NFR No thank you

Non-fishing related
As a side note, cars have pretty strict safety regulations, along with a whole set of laws and regulations governing their use.

And still tens of thousands of people die in them each year. I've road raced both cars and motorcycles and my friends thought I was crazy. Always thought (and I'm sure statistics would prove it to be true) that the most dangerous part of a race weekend was the drive to the track.

I'm with this guy, just stay in bed if you want lower risk in your life. Like with Alex Honnold, it's certainly not something I would do, but respect their decision.

And really, have none of us stood above our waists in a sketchy river with no PFD?
 
12.5K feet is an incredible depth. Yet only half as deep as the world's deepest depths.
Modern navies don't even come close to operating in depths more than 3000 ft.
Only painstakingly designed and built submersibles in spherical design can reach the depths we're talking about.
Steel vessels can be inspected for defects in a number of ways, carbon fiber, not so much.
Stronger than steel has it's limitations.
 
And still tens of thousands of people die in them each year. I've road raced both cars and motorcycles and my friends thought I was crazy. Always thought (and I'm sure statistics would prove it to be true) that the most dangerous part of a race weekend was the drive to the track.

I'm with this guy, just stay in bed if you want lower risk in your life. Like with Alex Honnold, it's certainly not something I would do, but respect their decision.

And really, have none of us stood above our waists in a sketchy river with no PFD?


I dont disagree in the sense of a single man's life decisions. If he wants to go to the bottom of the ocean in a tin can, I say more power to him.

Where things change, IMO, is when he starts selling that experience to others who are no doubt banking on what they assume is his expertise to get them through the trip safely. Did those passengers know they were signing up for great risk, of course. But I have to assume that much of the decision to go was based on the assurance that this guy had taken the necessary steps and had the expertise to make the trip as safely as could be accomplished. Info coming out now sure paints a much different picture of him.

Alex Honnold lives with risk that I can't begin to understand or relate to. He's clearly cut from a different cloth than most. But his risk essentially is placed on him and him alone. If he started selling guided free solo trips up El Capitan then he's suddenly in a different situation where he is introducing that risk to others and at that point such a cavalier attitude isn't a good thing.

The other factor is that while it's easy to say "It's your life, live it as you see fit", the truth us that often times people who engage in these activities need to be rescued by others, which needlessly puts those others at risk. I say if he wants to do stupid shit because it's his life and his risk, then he should sign a waiver to forgo all rescue efforts in the event of an emergency.
 
Not an engineer but yeah I don't know why the chamber was built from carbon and not steel, and not a sphere either.
Carbon composite can develop microscopic internal cracks after so many cycles, it was bound to fail at some point.
 
I am always baffled by the whole Titanic obsession.
There's way more interesting stuff to see at the bottom of the ocean, more interesting shipwrecks too.
Just my opinion and all, but with the all the cool stuff that is at the bottom of the ocean, the Titanic doesn't make the bottom of the 17th page for me.

F*ck that boat, and F*ck that movie...
😁🤣😁🤣😁🤣
 
Carbon fiber is incredibly strong until it has even the slightest compromise, then it fails catastrophically. Ever had a fly rod break on you mid-cast for seemingly no reason after using it just fine for years? It's because it got slightly damaged by a fly, when you set it down, or during transport, and failed under load. Same thing would happen in this situation. Any small flaw in carbon fiber, and it's no longer going to do its job. It has to be perfect.
 
I am always baffled by the whole Titanic obsession.
There's way more interesting stuff to see at the bottom of the ocean, more interesting shipwrecks too.
Just my opinion and all, but with the all the cool stuff that is at the bottom of the ocean, the Titanic doesn't make the bottom of the 17th page for me.

F*ck that boat, and F*ck that movie...
😁🤣😁🤣😁🤣
That, and there's way, way better ways to see the TItanic. We have incredibly detailed scans of it available online where you can see far more than you would by going down there yourself. I don't think anyone realizes how pitch black dark it gets underwater after a few hundred feet.

 
I am always baffled by the whole Titanic obsession.
There's way more interesting stuff to see at the bottom of the ocean, more interesting shipwrecks too.
Just my opinion and all, but with the all the cool stuff that is at the bottom of the ocean, the Titanic doesn't make the bottom of the 17th page for me.

F*ck that boat, and F*ck that movie...
😁🤣😁🤣😁🤣
Well, see, many humans have this thing called "empathy" - where they feel for, and thus have deep interest in, the tragedy of lives lost in unexpected ways. Which, incidentally, is why this current event is getting so much attention.
Others have intense fascination with historical events, presumably because human behaviors and actions have consequences that might be applicable to the future. There is some horrible irony here.

Personally, yep, I'd rather see the bizarre marine life, but who am I to tell history buffs that they're wrong to be interested? For the love of god, I'm obsessed with fish.

Uh...why would you be angry about a movie existing?
 
Carbon fiber is incredibly strong until it has even the slightest compromise, then it fails catastrophically. Ever had a fly rod break on you mid-cast for seemingly no reason after using it just fine for years? It's because it got slightly damaged by a fly, when you set it down, or during transport, and failed under load. Same thing would happen in this situation. Any small flaw in carbon fiber, and it's no longer going to do its job. It has to be perfect.
Back when graphite was introduced for fly rods, I had more than one suddenly break for no apparent reason. One basically blew to pieces when I was stringing the line ... no clue as to why.
 
Uh...why would you be angry about a movie existing?

I guess the series of big grin and rofl emojis were not enough to indicate the sarcasm intended in the last line of my post.
😂
I'll try and figure out another approach.
😂
 
I think the benefit of a carbon fiber submersible is that it is lighter and and requires much less power to go up and down. This submersible even had a chemical ballast that was to dissolve in given time and then the submersible would float. A steel submersible would have to be huge to have enough atmosphere inside to be close to buoyant and I doubt that huge sphere would hold up to the pressures of the deep.
 
Back when graphite was introduced for fly rods, I had more than one suddenly break for no apparent reason. One basically blew to pieces when I was stringing the line ... no clue as to why.
Because you are a heavy handed, strong casting, fish catching machine…!!! 😳😁
 
That, and there's way, way better ways to see the TItanic. We have incredibly detailed scans of it available online where you can see far more than you would by going down there yourself. I don't think anyone realizes how pitch black dark it gets underwater after a few hundred feet.

unfurl="true"]https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65602182
This was what I was getting at ^.

How is seeing a tiny fraction of the wreck in person through a small submersible window worth that level of risk? I can see the Titanic in incredible detail sitting on the couch with my phone. The experience of seeing it in person, seems more about thumbing one's nose at death.
 
I dont disagree in the sense of a single man's life decisions. If he wants to go to the bottom of the ocean in a tin can, I say more power to him.

Where things change, IMO, is when he starts selling that experience to others who are no doubt banking on what they assume is his expertise to get them through the trip safely. Did those passengers know they were signing up for great risk, of course. But I have to assume that much of the decision to go was based on the assurance that this guy had taken the necessary steps and had the expertise to make the trip as safely as could be accomplished. Info coming out now sure paints a much different picture of him.

Alex Honnold lives with risk that I can't begin to understand or relate to. He's clearly cut from a different cloth than most. But his risk essentially is placed on him and him alone. If he started selling guided free solo trips up El Capitan then he's suddenly in a different situation where he is introducing that risk to others and at that point such a cavalier attitude isn't a good thing.

The other factor is that while it's easy to say "It's your life, live it as you see fit", the truth us that often times people who engage in these activities need to be rescued by others, which needlessly puts those others at risk. I say if he wants to do stupid shit because it's his life and his risk, then he should sign a waiver to forgo all rescue efforts in the event of an emergency.
My one big phobia is sheer drops. I was only able to watch Free Solo knowing he made it. Yeah, Alex Honnold is wired differently for sure.
 
carbon fiber shatters, steel cracks.
UT/MT/RT testing can pick those things up in steel.
the only one that'll pick up defects in carbon fiber is RT.
and this company sure wasn't subjecting their vessel to any imaging test.

safety costs money. 100% true in any endeavor.
and as risk increases, so does the cost of that safety.
that's why you can't buy a $5000 airplane.
 
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