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what we have here is a "failure to communitcate": we know why we do
what we do, and why it works so well, but the opposite of what we do it what is
the most understandable to everyone else, and may explain their reluctance
towards acknowledging what we do, and their eagerness to embrace what is easier
to believe.
For exmple, it is easy for Wes Skiles to say his 4200 foot dive in
Wakulla (the culmination of 129 dives) is a "world record" recently in a
magazine, and it is easy for him and everyone else to believe - they are
comfortable with this. The can not understand our 8300 foot dive in the deeper,
darker conduit, as it is out of the realm of his and their understanding, and
thus is dismissed as if it did not occur, and everyone goes along with this.
It is easy for everyone to think that, "yes, an endless gas supply
provided by an automatic rebreather that is a nice little package would be the
ideal thing", since the concept of being able to breath an aluminum 80 down to
2200 psi after 2200 feet of 285 foot deep cave in inconceivable, just as the
concept of being totally comfortable and happy for hours in cave-diving gear is
out of the question - for somebody who rigs it the wrong way and is miserable
in
it, just as the physical conditioning required to get this kind of gas mileage
is foreign to the minds of the people who think they can out do us.
Having some kind of mystical hightech scooter that does all kinds of
wonderful things and carries the gas seems like a real good idea - unless you
know how the game is realy played (no tech),and until you have been "downtown"
and if all you have to go by is square lights that never work, tekna scooters
that are useless, other scooters that are the wrong buoyancy, don't quite go as
fast as they say or as far, or don't really work most of the time , then it is
easy to see why people think our scooters are teknas, or just don't see them as
they really are. If everyone else says their scooter burns three hours, and I
say mine burns 100 minutes, but I can go farther on mine, well that does not
add
up to the average guy, so he dismisses mine and goes with the "3 hour" job -
this is what he understands, and most have no basis for any other beliefs, as
they have never ridden a scooter for three hours - I have, and I have for
longer than that .
Being able to decompress in a chamber seems really nice, expecially
if you have no clue as to how to stay happy, warm and dry for hours in the
water, and if you are in horrifying cardiovascular condition, unchecked for
PFO, or are scared to death of deco and do not realy understand how it works.
For me, being in a chamber depending on rthe operator and the supporting
equipment when I could be swimming around and having fun, and then getting out
when I want to, instead of waiting for somebody else to deco , is more like it.
Getting out, repacking my parachute, getting back in condition, mentally
preparing to launch again, are my style.
Saturation seems like a great idea until you have to do it, and then
doing it when there is abdolutely no good reason is the height of "tekkie" for
"teekie" sake.
My complaint - nobody seems to be able to deal with reality, and we
are always trying to teach the same pigs to sing. It won't work, and it annoys
the pigs. Now it is annoying me.
Somebody on here mentioned opinion. How about , when somebady asks a
question, we will put out our opinion to the list, and the others go ahead and
make theirs public instead of scurrying around in the dark like roaches . If it
is so good, then it will stand up to scrutiny. Maybe we can force reality into
the equation by comparison.
All of the people who will never do anything will continue to
believe that 4200 feet is more than 8300, that we don't really exist, that to
go
farther than 4200 feet needs a rebreather (don't tell my support divers that) ,
that 5 hours of deco can be best done in 14 , that a 35 minute dive can be
knocked out in a mere 84 minutes, that people who can not get out of their car
without gasping for breath are going to outgun me, and those who have a true
interest in this sport will immediately know which is correct. How about it?
George Irvine
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