• The diver entered the water with their rebreather turned off....
• The diver did not analyze their gas and switched to 100% oxygen believing it to be air...
• Father and son killed in cave diving tragedy, the father was not a certified cave diver, and the son was not a certified diver...

It is a sad fact that every year there are a significant number of diving incidents and fatalities. Any adventurous activity such as diving will inevitably involve some level of increased risk and indeed that is often part of the attraction for technical divers. However, it is impossible to read many incident reports without coming to the conclusion that some divers do some very stupid things. In too many cases it is the actions of the divers themselves that lead directly to the incident. Everyone knows that you should check that your rebreather is turned on before jumping in the water, always know what you are breathing, analyze and mark up your gas is a fundamental rule for technical diver. In many cases all that needed to happen in order to prevent the incident from occurring is for the divers in question to follow their training. The temptation is always to say that it was the diver’s fault and that I would never make such a stupid mistake so that wouldn’t happen to me. Unfortunately this simple answer is not usually sufficient; the divers are often intelligent and experienced divers, just like you in fact. The frightening truth is that even smart people like us are just as likely to make these same stupid mistakes.

How can often very smart people make such stupid mistakes? Leading technical diving instructor Mark Powell tries to answer this question in this informative, entertaining and controversial talk. He will explain why smart people can make such stupid mistakes and why you are at risk of making the very same mistakes. Anyone who has attended any of Mark’s previous talks knows that he has a unique way of making you think about issues in a slightly different way. After this talk you might look at your own diving in a slightly different way and hopefully will be at less risk of doing something stupid yourself. The biggest mistake you could make at TEKDiveUSA is not attending this fascinating talk.

Here is a video of a previous presentation to give you an idea of Mark's style:

Solo Diving- Coming out of the Closet from Geoff Davies on Vimeo.