S2 E10 Life on a Line - Saturation Diving with Chris Lemons Pt 1 Artwork

Real Risk

Richard Harris SC OAM, 2019 Joint Australian of the Year talks about risk with real, live, risk takers. How can one person BASE jump from a bridge when another gets dizzy at the top of the stairs? Why might you fear going into an elevator when I love to explore flooded caves? Real Risk gets into the weeds with the people we all think are crazy, to find that mostly, they aren’t at all. They just have a different view of the world around them, often driven by curiosity or a need to test themselves. I guarantee you’ll be inspired to push yourself a little harder. Contact me on admin@speleopix.com.au

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Real Risk

S2 E10 Life on a Line - Saturation Diving with Chris Lemons Pt 1

November 11, 2020 • Richard Harris • Season 2 • Episode 10

The world of saturation diving is high tech, complex and fascinating. The physics and physiology present unbreakable rules that must be followed to remain safe. The risks of decompression sickness, High Pressure Nervous Syndrome (HPNS), oxygen toxicity and inert gas narcosis are carefully managed. But perhaps the hardest part; living in the confines of the hyperbaric quarters for 28 days with no possibility of early release. You have to be the right kind of person.

In 2012, Chris Lemons was an experienced commercial diver, but relatively new to sat diving. "Sat" is the pinnacle of the job, good pay, exciting work and greatly respected. And he loves it. So when a highly improbable sequence of events occurred on board the ship nearly 100m above him in the middle of the North Sea late one night, he managed the chain of event which followed with a measured calm born of inner strength and years of training. He stayed calm right up until the moment his life support umbilical snapped...he then knew that in approximately 8 minutes his breathing gas would run out and he would die.

Documentary Last Breath
Chris Lemons website