Divers React to @MrBallen's harrowing story from Jacob's Well

Another victim claimed by the infamous Jacob's Well in Texas.

──────────────────────
BECOME A MEMBER!
Join here and get access to perks:
──────────────────────

[MrBallen]

I still cant believe Gus and Woody cave dive for fun haha

[nickhavard]

I think Gus missed the bit where he said in 1983.... So judging their equipment, training levels, processes and procedures by modern day standards is simply out of context for the time they were diving.

[babydoll]

I just love how the 2 of you challenge the fuk out of each other
Woody lays down the law & Gus goes ahead and antagonizes with facts!
What a team 🙌🏼

[TheresaEarle-vxkt]

I am a retired labor out of my union local 172...layed allot of pipes. Also on gas pipeline. Your right. So bad. Stupidity 😮

[zerolightness]

I love B Allen great stories teller great stories!❤

[hdors]

🥸We got a 'That's not a thing!' 🧡 you, Gus!

[cnscrptx]

Was I the only one waiting for Gus's famous statement, "...and he stabbed himself in the heart" ?

[holyheretic]

Every reaction video in a nutshell
Gus: "why are people so dumb?"
Woody: "well let's look at the positives."
Lol i love these guys.

[Gabrielnobre]

I don't know what it is...but when Woody presents himself and smiles I feel happy...He's the kind of guy that has this "happy energy"....You start to like him for free.

[elinoirsmythe]

I love how as Mr Ballen says "it gets darker and narrower and scarier the further down you go" Woody and Gus are looking more and more excited.

[BlueWorldTV]

I was taught to buddy breathe in my open water class in 1988 but we still had an "octopus" regulator. FYI....invented by Sheck Exley!

[Wickedreptiles]

Woodys ability to think outside the box is just as important as Gus critical thinking. That’s what makes you two a great team and that because your opposites, ying and yang. Can’t have one without the other.

[misarthim]

I did a bit of research on the story and it's based on newspaper article that can be easily found. So this really did happen. The important point is when. It happened in 1983 and back then probably the equipment and training wasn't anywhere near what it is today.

[lanah]

The key to this story is it happened in 1983. I got certified that year. The norm back then was a single tank; a single mouthpiece; and lots and lots of buddy-breathing training. Did I say LOTS and LOTS of buddy-breathing training? YES.

[bobjones]

This happened in 1983. I got certified in 1978 and we were taught to buddy breath. It sounds like they were not cave divers and cave diving was a new thing back then, with not a lot of training available. I believe the had single tanks and depending on the set up, may have only had one regulator. I remember diving with "J" valves back then. So I'm thinking this story is 90% true and the rest is fill in to make the story better. Love You Guys, keep up the good work.

[Julia_BH]

I just opened up NSS’s accident report from 1983 and read the report myself.

The analysis does mention they were members of an advanced diving class at SW Texas State University. And considered to be “extremely experienced and intelligent divers.”

It also mentions they did not use a line. Not that they lost it, but there wasn’t one at all that they were using.

The last line of the analysis is particularly interesting “This fatality is only one of a number that occur each year in water-filled caves, yet it is encouraging to note that ***none have yet occurred within the divers of the caving community***.”

That indicates to me that they were not cave certified.

It also mentions that they used “normal SCUBA gear.” 1983 was a long time ago but was there gear made specifically for cave divers at this point?

Unfortunately I think this is another case of ego.

[Optable]

8:40 this is a reported fact of the story Gus. Ballen didn't just make up the buddy breathing. They obviously had to do it for some reason. Also, obviously they knew it was coming that they were running out of air the few breaths before they did. So again, Ballen's comment is perfectly reasonable. All the sudden they did run out of air. That doesn't mean they hadn't noticed beforehand that it was approaching in just a few breaths

[Rubymoon]

I had the good fortune to dive Jacob's well as part of my PhD research, not long after I was cave certified. It was an incredible and humbling experience. I called the dive when we hit a restriction I wasn't comfortable with thankfully after I got the samples I came for.

The dive is no joke and probably one of the more technical dives I've done. Mad respect to the members of the Jacob's Well Exploration Project for their ongoing work!

[nilotubes]

Back in the day, a second, second stage was not standard in scuba. This is one of the safety improvements that came from tech diving into Rec diving. (Could explain why they had to buddy breath)

[lanah]

Gus's comments on running out of air slowly may be accurate for today's equipment. That was not my experience back then in 1983. I had a very minor situation at 30 ft deep where the instructor came over to me and saw that my gauge showed 500. He quickly motioned me to go up; pressed the inflate button on my buoyancy vest and I began to go up on an emergency ascent while making sure I was breathing out. At about 10ft I needed to take another breath of air and my air was shut off solid as could be. Instantly. I just held my breath those last seconds to the surface and was fine. But the point is that my air shut off INSTANTLY. That was my experience with air instantly being gone, anyway. But that was 1983.