February 21, 2010

I got up early, packed my skin, wetsuit, hood, gloves, boots, BCD, regulator, tank, weight, camera, and flashlight…today is dive day with the girls!  We met at La Jolla Shores and we were all so excited to dive together. There is nothing better than a Scuba Diver Girls dive day but today we had decided to go find the secret garden which lies beyond the canyon in about 110 feet of water.After gearing up, I guzzled down my big bottle of water and stopped by the shower to rinse off because the sun was beating down on me in my hot 8mm wetsuit! I was sweating and couldn’t wait to hit the ocean. After fighting the wave break and getting on our fins, we started the long kick out to the canyon edge. We dropped down and dove to the garden, enjoying the dive. Suddenly I was cramping up in my leg.

My buddy and I unsuccessfully tried to get the cramp out. After several minutes, I felt tired and just wanted to be done diving. After we got back on shore and rinsed off, I headed home a little disappointed in my dive. About 2 hours later I had a horrible headache and nothing I did would make it go away. What went wrong?

A couple days later I met John Dooley the Managing Director of a company called Diver’s D\Lyte®. We were chatting about diving when I mentioned my bad dive day at the secret garden. He told me “Margo, the answer to your question about what went wrong is not as simple as you think.” And then he said, “Let me explain what happened to you and how dangerous it was!”

“The first thing you did was drink all that water to hydrate before your dive.” John stated

I was confused by this because I thought I should be drinking lots of water before diving to be sure I am hydrated! I asked John what he meant by that and he went on to explain to me that although a core part of diving is to hydrate your body, plain water is not the thing to do it with because it flushes nutrients out of the body.  He went on to inform me that scuba diving is the most dehydrating sport you can participate in.

I contemplated what he said…I don’t get all sweaty under the water…but then again…I do pee a lot! John laughed at me and went on to explain that dehydration occurs when the amount of water leaving the body is greater than the amount being taken in and with diving we lose fluids not only when we pee underwater but also from breathing in the super dry air from the tank and expel humidified air from our lungs (ok…he didn’t use the word pee…that was me, lol).  Then he added that it is important to drink something with electrolytes added in.

“What is so important about electrolytes?” I questioned.

“Both muscle tissue and neurons are considered electric tissues of the body. Without sufficient levels of these key electrolytes, muscle weakness or severe muscle contractions may occur and may lead to cardiac and neurological complications. Your body needs electrolytes to keep everything firing properly. Without them, muscles can’t move properly and without muscles moving properly, scuba diving can become dangerous.”

That is when I found out that John has worked long and hard on a specially formulated drink just for divers called Diver’s D\Lyte®. I was really interested in understanding why I should drink this so I asked him to tell me more about it.

“Diver’s D\Lyte® is specially formulated with (ionized) electrolytes to ensure your body stays hydrated and in electrical balance so that your muscles and neurons operate optimally.” John explained. “Remember how you were tired, cramped up and got headaches? This is all because you depleted your body of not only fluids but other important nutrients.”

At this point I became even more interested in what was so great about this new drink he was telling me about. I mean there are lots of drinks out there with electrolytes in them. So I asked him, “John, what is so special about Diver’s D\Lyte®? Why is it specifically good for divers?”  He told me that what sets his product apart is we use ionized electrolytes in Diver’s D\Lyte® these allow rapid hydration and better absorption of all the vitamins, nutrients, and antioxidants. They are safe and effective, but are more expensive to make. I don’t know of any other sports related drink that can deliver these levels of electrolytes in a more absorbable form than Divers D\Lyte®.

John smiled and went on, “Simply put, if you are hydrated you are able to release gas off more efficiently so that is critically important to scuba divers. But another important component of our drink is the Antioxidants.”

“I have heard of antioxidants of course John, but I guess I don’t really understand how they work, can you explain this?”

“An antioxidant is a molecule that can slow down or prevent oxidation of other molecules in our bodies. When we exercise like in scuba diving, a chemical reaction occurs that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. This type of reaction can produce free radicals that start a chain reaction that ultimately damage cells. So antioxidants basically terminate these chain reactions by cleaning up the free radicals. This is so important in diving because the oxidation process can cause micro bubble formation which can lead to Decompression Illness (DCS). So we included a potent combination of antioxidants in Diver’s D\Lyte® essentially to slow or stop this process.” John explained.

“OK, I think I understand the role of the electrolytes and the antioxidants.  I must have been crazy to have been diving without supplementing my body with these!  Is there anything else I need to know about Diver’s D\Lyte®?”

Testing the product to get the formula just right!

“Our drink does not stop there Margo, we also wanted to be sure that divers would have more energy and mental acuity. There is nothing more important when diving than to be able to concentrate and pay attention. So we added an Ayurvedic blend of ingredients that give the diver a source of energy and clarity.”  John told me. “We also added B vitamins to improve energy balance instead of loading it up with sugar, this opens up energy channels in the body like clean fuel!”

John was passionate when he told me more, “What’s more important is the Ayurvedic Blend we discovered for a natural peace and balance that allows for a sense of well being and clarity. Mental focus is critical to diver safety for the most enjoyable dives, remember we dive too. In researching proven functional ingredients we selected the best organic and all natural products. These extracts have been used for thousands of years and more recently studied at leading universities around the world to better understand their benefits. The best way I can describe the effect is the level of improved focus we all experienced on the reef. It was like putting on a pair of reading glasses at the age of forty and admitting that they really work well! One of our dive buddies on the test dive was a 63 male diver Michael, I will never forget when he surfaced, spit out his regulator and shouted “this stuff really works!” Since we don’t have the time now to cover all the details surrounding the energy pathways of Diver’s D\Lyte®. Let’s just say for now that Diver’s D\Lyte® offers a subtle source of energy.”

John handed me a few packs of Diver’s D\Lyte® and told me that I should try it out on my next dive. I had one planned for the following Saturday where I would be not only deep diving but doing multiple dives. So I gratefully took the packets and then asked him how I should use it.

He then instructed me on how to use the product, “Drink one pack in a liter of cold water as early as 90 minutes before your dive. This is what we call preloading. This is important because once you get dehydrated, it is hard to play catch up and get hydrated…so it is better to stay ahead of the game. Then drink another in between dives because you lose a full liter of fluid and essential nutrients during your dive. Once you are done diving, drink another as this will help with your off gassing.”

I thanked him and went home to pack the Diver’s D\Lyte® in my dive bag and promised John I would give him a review of how my dive went.

I used the product as instructed on my dives. I never felt better on a dive! I found myself so clear headed and my energy level was perfect. I did not feel the normal fatigue after multiple dives and I experienced no cramping during my dives. But the most important benefit I experienced from using Diver’s D\Lyte® was the absence of my dive headache afterward. I felt like I went from a dive in 5 feet viz to a dive in 50 feet viz! I am extremely pleased with the product and have now decided that this will be a regular part of my dive kit!

John promised me that he would teach me more about the product when we have more time to talk. I had learned so much that I can’t wait to talk to him again! The distribution of the product will start in April and guess what?? Scuba Diver Girls Fans will get a chance to try it first! More on that in the next blog!!!

Thank you Margo for a wonderful product review.

folks, would you like a sample of Divers D/Lyte, please give Debby a call at the office:  818 982 2652 or ping us at debby@k2scuba.com

We are tickled to support such a revolutionary product. . . .

What do you think?  is this hydration stuff just snakeoil pretty colored, and sugared water. . . or is it something that every diver should carry in her save a dive kit?

We want to hear your thoughts, so leave your comments below!

Tevis

The new record in breath-holding recently went to a Swiss man who didn’t breathe for nearly 20 minutes. Scientists explain how he did it.

By Emily Sohn | Wed Feb 17, 2010 08:04 AM ET

THE GIST:

• The new record for breath-holding is 19 minutes and 21 seconds.
• There are tricks to holding your breath for long periods of time, but the practice can be dangerous.
• There may be long-lasting health consequences to extreme breath-holding.

A Swiss freediver, Peter Colat,  held his breath underwater for 19 minutes and 21 seconds, according to news reports this week. The gasp-inducing feat beat the previous world record by 19 seconds, and blew away the record of 17 minutes and four seconds that magician David Blaine set on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show in 2008.

For most ordinary humans, all that breath-holding can be hard to fathom. The feat might also bring up some basic questions about biology. For example: Is it really possible to survive without inhaling for that long? And is it healthy?

“It is, as a matter of fact, possible — with certain tricks,” explained Claes Lundgren, a physiologist at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine in New York.

It is probably not, however, good for you, and consequences can be deadly.

“Sooner or later, kids will read this and do something silly,” said Lundgren. “It’s not recommendable at all. Anything written about this should be accompanied by a strong admonition not to try this without someone knowledgeable present.”Breathing is obviously an important way to stay alive, and our bodies have a built-in system of sensors and signals to make sure we keep doing it. When you hold your breath, carbon dioxide builds up as your body uses up oxygen. After a minute or two for most people, the result is an overwhelming urge to breathe.

“All sorts of alarms go off,” said Ralph Potkin a pulmonologist and hyperbaric physician at the University of California, Los Angles School of Medicine. “The brain tells the body to breathe. The diaphragm gets electrical signals to stimulate breathing.”

To fight those powerful instincts, a competitive breath-holder starts by hyperventilating for as much as 10 minutes while breathing from a tank of 100 percent oxygen. Breathing hard and fast expels carbon dioxide from the body, buying time before CO2 levels get too high. Likewise, boosting oxygen stores with pure oxygen buys time before O2 levels fall too low. After hyperventilating, if a person isn’t unconscious, he’ll probably feel dizzy and have extreme cramping in the arms and legs.

The next step is to plunge into a tank of water. That triggers a primitive, mammalian reaction called the diving reflex. When confronted with water, especially cold water, the body shunts circulation from the rest of the body to the heart and brain.

The reflex, which even chickens have, probably helps babies survive the trip through the birth canal, Lundgren said. By lowering how much total oxygen the body is using, the diving reflex also allows people to hold their breaths for longer stretches.

The record for breath-holding on land is around 10 minutes, said Lundgren, who can go eight or nine minutes without breathing. The new record-holder, named Peter Colat, was able to last twice as long because he was in a tank of water.

Training for competitive breath-holding often involves spending time in hyperbaric chambers, said Potkin, who helped David Blaine prepare for his Oprah performance. Like extreme mountain climbers, breath-holders want to get their bodies used to oxygen deprivation.

Many competitors also practice Zen-like relaxation exercises to cope with a variety of discomforts, including the squeezing sensation of oxygen-deprived, deflating lungs.

“Some can drop their blood pressure like yogis and their heart rates as well,” said Potkin, whose personal record is four-and-a-half minutes without a breath. “There is a lot of voluntary denial of pain. It’s really an out-of-body experience in a way. You really have to disconnect from your body.”

Doctors used to declare patients brain-dead if they hadn’t breathed in five minutes, Potkin said. Intentional breath-holding is slightly different because the blood is still circulating. Still, studies of freedivers have turned up abnormalities in brain scans and markers that suggest brain damage. No one knows what the long-term consequences will be of feats like these.

“I wish I could tell you what their brains will be like in 20 years,” Potkin said. “The medical diving community is a little concerned about it.”

This is Seeded from John McKenzie of http://blog.wetcatscuba.com/?p=704

it is much too important NOT to spread this virally. . . don’t count on the manufacturers. . they don’t have your best interests in mind.

We can take care of your Dive Rite wing OPVs if you need help.  Welcome to the Tribe called K2!

By John McKenzie, on February 7th, 2010

You giant stride from the gate of the dive boat into the cold swells of the Pacific Northwest’s emerald sea. But unlike on other entries you don’t bob quickly back to the surface with your OK sign beaming. “What’s up?! I am sinking!” goes through your mind. You have an important first choice – whether or not to panic. No panic and you have some good options for recovery and more dives. Panic and you may have only a few minutes before drowning.

That was just one scenario that went through my mind upon a recent discovery while cleaning my dive gear. Thankfully I was not jumping off the back of a boat with my defective gear; instead I was in the comfort of my garage trying to understand why my Dive Rite wing was blowing air out from the lower dump valve. I shuddered as I watched the corroded spring that holds the valve closed and the air inside crumble to bits in my hand. Luckily, I dodged that bullet, as did my partner, my friend and dive shop owner Grant, and the owners of every Dive Rite wing recently inspected by another local dive shop owner at his shop.

The story I wanted to be able to write was one that told how the folks that run dive equipment companies, most likely divers themselves, are extra vigilant and responsive to safety issues with their products. I wanted to hear that upon finding one corroded stainless spring, that was never supposed to rust under any dive conditions, they immediately launched a full scale investigation and rapidly notify dive shops and customers of the potential threat to their life. That’s the responsible thing to do. And when you read this in the recall statement, “…the company is working closely with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPC) and has instituted a VOLUNTARY recall…,” it spins the impression that they “recently” found a problem and are taking quick action to protect divers.

But I cannot tell that comforting story. The story of what we learned

shouts loudly this message to every diver, “If you want to maintain good odds of coming back alive, do not depend on the manufacture, the dive shop, the government recall, you must check your own gear often and have regular professional maintenance.” From our research and many news stories we have seen over the years, we can be confident that the Dive Rite OPV recall story is just one example of how the incentives for a company NOT to respond quickly to prevent injury or death can muddy the ethical waters. It is not all bad news. It does appear that months before the Dive Rite recall, Halcyon, finding the same problem, did take responsible steps in the interest of safety. But, given what we learned about the timeline at Dive Rite, it is possible the even Halcyon found bad springs well before the recall was instituted. From talking directly with Dive Rite staff there is evidence that Dive Rite was much slower to respond and may have only done a recall to cover their butts. It shows that we dare not overestimate the good folks that run our favorite dive business. The sad reality is that CYA and money fears can and often do eclipse thoughts of your safety in business.

THE PROBLEM

The spring that holds the over pressure valve (OPV or dump valve) closed on the (some unknown) number of BCD wings sold by Dive Rite (and by Halcyon and maybe other brands) was supposed to be made of quality marine grade 316 stainless steel. However, someone at an unknown factory in (wait for it…) China made some of the springs out of not so good 304 stainless steel. After a while of being immersed in saltwater, these bad springs will corrode and literally crumble to bits. Before they completely crumble the bladder will start leaking air. And if you are not one of the few divers that routinely inspect for these kind of things, you may get a leak when you are hanging from it over a significant amount of water.

We know of at least three equipment sellers that bought problem OPV springs from the same supplier. These are Dive Rite, Halcyon and Custom Buoyancy Inc. (CBI). CBI is reported to be out of business. Could there be more? The general consensus is yes. Most OPVs on scuba BCDs and other equipment look and work alike. Other suppliers could be getting their valves from the same Chinese factory. But this is a hard trail to follow. Dive Rite claimed to not know the name of the manufacturer and while admitting that divers should be warned, they flat out refused to tell us the name of their supplier. We have filed a freedom of information request with the CPSC…stay tuned.

THE RECALL STORY

As mentioned above, Halcyon came out first with the recall on October 1, 2009 (CPC date) (see our article at http://blog.wetcatscuba.com/?p=563). Our conversation with Halcyon took a much different tone than with Dive Rite. At the least, Halcyon seemed to have a culture of serious concern for their customers’ safety and an indication that they took every step to “do the right thing.” They saw the problem and instituted the recall on their own accord (although a Dive Rite marketing director said she believes Halcyon had in “incident” that prompted the recall). Halcyon staff were not sure of the quantity of bad springs, so they made the recall broad in scope to cover over 20,300 units. They later augmented the recall to ask dealers to replace springs in those units within the range, even if they showed no signs of corrosion. Our Halcyon contact said, “We realized that some units may not have been in the water long enough to corrode, but could corrode later. Why take chance for the measly price of a spring. We told dealers to replace them and we would cover it.” Unlike Dive Rite, Halcyon did not wait for or require their dealers to ask for replacements. They sent the dealers replacement springs with a log book to track replacements. They also created two informational/instructional videos and posted them on their website (see link above).

Dive Rite’s recall came in late December 2009. Why did Dive Rite wait over two months? Did it take them that long to figure out that they also had some bad springs. Not according to their own staff. One Dive Rite source admitted that they saw the problem well over a year before the recall. I was surprised that told me that they only instituted the recall because they knew that people, seeing the Halcyon recall, would sooner or later would figure out that Dive Rite springs were the same. This would look bad if they did not do a “voluntary” recall like Halcyon. He also played down the likelihood that anyone would get hurt by this problem.

Previous to this call, we spoke with another staff member of Dive Rite who also minimized the the numbers, claiming “maybe 100 world wide and only 35 in the U.S. We already had 2 cases in our house, the shop owner who sold us the wings said his was also bad. The second person I talked with was another area Dive Rite dealer. He said, “every spring we checked so far in the 2006-2208 year range tuned out to be corroded.” Other dealers reported similar findings. Now either those bad wings were highly targeted to the Pacific Northwest or our Dive Rite contact was low-balling. We later talked with another Dive Rite contact that admitted the numbers were likely much higher.

I asked Dive Rite if they have sent replacement springs out to their dealers (as Halcyon did) or do dealers have to request them? The response was, “we are sending free replacement springs to dealers, when they ask for them. We do this because we would like to get them to tell us how many they need. We don’t want to send them a pile of springs they may not need. And we need at least some of the serial numbers and counts for the CPC paper work.” During my conversations with Dive Rite, I told them that our LDS had given us a two non-dive rite springs to help get us back in the water. I also told them the shop owner’s spring was bad and he had sold a bunch of Wings within the recall period. A week later he received only four springs from Dive Rite.

After our calls to Dive Rite, the marketing director called us and complained that we were just looking to slam them. She wanted to know “who, at Dive Rite told us those things.” She then admitted that they did see bad springs 18 months before the recall, but claimed that they did take immediate action. She said they notified all dealers about the springs and put an announcement in each of their monthly newsletters since then. However, when we checked more sources we found little evidence of her claims. A former Dive Rite sales representative, who was a liaison between Dive Rite and Dive Rite dealers during the this time said he never heard about the spring problem. He sent us all of his monthly newsletters for the past year and we found no mention. Other dealers had similar stories.

THE COMPANY LINE

Here is the text from the Dive Rite site at: http://www.diverite.com/products/service/opvspringrecall/

Dive Rite takes the safety of our consumers very seriously. In cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Dive Rite is issuing a voluntary recall on various Dive Rite Wings.

The Over Pressurization Valve (OPV) springs found on Dive Rite wings manufactured between June 2006 and October 2008 may rust and fail allowing the buoyancy compensator devices to leak. The wings may be red, blue or black in color and have serial numbers falling between 42000 and 72000. The following models are affected by this recall: Travel, Venture, Rec, Trek, Classic, Nomad and Super Wings It does not affect EXP or 360-branded wings. The recall does not affect lift bags, surface marker tubes or other Dive Rite inflatable devices.

We apologize for any inconvenience and encourage Dive Rite wing customers to contact your local Dive Rite dealer or Dive Rite directly at 800-495-1046 with any questions.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY SHOULD BE REPEATED

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just a story of the failings of one dive equipment manufacturer. Even for the most responsible of companies, it will still take months for them to institute an official recall. Dive equipment manufacturers need to do better. But, if you want to improve you chances of living through you next dive, get religious about checking and maintaining your own gear. We dive weekly and on every group dive trip I can remember someone on the trip had found they had some kind for equipment problem just before or during the dive.

While you do need to have a professional check your gear on a regular schedule, most of the problems found can be fixed by any diver (e.g. loose hoses, bad o-rings). The training agencies offer specialty courses to help you get more knowledgeable about maintaining your kit. This spring problem is simple to check and fix. If you find any bad springs in any other brands (or any other equipment failure patterns) let us know (john@jmckenzie.com) and we will warn our fellow divers.

The incentives for companies to take the wrong path cannot survive if divers will report problems, demand better gear and better ethics from your equipment vendors. These companies have the technology to catch problems and communicate the resolutions quickly to dealers, shops and customers and only some are doing it. You can also vote with your wallet for companies that have the good values to build safe equipment, with parts from manufacturers they know and trust, and when they do have a problem to handle it quickly and responsibly.

by B. N. Sullivan

Here’s another Butterflyfish from Hawaii. This one is called the Milletseed Butterflyfish (Chaetodon miliaris), although you also may see it identified in some picture books as the Lemon Butterflyfish. Which common name you prefer may depend on whether you focus on its lemony background color, or its vertical rows of black spots.  The scientist who named the species focused on the spots, which he thought resembled milletseeds, hence  the species name miliaris.

Like the Multiband Butterflyfish (Chaetodon multicinctus) that we presented in the previous post, C. miliaris is a Hawaiian endemic species.  In fact, the two species are closely related, both belonging to the subgenus Exornator. Nevertheless, the behavior of the two species is different in several ways.

Most conspicuously, the Milletseed Butterflyfish lives in aggregations instead of in pairs, and they are not territorial. It is not uncommon to see whole mobs of these bright yellow fishies moving along the reef together, looking for food.  Now,  ”mob” is hardly a scientific term, but it suits shoals of Milletseed Butterflyfish.  Unlike some other fishes that school and move along in an orderly way, almost in unison, the Milletseeds move along together in an almost rowdy fashion — but  I must say, that is a wonderful sight to behold.

Milletseed Butterflyfish have a much more varied diet than C. multicinctus. Their preferred food is zooplankton, but they also will eat the eggs of other fishes — especially those of fishes that deposit egg masses on rocks and other surfaces.  Milletseeds sometimes perform as cleaners of other fishes, too.

The Milletseed Butterflyfish occurs naturally only in Hawaii, but it is not rare in the islands.  In fact, C. miliaris is said to be the most common among the 24 species of the Butterflyfish family (Chaetodontidae)  found in the Hawaiian islands.  If you dive or snorkel in coral reef environments in Hawaii you are almost certain to encounter a ‘mob’ of these yellow beauties.

Read the full story

His interest in the under-water world sparked through recreational diving, Ron Vermeltfoort was looking for “a ticket to the next level.”

He found it many years ago in the commercial diving course at Seneca College’s King City campus. Graduation from the comprehensive program led to a career path under the sea that he followed for six to seven years before returning to London, Ontario, to work as a firefighter.

Most of Ron’s work was up and down the British Columbia coast, among the Queen Charlotte Islands and off Vancouver Island. There, he dove for the seafood industry, harvesting horse clams, geoduck clams, sea cucumbers and sea urchins, usually at depths of 20 to 60 feet. Most of those products were exported to Japan, whose own seafood industry had been damaged by over-harvesting.

Many of the clams were embedded in the bottom of the ocean, with just the tip visible. The divers were equipped with a high-pressure water jet to free the clams from the bottom. They were collected and then hoisted up by crane to the surface.

“We’d stay down for three hours straight, take a break and then go back down for another three hours,” Ron recalls.

Those long periods under water were made possible by what is known as “surface supplied diving.” Unlike recreational divers, commercial divers don’t carry an air tank on their backs. The air supply is on the surface, either on a dock or a boat, and is pumped down to the diver. It provides an unlimited supply of air and enables divers to be more mobile. “We were often walking around on the bottom.”

“It was a strange environment. There were eels and sharks, but for the most part the sharks were small enough that they were not a huge threat.”

Of greater concern were the currents and tides they worked in. The captain of the dive ship kept the divers informed about them, using either radio communications or line signals. The latter involved pulling on the diver’s line. Two pulls would mean something, three pulls something else, and there were short pulls meaning something different again. The divers would return the signals from the bottom.

In Ontario, he worked for an engineering company that rebuilt government wharfs. This involved salvage work, underwater welding and taking videos of underwater structures needing repair. “We did videos of the structures underwater to analyse where the weakest points were.”

Another career option for divers, of course, is becoming an instructor.

Ron finished his commercial diving career in 1992 after thousands of hours under water. He rarely dives now and says if he did, it would be “anywhere south where the visibility is better.”

He doesn’t regret his years spent working under the sea. “It’s (commercial diving) seasonal, but there’s still work out there for divers. You’re at sea for three or four weeks at a time. For a single guy it’s a good job and it paid well.”

Kathy Dowsett Padi Certified Diver :: owner  and operator of www.kirkscubagear.com  Your Canadian connection for all your scuba needs.