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Fatally Flawed: The Quest to be Deepest
Fatally Flawed is an inside look into the world of deep diving. This is the story of how Verna van Schaik become the deepest woman in one of the most extreme sports in the world, cave diving. Hers in an unusual career, having dived with both Nuno Gomes (deepest man in the world) and Dave Shaw (she was the surface marshal for Dave's 280meter body recovery attempt). How do you get a world record ? Who do you ahve to be to want to dive deeper than anyone else, risking everything ?
- GenresNonfiction
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 17, 2018
Firstly, it is SO incredibly refreshing to read a book about scuba diving written by a woman. Of the many books I have read about diving, be it true adventure stories, or non-fiction, almost all of them have been written by men. While I adore many of these books, I can't help but feel only half of the picture is presented when a woman's point of view is missing, especially in a sport rife with competition and big egos.
In "Fatally Flawed," South African diver, Verna Van Shaik, takes a literal deep dive into the world of deep diving and record setting. Along the way, she shares her own struggles as a female scuba diver in this male-dominated arena, ultimately taking matters into her own hands when she finds she is being excluded, ignored, or simply not given opportunities given to less experienced divers simply because they are men.
It's an inspiring read for a woman, and particularly for those women participating in extreme sports who may feel marginalized because of their gender. But, it's also a really interesting read because it illuminates the very human nature and human emotions behind the type of person who breaches the boundary of the known. The last couple of chapters almost brought me to tears. In this section Verna discusses ego, control, power, exploration and personal pursuit. For any explorer—man or woman—this book is a must.
Although South African myself, I first heard about Verna van Shaik when I read "Diving into Darkness." I had no idea she had set the depth record for a female scuba diver, or that she had a story to tell herself. I honestly expected "Fatally Flawed" to be her account of the events that had come to pass in "Diving into Darkness." I was pleasantly surprised to find this was in fact not the case, and that Verna had her very own story to tell. One I think incredibly important, especially for all female divers entering into the professional side of scuba diving, or the technical side—two areas dominated by men, and in which "male characteristics" are usually given more respect.
I strongly recommend this book to every female scuba diver, if for no other reason than to know that you are not alone. And, I genuinely hope that men take the time to read it too so that they can develop an understanding of the struggles women have to endure in the very male-dominated world of technical diving. It is not fair to ask a woman to adopt more male characteristics in order to rise. I would hope too that men can help lead the way and welcome female characteristics into the mix. We all have so much to offer one another.
In "Fatally Flawed," South African diver, Verna Van Shaik, takes a literal deep dive into the world of deep diving and record setting. Along the way, she shares her own struggles as a female scuba diver in this male-dominated arena, ultimately taking matters into her own hands when she finds she is being excluded, ignored, or simply not given opportunities given to less experienced divers simply because they are men.
It's an inspiring read for a woman, and particularly for those women participating in extreme sports who may feel marginalized because of their gender. But, it's also a really interesting read because it illuminates the very human nature and human emotions behind the type of person who breaches the boundary of the known. The last couple of chapters almost brought me to tears. In this section Verna discusses ego, control, power, exploration and personal pursuit. For any explorer—man or woman—this book is a must.
Although South African myself, I first heard about Verna van Shaik when I read "Diving into Darkness." I had no idea she had set the depth record for a female scuba diver, or that she had a story to tell herself. I honestly expected "Fatally Flawed" to be her account of the events that had come to pass in "Diving into Darkness." I was pleasantly surprised to find this was in fact not the case, and that Verna had her very own story to tell. One I think incredibly important, especially for all female divers entering into the professional side of scuba diving, or the technical side—two areas dominated by men, and in which "male characteristics" are usually given more respect.
I strongly recommend this book to every female scuba diver, if for no other reason than to know that you are not alone. And, I genuinely hope that men take the time to read it too so that they can develop an understanding of the struggles women have to endure in the very male-dominated world of technical diving. It is not fair to ask a woman to adopt more male characteristics in order to rise. I would hope too that men can help lead the way and welcome female characteristics into the mix. We all have so much to offer one another.
June 15, 2025
Fatally Flawed is the personal story of Verna van Schaik, a South African diver who became the record holder for the deepest female diver in 2004. Not just diving, but cave diving which is a whole other ball game.
Now, for myself as a recreational SCUBA diver I am always on the hunt for books about diving which can keep the flame burning when I am not diving and this was an engrossing and fascinating one. Starting with the early 1990's when Verna first became a diver, at the time she was at university and was interested in marine biology; we never really hear how that turned out because the book concentrates on the fact that she joined the University dive club. Now this was very interesting to me; initially with no interest in deep diving, Verna got into it because of the dive club, where the in group concentrated around a diver called Nuno Gomez, himself a deep cave dive record holder.
It sounds like the diving scene in SA was radically different to the one in QLD, Verna sounds like she had to struggle to prove herself, day by day, dive by dive, as a woman in what sounds like a men's world. Very different from my experiences in the 1990's.
Now eventually Verna sets herself to break the deepest female diver record, which she does and that is an exciting story in itself, but it evolves into an even more harrowing story. The same day she broke that record, another diver, Dave Shaw set out to break another record, deep diving on a rebreather. During that dive, he came across the body of a diver who had been lost in that cave ten years prior. That put an end to his record breaking dive but Dave determined to come back and get this body out a complicated dive which happened some months later and on which Verna was the surface marshal.
Now that experience is the culmination of this book, rather than her breaking the deep dive record and it was a tragic event which Dave Shaw did not survive. Though he was wearing a camera and footage of that event was recovered. Now there is another book about that event, by one Phillip Finch which is variously called Diving into Darkness: A True Story of Death and Survival in one edition and Raising the Dead: A True Story of Death and Survival. I have not yet read that book, though I own it and I gather it is written in a far more sensationalist style and is exceptionally critical of Verna.
This book is very much a peek inside the world of deep cave diving, in South Africa at least, it is not the first such book I have read and I enjoyed it a great deal. The narration is matter of fact, very personal with the author addressing the reader directly and with no writing artifacts. There is no sensational element to it, it feels factual and I liked that. It was also very much a self examination, why was she doing it? What insecurities of life events might have led to attempting to prove oneself in such a dangerous way? Was this book a response to the controversy of Dave Shaw's final dive, to the alleged criticism in Phillip's version of events? I have wondered. It seems sad that such a monumental event is marginalised however, merely a side note to someone else's dive, even in her own book.
Now, for myself as a recreational SCUBA diver I am always on the hunt for books about diving which can keep the flame burning when I am not diving and this was an engrossing and fascinating one. Starting with the early 1990's when Verna first became a diver, at the time she was at university and was interested in marine biology; we never really hear how that turned out because the book concentrates on the fact that she joined the University dive club. Now this was very interesting to me; initially with no interest in deep diving, Verna got into it because of the dive club, where the in group concentrated around a diver called Nuno Gomez, himself a deep cave dive record holder.
It sounds like the diving scene in SA was radically different to the one in QLD, Verna sounds like she had to struggle to prove herself, day by day, dive by dive, as a woman in what sounds like a men's world. Very different from my experiences in the 1990's.
Now eventually Verna sets herself to break the deepest female diver record, which she does and that is an exciting story in itself, but it evolves into an even more harrowing story. The same day she broke that record, another diver, Dave Shaw set out to break another record, deep diving on a rebreather. During that dive, he came across the body of a diver who had been lost in that cave ten years prior. That put an end to his record breaking dive but Dave determined to come back and get this body out a complicated dive which happened some months later and on which Verna was the surface marshal.
Now that experience is the culmination of this book, rather than her breaking the deep dive record and it was a tragic event which Dave Shaw did not survive. Though he was wearing a camera and footage of that event was recovered. Now there is another book about that event, by one Phillip Finch which is variously called Diving into Darkness: A True Story of Death and Survival in one edition and Raising the Dead: A True Story of Death and Survival. I have not yet read that book, though I own it and I gather it is written in a far more sensationalist style and is exceptionally critical of Verna.
This book is very much a peek inside the world of deep cave diving, in South Africa at least, it is not the first such book I have read and I enjoyed it a great deal. The narration is matter of fact, very personal with the author addressing the reader directly and with no writing artifacts. There is no sensational element to it, it feels factual and I liked that. It was also very much a self examination, why was she doing it? What insecurities of life events might have led to attempting to prove oneself in such a dangerous way? Was this book a response to the controversy of Dave Shaw's final dive, to the alleged criticism in Phillip's version of events? I have wondered. It seems sad that such a monumental event is marginalised however, merely a side note to someone else's dive, even in her own book.
September 11, 2025
Apart from needing a more thorough edit and spell check, this book portrayed Verna as a pretty irritating person, which is a shame when you read about all the struggles she had as a woman in an extremely male dominated sport. It was quite repetitive, and often awkwardly referred to the title but with no real conclusions.
Her perspective on the Deon Dreyer body recovery was interesting, although she spelt his name wrong most times. I was also annoyed by the redundant glossary at the end; most of the terms included were never actually used in the book.
Her perspective on the Deon Dreyer body recovery was interesting, although she spelt his name wrong most times. I was also annoyed by the redundant glossary at the end; most of the terms included were never actually used in the book.
April 16, 2016
Interesting but mostly fails to explain why people pursue such risky records, I think it is predominently the "aliveness" of survival but coupled with the "flow" of skilled preparation. These divers are only interested in pushing the depth not exploration of caves, just the depth record which I still don't understand, perhaps it can't be explained but Verna gives it a good punt.
June 28, 2016
Reviewed here: http://www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blo...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews